Design of a Simulated Human-Rover Interaction Spacewalk Experiment in the LUNA Facility

Abstract

With the Artemis Program, NASA intends to return to the Moon with humans. This time, however, with partners such as Canada, Japan, and Europe, and this time to stay. While Stage 1 of the program focuses on constructing the Lunar Gateway, a mini space station in a lunar orbit whose modules are already in production in the US and Europe, Stage 2 aims at returning to the lunar surface. This time for more extended periods, as seen in the Apollo missions. The focus of attention is on the lunar south pole, where water ice is to be expected in regions called Permanent Shadowed Regions (PSR), usually found inside craters. Water ice is an essential element to establish a long-term presence on lunar soil since it can be used for various applications such as drinking water, creating oxygen, and hydrogen for rocket fuel. To detect regions where increased amounts of water ice is to be found, rovers can be used to collect samples and retrieve them from the PSR, which might be too cold for explorations by astronauts. However, astronauts could be used to sort the collected samples, and analyze them, if they contain water ice and, therefore, be sent back to Earth for further inspection. This thesis looks at the possibility of such an inspection done by astronauts by: First analyzing the thermal environment of such an inspection and secondly by computing the maximum allowed time an astronaut has for such an inspection before the potential water ice in the sample starts to sublimate. With this objective in mind, a MATLAB script was implemented with multiple variable parameters, which can be adjusted if conditions deviate from those assumed in this thesis. With the assumed conditions described in this thesis, the heat-up time of the samples from 90K to 130K is computed to be approximately 20min. In the second part of this thesis, an EVA procedure was created to simulate such a scenario inside LUNA facility, a Moon analogue facility currently under construction at the DLR campus in Porz-Wahn. With that first-of-its-kind prototype EVA procedure for the LUNA facility, that analogue environment could be tested on its operational capabilities during commissioning. Finally, this thesis recommends adjustments and enhancements to the LUNA facility that would ease the execution of simulated EVAs inside. Additionally, it names preconditions and requisites, such as tools needed to perform the proposed EVA.