Resource Extruder for Continuous Casting of Constant Cross-Section Hardware

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.