Developing a New Space Economy (2019) 5014.pdf

The Use of a Lunar Vacuum Deposition Paver/Rover to Eliminate Hazardous Dust Plumes on the Lunar Sur- face Alex Ignatiev and Elliot Carol, Lunar Resources, Inc., Houston, TX ([email protected], elliot@lunarre- sources.space)

References: [1] A. Cohen “Report of the 90-Day Study on Hu- man Exploration of the Moon and Mars”, NASA, Nov. 1989 [2] A. Freunlich, T. Kubricht, and A. Ignatiev: “Lu- nar Regolith Thin Films: Vacuum Evaporation and Properties,” AP Conf. Proc., Vol 420, (1998) p. 660 [3] Sadoway, D.R.: “Electrolytic Production of Met- als Using Consumable Anodes,” US Patent No. © 2018 Lunar Resources, Inc. 5,185,068, February 9, 1993 [4] Duke, M.B.: Blair, B.: and J. Diaz: “Lunar Re- source Utilization,” Advanced Space Research, Vol. 31(2002) p.2413. Figure 1, Lunar Resources Solar Cell Paver concept [5] A. Ignatiev, A. Freundlich.: “The Use of Lunar surface vehicle Resources for Energy Generation on the Moon,”

Introduction: The indigenous resources of the Moon and its natural vacuum can be used to prepare and construct various assets for future Outposts and Bases on the Moon. Based on available lunar resources and the Moon’s ultra-strong vacuum, a vacuum deposition paver/rover can be used to melt regolith into glass to eliminate dust plumes during landing operations and surface activities on the Moon. This can be accom- plished by the deployment of a moderately-sized (~200kg) crawler/rover on the surface of the Moon with the capabilities of preparing and then melting of the lu- nar regolith into a glass on the Lunar surface. The direct fabrication of Lunar regolith glass on the Moon would require the transportation of a much smaller mass of equipment to the Moon than would otherwise be re- quired to eliminate hazardous dust plumes on the Lunar surface due to surface operations. The crawler/rover coupled with a regolith electrochemical processor yield- ing raw materials could also be used to develop the Lu- nar infrastructure including: a PV power system (solar cells and transmission wire), a Lunar radio observatory and fabricate a variety of functional thin film materials. In addition, such a crawler/rover could have direct ap- plications related to eliminating hazardous dust plumes on the Martian surface due to surface operations.