Description: Blueshift, LLC doing business as Outward Technologies proposes to develop a Resource Extruder for Continuous Casting of Constant Cross-Section Hardware (RE4CH). The RE4CH system will produce cast glass and glass ceramic components on the Moon and on other planetary bodies. RE4CH will be capable of taking waste products from ISRU oxygen-extraction processes (i.e. slag), melting it down to a fully amorphous material, extruding the homogenized molten regolith for varied manufacturing processes, and heat treating the extruded components for controlled crystal growth tailored to achieving application-specific material properties. With the ability to adapt to a large variety of byproduct compositions, the RE4CH will be an extremely versatile piece of equipment able to produce many of the components identified by NASA as critical to a sustained presence on the Moon such as towers and truss-based structures. RE4CH can be broken down into three main subsystems: melting and refining, extrusion, and heat treatment. In its simplest configuration the RE4CH can be used directly to produce extruded components such as rods and tubes. Glass and glass-ceramics produced from processed regolith waste products represent significant launch mass and cost savings for producing mechanical hardware and structural members on the Moon. These materials have additional properties particularly well suited for use in lunar towers. Because of the drastic thermal cycling on the Moon, materials with low coefficients of thermal expansion will be needed to minimize deformation of structures over the lunar day and night. RE4CH will be able to incorporate many existing technologies with melted regolith waste products and will represent the state of the art in terms of fully melting, refining, and controlling crystal growth of manufactured regolith components and structural members at scale.

Benefits: The primary application within NASA's technology roadmap for the RE4CH is TX 12 Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems, and Manufacturing. The technology also is applicable to TX 12.X Other Manufacturing, Materials, and Structures and TX07.2.2: In Situ Manufacturing, Maintenance, and Repair. The RE4CH system will support infrastructure development through the rapid construction of truss members for towers, habitats, and shelters on the lunar surface through secondary utilization of waste products (i.e. slag) from oxygen extraction plants or other ISRU processes on the Moon. RE4CH represents tremendous cost savings to NASA in terms of reduced launch costs while enabling the construction of large towers and truss structures on the Moon.The proposed technology will be of interest to companies and non-NASA government agencies interested in in-situ manufacturing in space, be it on the Moon, Mars, other planetary bodies, or in zero-gravity. On Earth, the technology advancements to reduced glass refining energy could represent a great savings to glass manufactures and help reduce the carbon footprint of this environmentally taxing process. Additionally, methods for manufacturing glass-ceramic structural members on Earth could lead to a carbon-free construction material with a wide range of potential applications.