SBIR Phase II: Protoflight Design and Validation of Molten Regolith Electrolysis Facility For Lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力旨在为月球上的资源开采开辟道路，创建太空制造业，允许在月球上永久存在，并扩大探索太阳系内行星的能力。这项技术可能会使人类有能力在太空中运作和生活：建立最先进的研究基础设施，探索太阳系，创造独立于地球的太空经济，并将地面制造和发电转移到太空。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目可能会为电精炼金属氧化物原料，特别是月球风化模拟物，提供新的见解，通过高温电解产生氧气和金属。此外，提出的技术将解决阳极稳定性问题，并推进新型铂族金属阳极的研究。该团队将使用多物理场建模高温电解和模拟低重力和月球真空环境。该项目可能会产生从月球风化层中提取氧气和原始金属的能力，从而推动空间资源提取工作的研究。这种知识的进步可能有助于材料科学、无机化学和冶金领域的研究和开发工作，这可能导致地球上无碳生产钢铁和其他金属，高温电解的新阳极材料，电精炼原料的新电化学工艺，以及从月球和其他行星体中获取氧气和金属的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to open the path for resource extraction on the Moon, creating an in-space manufacturing industry, allowing for a permanent presence on the Moon, and expanding the ability to explore the inner planets of the solar system. The technology may result in the ability of humans to operate and live in space: building state-of-the-art research infrastructure, exploring the solar system, creating a space economy independent of Earth, and moving terrestrial manufacturing and power generation into space.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project may provide new insights into electrorefining metal oxide feedstocks, specifically lunar regolith simulants, through high-temperature electrolysis to yield oxygen and metals. Additionally, the proposed technology will address anode stability and advance studies in novel platinum group metal anodes. The team will use multi-physics modeling for high-temperature electrolysis and for modeling low gravity and lunar vacuum environments. The project may result in the ability to extract oxygen and raw metals from lunar regoliths advancing research in space resource extraction efforts. This advancement in knowledge may aide in the research and development efforts in the fields of materials science, inorganic chemistry, and metallurgy which could result in the carbon-free production of steel and other metals on Earth, new anode materials for high-temperature electrolysis, new electrochemical processes for electrorefining raw feedstocks, and the ability to source oxygen and metals from the Moon and other planetary bodies.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.