Practical In Situ Resource Utilisation of lunar volatiles

Various space agencies (e.g. NASA, CNSA, ROSCOSMOS) have ambitions to resume/initiate human
exploration of the moon within the next 20 years. Furthermore, the new Director General of ESA talks
passionately about the development of a "Moon Village" as a challenge following the completion of the
International Space Station program. Bases at the poles of the Moon enable the prospect of long-term
habitation, continuous communication with Earth, and a stepping-stone for further exploration of the Solar
System. Knowledge of the resources available on the Moon will make these ambitions viable, saving the cost of
transporting materials from Earth.
Recent results from lunar remote sensing missions (such as LCROSS, LRO, etc.) have provided tantalising
indications of the presence of water-ice in permanently shadowed regions/craters at the poles. The next step
is to perform in situ analysis through landers to provide ground truth: if extractable water is confirmed to be
present in sufficient quantities then it represents a valuable asset for in situ resource utilisation that could
enable future lunar colonies and onwards exploration. Isotopic analysis of the water and other possible
volatiles will help build an inventory of lunar volatiles, their concentration mechanism at the poles and insight
into whether mining in situ is economically viable. Towards this aim the Space Instruments group at the Open
University is building an isotope ratio mass spectrometer in support of potential lunar mission, scheduled for
launch around 2020. Within this, samples will be acquired from a depth of up to 2 m and heated to extract
volatiles for isotopic analysis. The instrument will also include chemical reagents to demonstrate the practical
extraction of potential resources. Preparation for the mission will include analysis of lunar material to gain an
understanding of the volatiles present and developing protocols to extract them within the context of a
robotic space mission.
While the techniques and protocols of chemical analyses of lunar samples in the lab are now well established,
different methodologies are required due to spacecraft constraints such as time, power and data volume. To
overcome these constraints novel methods have been proposed for experiments on robotic missions to
analyse water and also as a technology demonstration in-situ resource use.