Beneficiation of REgolith and Mobile ExcavatioN (Team BREMEN)

Abstract

Space exploration is advancing rapidly, and further steps such as the establishment of habitats on other planets and space missions from the Moon to Mars are expected. Limited resources are among the greatest challenges that must be overcome to enable extraterrestrial life. To promote scientific approaches in this direction, ESA has organized the second Space Resources Challenge. The challenge scenario is set for a future human mission to the lunar surface that would require oxygen for life support and other systems. The quantity is scaled down to a feasible field test scenario where a specific regolith size distribution is to be produced to support in-situ oxygen production activities. The teams are therefore required to excavate 15 kg of regolith and beneficiate it into different fractions of the desired particle size distributions. The primary feedstock expected is the fraction with a particle size range of 100-500 µm. Eight teams are participating in the challenge which involves the demonstration of the technology in a field test within the constraints of total system mass, energy consumption and operation time. Team Beneficiation of REgolith and Mobile ExcavatioN (BREMEN) is one of the participating teams with researchers from DFKI, DLR e.V, and University of Bremen. The proposed solution consists of two independent systems: a mobile excavation system and a stationary beneficiation system. The mobile excavation system is comprised of customized excavation and delivery mechanisms to collect and transfer the regolith to the stationary beneficiation system that shall process it into the desired particle fractions. The field test for validating the technologies shall take place at the lunar analog facility LUNA in Cologne, Germany. This paper presents the system architecture and subsystem designs for Team BREMEN's solution along with preliminary experimental validation for the selected designs and the next steps for continuing research to support the ESA Space Resources Strategy.