Multi-Species Inline Analyzer for Monitoring Process Gases in ISRU Systems

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes the development of a multi-species gas analyzer for monitoring the quality of process streams generated by lunar and Mars in situ resource utilization (ISRU) systems. This multi-component in-line gas analyzer (MIGA) integrates technologies successfully demonstrated in several PSI projects with innovations in ruggedizing lightweight optical gas cells, multiplexing laser sources to reduce footprint, covering more than one gas species per laser, and miniaturizing control and detection electronics for high-sensitivity measurements. The proposed project will target the monitoring of produced oxygen, methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from lunar regolith. MIG will also monitor impurities in these process streams including ppmv-level (typical) of hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, and water vapor. The innovative integration of field-proven technologies and components will accelerate the development of MIGA and its certification for space applications. The integration of field-proven technologies and components will accelerate the development of MIGA and its certification for space applications. The proposed innovation has very high relevance and significance to the NASA topic H10.04 “In-Line Commodity Purity Analysis” of the solicitation. The benefits of the technology may include a cost-effective tool for wide deployment on systems requiring high purity gases to operate such as fuel cells and electrolysis systems, minimizing losses due to damages to production infrastructure from harmful impurities that would cause corrosion, maximizing heating value of the purchased fuels by verifying the composition of gas mixtures, increasing safety of propellants produced on lunar or Mars outposts to prevent catastrophic failures, and most importantly ensuring the quality of produced oxygen and water for safe human consumption.