RESOLVE Mission Architecture for Lunar Resource Prospecting and Utilization

Design Reference Mission (DRM) evaluations were performed for The Regolith & Environment Science, and Oxygen & Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) project to determine future flight mission feasibility and understand potential mission environment impacts on hardware requirements, science/res...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Baird, R. S., Smith, J. T., Larson, W. E., Suaris, T. R., Vaccaro, H. M., Paz, A. J., Rogers, K. N., Quinn, J. W., Mattes, G. W., Sanders, G. B., Magruder, D. F., Colaprete, A., Elphic, R. C., George, J. A.
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
Published: 2012
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20120003304
Description
Summary:Design Reference Mission (DRM) evaluations were performed for The Regolith & Environment Science, and Oxygen & Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) project to determine future flight mission feasibility and understand potential mission environment impacts on hardware requirements, science/resource assessment objectives, and mission planning. DRM version 2.2 (DRM 2.2) is presented for a notional flight of the RESOLVE payload for lunar resource ground truth and utilization (Figure 1) [1]. The rover/payload deploys on a 10 day surface mission to the Cabeus crater near the lunar south pole in May of 2016. A drill, four primary science instruments, and a high temperature chemical reactor will acquire and characterize water and other volatiles in the near sub-surface, and perform demonstrations of In-Situ Re-source Utilization (ISRU). DRM 2.2 is a reference point, and will be periodically revised to accommodate and incorporate changes to project approach or implementation, and to explore mission alternatives such as landing site or opportunity.