SBIR Phase I: Portable Production Process for Icy Regoliths by Vapor Deposition

SBIR 第一阶段：通过气相沉积生产冰风化层的便携式生产工艺

• 批准号: 2013842
• 负责人: Vincent Roux
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: OFF PLANET RESEARCH L.L.C.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-01 至 2022-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2013842&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Portable; Production; Process

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to advance the use of planetary resources. The ice on the Moon and Mars has been deemed “the oil of space” because it will be the primary source of rocket fuel, breathable oxygen, drinkable water, and other valuable commodities. These mixtures of soil and ice have unique qualities not fully understood, partially because the ice is a cocktail of water and other chemicals. The proposed project will develop technologies for synthetic versions of these materials, to advance the understanding and use of these natural resources. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to create the technology to accurately replicate the mixtures of ice and soils on the Moon. Lunar ice is a mixture of water and other highly reactive frozen gases, such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, ethane, and methanol. This project will create artificial lunar soil to be super-cooled in a vacuum, and mixtures of gases and water vapor will be frozen onto the grains in the soil under carefully controlled conditions. The equipment and processes proposed will attempt to replicate the natural formation processes believed to take place on the Moon and other worlds. The ice/soil mixtures on other worlds appear in many different forms, including mixed soil and ice crystals, globules of grains frozen together, and sheets. This technology will be create realistic versions of the many types of these exotic materials by varying how the ices are formed. The ability to create these ices will increase the understanding of the origins of icy worlds, the behavior and chemistry of ultra-cold gases in very low pressures, and the nature of ice/soil mixtures throughout the solar system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是促进地球资源的利用。 月球和火星上的冰被认为是“太空石油”，因为它将是火箭燃料、可呼吸氧气、饮用水和其他有价值商品的主要来源。 这些土壤和冰的混合物具有尚未完全了解的独特性质，部分原因是冰是水和其他化学物质的混合物。 拟议的项目将开发这些材料的合成技术，以促进对这些自然资源的理解和利用。SBIR的第一阶段项目旨在创造一种技术，以准确地复制月球上冰和土壤的混合物。 月球冰是水和其他高活性冷冻气体的混合物，如氨、硫化氢、二氧化硫、一氧化碳、二氧化碳、甲烷、乙烷和甲醇。 该项目将创造人造月球土壤，在真空中过冷，气体和水蒸气的混合物将在精心控制的条件下冻结在土壤中的颗粒上。 拟议的设备和过程将试图复制据信发生在月球和其他世界上的自然形成过程。 其他星球上的冰/土混合物以许多不同的形式出现，包括混合的土壤和冰晶，冻结在一起的颗粒球和薄片。这项技术将通过改变冰的形成方式来创造这些奇异材料的真实版本。 创造这些冰的能力将增加对冰世界起源的理解，极低压力下超冷气体的行为和化学，以及整个太阳系冰/土壤混合物的性质。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。