SBIR Phase I: PolyBrick™: Polymer-regolith composite landing pads build from in-situ lunar materials

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过降低火箭着陆和发射过程中喷出的月球尘埃对表面和轨道基础设施造成损害的风险，加强对月球的探索和商业开发，并最终促进太阳系的开发。这项活动属于空间材料加工/制造领域，侧重于空间基础设施（土木工程）市场部门，类似于地球上的道路和机场。创造一个可行的、具有成本效益的解决方案来减少月球尘埃，将降低进入月球表面的成本，并加速月球表面基础设施的发展，这对可持续商业空间发展的各个方面都是必要的，包括采矿、制造、建筑、居住、发电、通信，特别是运输。促进月球探测将扩大太阳系的科学知识。 它还将促进商业发展，通过开辟空间经济的新领域扩大经济机会，从而不可避免地为地球上的生命带来附带利益。从长远来看，在月球和整个太阳系创造新的居住区的能力将对人类社会产生深远的影响。这一小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目建议建造月球着陆垫，以解决火箭着陆和发射过程中喷出的表面灰尘问题，否则会损坏附近和远处的基础设施，包括那些位于月球另一侧和轨道上的建筑。为了最大限度地减少从地球的运输成本，地面基础设施必须尽可能使用当地材料建造。这种方法不是使用高能量的过程来硬化风化层，而是将其与一种高性能聚合物结合在一起，这种聚合物是由月球挥发物与极地地区的水冰共同形成的。该解决方案通过利用预期的水冰开采操作和利用其操作中丢弃的挥发物来生产高质量聚合物，从而降低了质量，成本和技术风险。 这种方法可能是可持续的，每年生产足够的材料来替换磨损的着陆垫。第一阶段将侧重于将原始挥发物转化为聚合物前体，制造/测试候选复合材料，并通过研究，建模和实验室实验相结合来阐述操作概念。在第一阶段收集的信息将缩小候选聚合物的范围，以供进一步考虑，确定化学合成途径，以更广泛的发展，并突出改进的领域，以最大限度地提高商业成功。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是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的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enhance exploration and commercial development of the Moon and, eventually, solar system, by lowering the risk of damage to surface and orbital infrastructure from ejected lunar dust during rocket landings and launches. This activity is in the area of material processing/manufacturing in space, and focuses on the space infrastructure (civil works) market sector, similar to roads and airports on Earth. Creating a viable, cost-effective solution to mitigate lunar dust will lower the cost of accessing the lunar surface and accelerate the development of lunar surface infrastructure that is necessary for all aspects of sustainable commercial space development, including mining, manufacturing, construction, habitation, power generation, communications, and in particular, transportation. Facilitating lunar exploration will expand scientific knowledge of the solar system. It will also enhance commercial development that will expand economic opportunities by opening new areas of the economy in space, with inevitable spin-off benefits for life on Earth. In the long term, the capacity to create new areas for habitation on the Moon and throughout the solar system will have profound impacts on human society.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes building lunar landing pads to address the problem of surface dust ejected during rocket landings and launches, which can otherwise damage both nearby and distant infrastructure, including those structures located the other side of the Moon and in orbit. To minimize transport costs from Earth, surface infrastructure must be constructed from local materials as much as possible. Instead of using high-energy processes to harden regolith, this approach will bind it with a high-performance polymer created from lunar volatiles co-located with water-ice in polar regions. This solution reduces mass, cost, and technical risk by leveraging anticipated water-ice mining operations and utilizing discarded volatiles from their operations to produce high-quality polymers. The approach may be sustainable, producing enough material annually to replace worn-out sections of landing pads. Phase I will focus on converting raw volatiles into polymer precursors, fabricating/testing candidate composite materials, and elaborating the concept of operations, through a combination of research, modeling, and laboratory experiments. Information gathered during Phase I will narrow the range of candidate polymers for further consideration, identifying chemical synthesis pathways for more extensive development, and highlighting areas of improvement to maximize commercial success.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.