NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has formulated the Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) to address the lunar surface construction thrust area to develop, deliver, and demonstrate on-demand capabilities to protect astronauts and to create infrastructure on the lunar surface via the construction of landing pads, habitats, shelters, roadways, berms, and blast shields using lunar regolith-based materials. The ability to excavate, convey, and beneficiate large quantities of lunar regolith for construction materials is key to the successful development of lunar infrastructure at scale due to the high costs of transporting building materials from Earth. However, at present, no means of performing inspections for quality control and quality assurance on the regolith infrastructure exists. Texas Research Institute Austin and Iowa State University’s Center for Nondestructive Evaluation propose evolving a milli/micrometer EM imager developed in a previous Phase II effort into a version capable of operating safely in a relevant environment. This imager will be used by MSFC (who has provided a letter of commitment to this Phase II-E effort) to evaluate the abilities of this type of imager to inspect sintered Lunar regolith intended for infrastructure use before heavy equipment (such as rockets) use it. The system and all its individual subsystems will be modified for higher temperature and vacuum operations and tested in-lab by the contractor team (prior to MSFC testing) to reduce risk to NASA.

This Phase II-E effort will support NASA’s Artemis Program, a two-phased effort to send American astronauts back to the Moon and develop the capabilities for a long-term presence on the lunar surface. In particular, the technology will support Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) by offering a means to do quality control and assurance of fabricated lunar infrastructure (in this case, sintered Lunar regolith).

Non-NASA applications for this technology include uses in construction, housing, safety, and security, including police and military units identifying contraband (this type of device could locate drugs, weapons, or money hidden in walls, ceilings, or floors). Civil engineering applications include inspecting fiber reinforced polymer repairs to bridge decks and wraps around concrete columns.