I-Corps: Space Kinetic

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在月球和其他低重力环境上发展电力选择和后勤服务的潜力。这项创新可以向月球表面的潜在客户发射含有物质（如氧气或水等）的胶囊。同时，每个太空舱的动能也可以转化为可用的电力，为太空运行提供动力。通过降低潜在的发射成本，同时使用相同的基础设施来转移材料、资源和能源，这些服务的总体成本可能会降低。最终，如果这项技术能够降低月球上的能源和资源转移成本，这项创新可能会支持进一步的建设、月球采矿、勘探、旅行和旅游业，从而潜在地促进太空经济的增长。这个I-Corps项目的基础是为月球和其他空间环境上的电缆和月球车开发后勤服务和电源选择。电缆能源系统可能很重，使得从地球到月球的运输成本很高（每公斤负载可能超过100万美元），而能量传输解决方案用于月球上的设备和设备，如激光和微波，在长距离供电设备和设备方面效率低下，资本成本高，并且可能具有有限的网络效应。此外，结合电缆和电力传输的混合解决方案可能会增加任务复杂性和潜在故障点，从而增加风险。基于探测车的设备和材料转移系统也很笨重且耗时。通过潜在地开发一种集成的、无电缆的能量和材料传输系统，它可能更轻、更快，并且能够处理更多的体积，因此可能比电缆系统或漫游者更有效。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 I-Corps project is the potential development of power options and logistics services on the moon and other low-gravity environments. The innovation could launch capsules containing materials (like oxygen or water etc.) to potential customers across the lunar surface. At the same time, the kinetic energy of each capsule could also be converted to usable electricity to power space operations. By reducing potential launch costs while using the same infrastructure to transfer material, resources, and energy the services may be overall less expensive. Ultimately, if the technology can reduce the energy and resource transfer costs on the moon, this innovation may support further construction, lunar mining, exploration, travel, and tourism potentially enabling economic growth in space. This I-Corps project is based on developing logistics services and power options for cables and lunar rovers on the moon and other space environments. Cabled energy systems can be heavy making them costly to transport from the Earth to the moon (potentially over $1 million per kilogram of load carried) whilst energy beaming solutions to power devices and equipment on the moon such as lasers and microwaves can be inefficient at powering devices and equipment over long distances, can have high capital costs, and may have limited network effects. Furthermore, hybrid solutions combining cables and power beaming may add risk by increasing mission complexity and potential points of failure. Rover-based systems for transferring equipment and materials can also be heavy and time-consuming. By potentially developing an integrated, cable-less energy and material transfer system that may be lighter, faster, and able to handle more volume, it may therefore be more efficient than cabled systems or Rovers.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.