Vertical Lunar Regolith Conveyance for In-Situ Resource Utilization

The purpose of the space technology is the vertical, or near-vertical, conveyance of lunar regolith for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). The preliminary design is a modular space mechanism that uses a static screw method with a rotating tube for vertical conveyance of regolith. The funding will refine and extend the existing breadboard prototype, fund incremental demonstrations of progressive functionality, fund associated modeling and simulation validated against the advanced prototype and fund testing in realistic environments for TRL maturation. The target markets include: Government - (1) Industrialization and infrastructure efforts for the moon and (2) Industrialization and infrastructure efforts for Mars and other Small Bodies targeted for exploration in the solar system. Commercial - (1) Vertical conveyance of terrestrial materials for industrial applications, (2) Vertical conveyance of agricultural material such as grains, granular fertilizer and herbicide and (3) Vertical conveyance of granular feedstock materials used in conventional manufacturing and additive manufacturing.