Bulk Regolith Manipulation and Site Preparation

Some of the first possible lunar infrastructure will be prepared surfaces composed of bulk regolith, rocks and other surface treatments. This subtopic will develop civil engineering designs of prepared lunar surface infrastructure, technologies to build the infrastructure, and construction concepts of operations (ConOps) for the South Polar region of the Moon. The intention of this subtopic is to prepare the systems that can stimulate commercial space resource based economic activity through robotic regolith manipulation and site preparation. Products and services that can be offered to the market by the proposed technologies should be specified along with realistic pricing. Development of financial engineering constructs to facilitate the exchange of goods and services are also desired. Proposals should be compatible with the Lunar Innovation Park (Park) concept described in the references and with Fission Surface Power (FSP) emplacement and radiation protection applications. Park and FSP missions are the infusion path for this subtopic. Earth-based civil engineering materials, processes and technologies are not adequate for lunar construction, therefore lunar civil engineering designs and construction technologies must be developed. The fundamental robotic capabilities of interest are: High resolution topography mapping. Geotechnical measurement. Rock removal and management. Establishing grade and forming desired ground features (e.g., berms, ramps, and level surfaces). Compaction. Anchoring for foundations and stabilizing structures (e.g., guy-wires) Verification of infrastructure design parameters and geometry of built structures. Surface treatments to mitigate PSI ejecta and dust. Routines, sensors, and ultrawideband beacons for autonomous construction operations and localization. Radiation sensors for space and FSP radiation measurements to assess radiation protection characteristics of built structures. The desired outcome of this effort is the robotic capability to perform site preparation and regolith manipulation tasks that are applicable to the Park and FSP. These technologies are sought for initial ground demonstrations with follow on lunar construction missions. The following lunar civil engineered structures are of particular interest to NASA: Bulk regolith-based landing zones designed to minimize risks associated with landing on regolith surfaces for medium to large scale Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) class vehicles with extensibility to Human Landing System (HLS) vehicles. Bulk regolith berms for PSI ejecta and FSP radiation mitigation. Foundations for reusable Launch/Landing Pads, FSP installations, and shelters Sloped access ramps. Bulk regolith overburden on unpressurized shelters for thermal stability, space radiation attenuation, and meteoroid impact mitigation (shelter structures are not within subtopic scope unless composed primarily of bulk regolith). Proposers are welcome to suggest other regolith-based infrastructure concepts. In-situ resource utilization technologies for applications like oxygen production and construction (e.g., regolith sintering and/or melting to make bricks/paved areas) are desired for Park service customer demonstration missions, and potentially to construct a reusable Launch/Landing Pad, but they are not within scope of this subtopic. Other areas of significant interest include: Non-regolith-based surface treatments such as Class II deployable or assemble-able surface covers, stabilizing agents, or other solutions to improve regolith surfaces for purposes such as reusable launch/landing pad surfaces (including flame deflectors), improving berms as PSI ejecta barriers, improving regolith berms and overburden for radiation protection, improving trafficability, and dust mitigation. Holistic designs that improve upon the Lunar Innovation Park concept and/or regolith features of FSP emplacements. Financial engineering development to facilitate the emergence of space resource based economic activity within the context of the Lunar Innovation Park with extensibility beyond. For example, development of a space commodities exchange, board of trade, or other banking, finance or market innovation that kickstarts the space resource economy. A core tenet of the Lunar Innovation Park concept is to transition from a go study posture to go do". Therefore, proposed financial engineering activities must go beyond completing research and making recommendations. Rather, proposals in this area must create and test the financial tools and technologies that enable space resource based economic activity. Development activities should be commensurate in time/scale with initiating commodity exchange the Park in the early 2030s.