NASA’s in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) mission is to put in place a sustainable infrastructure that will allow human habitation on Moon with minimal support from earth. One particular resource available on the lunar permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) is the icy regolith which consists of icy water and volatile components (e.g., H2S, NH3, SO2, C2H4, CO2, CH3OH, CH4). Recovered water and volatile components from the icy regolith could be used to support human life on the moon. For instance, water could be used as life support and propellant; volatile gases can be used to manufacture polythiols polymer, sulfur can be used in concrete, composites, batteries, space sealant, etc. Faraday and the University of Kansas will demonstrate a high recovery scalable manufacturing platform for extraction of icy lunar regolith. In Phase I, Faraday and University of Kansas will develop a process to solubilize water and volatile gases from icy high-fidelity regolith simulant. Next, Faraday will utilize thermosensitive liquids to demonstrate the separation of pure water and a desorption process to remove the absorbed gases from the liquid. Finally, we will demonstrate regeneration of the thermosensitive liquids and show a plan to utilize recovered products in a way that reduced the cost of landing consumables on the lunar surface. The results of this investigation will provide a basis for transition planning and an alpha-scale semi-continuous system design. Alignment of this technology for future NASA (Artemis) and commercial missions (Xelene) is critical for future integration and with the help of our team, we will assess system robustness metrics required for Phase IIE/III. In Phase II we will build the semi-continuous extraction system that can process 7kg/hr of icy lunar simulant and optimize the process parameters based on the input from NASA and our commercial partners.

The proposed technology would support longer-term activities and the eventual establishment of facilities on the lunar surface capable of supporting human missions while reducing the launch costs of excess materials. Water recovered through this technology could be used for human habitation. Recovered volatile gases could be utilized for manufacturing products such as polythiols polymer; coolant; metal halides stripped solvent; sulfur could be utilized in concrete, batteries, composites, photoelectrochemical cells and space sealants.

The terrestrial market opportunity is in the domestic gas producing industries. For instance, Airgas, AirProducts, and Linde are large companies that produce industrial and specialty gases product. Natural gas-producing industries such as ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron could be potential customers for this technology for the selective removal of H2S and other impurities from natural gas.