Description: NASA seeks to develop novel oxygen extraction concepts that allow for the production of oxygen on the surface of the Moon using Lunar regolith. As part of this system, it's possible the in-situ resource utilization process may require a pressurized volume to be evacuated to prevent the loss of products to the vacuum of space. For this reason, NASA has expressed the need for a contamination-tolerant vacuum pump that can pump down this pressurized volume to prevent having to exhaust these consumables to the vacuum of space. This pump will have two firm requirements: Capable of evacuating a 50 L volume from an initial pressure of 5 psia down to 5 torr in less than two minutes when discharging against a pressure of 1 atm Capable of pumping corrosive trace substances including HCl, HF, and H2S without adversely affecting performance or life To accomplish this, Air Squared is proposing the development of a robust, oil-free contamination tolerant scroll vacuum pump (CTSVP) utilizing experience from tritium handling and International Space Station projects. This approach focuses on a material selection for contamination tolerance on only three components allowing non-wetted components to be optimized for size, weight, and power savings and long life.

Benefits: Lunar surface ISRU rocket fuel and consumable production Future Mars surface ISRU rocket fuel and consumable production Support human exploration of the solar system with reduced logistics and long term habitation solutions

Hazardous materials handling in industrial chemical processing Corrosive working fluids handling for semi-conduction industry Commercial exploration of the Lunar surface