NASA plans a lunar pipeline to carry oxygen from the poles
NASA is considering using an oxygen pipeline to efficiently transport the gas to various locations around the lunar south pole for its upcoming Artemis missions. We could call this construction an oxygen pipeline. This choice is evaluated after Peter Curreri, chief scientist of the lunar project, explained the big problems deriving from the transport of oxygen to the lunar surface by rover. NASA's lunar pipeline concept could make life easier for future Artemis astronauts
The proposed lunar pipeline, officially named the Lunar South Pole Oxygen Pipeline (LSPOP), would connect to NASA's lunar ice mining hub at the lunar south pole. NASA, China and Russia are targeting the lunar south pole because it has large amounts of ice and other resources just below the moon's surface.
The ice will form a crucial part of NASA's plans to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon, as it can be mined and converted into drinking water and oxygen that can be used for breathing and as rocket fuel.
In a recent statement posted on the NASA website, Curreri wrote that “Current funded efforts for in situ oxygen extraction consist of either bottling the oxygen in tanks of compressed gas or liquefying it and storing it in dewars. Both approaches require transporting tanks or dewars to various facilities for use. The process of moving oxygen on the rovers is more energy-intensive than the extraction process and is believed to be the most expensive aspect of obtaining in situ oxygen for use on the Moon, considering the vast distances of an area of resource extraction from a human habitat or a liquefaction plant”.
In other words, NASA's plan is to store the ice in cryogenic pressure vessels and transport it on lunar rovers. They will likely have to transport the ice to a region closer to the lunar equator, as lunar habitats will also require the supplemental sunlight that region would provide.
Curreri's lunar pipeline concept, on the other hand, would provide constant access to oxygen for lunar colonists. It would also dramatically reduce costs that would otherwise be associated with transportation. Unlike pipes on Earth, a leak on the Moon would not pollute. Conversely, the oxygen would simply escape into space, since the Moon has no atmosphere.
Lunar Resources will test several prototype lunar pipelines, though it's starting with a concept about 3 miles (5 km) long. In his statement, Curreri wrote that “our starting concept is a 5km pipeline to transport gaseous oxygen from an oxygen producing source, such as our molten regolith electrolysis (MRE) mining site or any other source, to an oxygen storage/liquidation facility near a lunar base”.
Should NASA greenlight the LSPOP for its Artemis lunar missions, it will be manufactured in segments on the Moon before being assembled to its full length. The pipeline will likely be made from aluminum, which is found in abundance at the lunar south pole.
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The article NASA plans a lunar gas pipeline to carry oxygen from the poles comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-nasa-progetta-un-gasdotto-lunare-per-condurre-lossigeno-dai-poli/ on Wed, 18 Jan 2023 14:57:59 +0000.