Extraction of Volatiles from Lunar Regolith Using Solar Power

Abstract

Recent lunar spacecraft missions have confirmed the presence of water and miscellaneous volatiles within the craters of the moon’s south pole. If harvested, these resources have the potential to provide incredible cost savings to the space program. Challenges include extreme conditions and lack of solar power in the permanently shadowed areas. The proposed concept involves the transfer of beamed power from solar concentrators to extract the volatiles from the regolith within the shadowed craters of the moon. The present paper focuses on the analysis of heat transfer from the regolith surface, irradiated by the light beam. This analysis is needed for the determination of solar power required for the extraction of volatiles. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concept and validate the heat transfer analysis, experiments involving laser irradiation of JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant mixed with water have also been conducted.