ASTROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY INC — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: Z14

Description

Extreme temperature fluctuations throughout the lunar day and night combined with the economic and environmental challenges of cislunar launch, transit, and deployment have impeded Americarsquo;s ability to create the critical infrastructure needed to support in-situ construction and a sustained human and robotic presence on our nearest neighbor. The establishment of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and Artemis programs are channeling growth and investment into the nascent lunar economy, which is building demand for lunar activities. Critical infrastructure pieces must be established to support this growing demand, however, such as power, communication, and construction technologies. Consequently, Astrobotic proposes its Brick Ubiquitous and Itinerant Lunar Deposition (BUILD) system to produce, retrieve, and place building block elements for small to medium sized construction activities on the lunar surface.nbsp;The BUILD system is complementary to NASArsquo;s Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) project. Whereas MMPACT is focused on harvesting materials from the lunar surface and using them to produce structures such as landing pads in the near term, Astrobotic can utilize the waste slag produced as a byproduct of molten regolith electrolysis used from oxygen production to create CAST (ceramic aggregate structural and thermal) elements. These CAST elements can then be used to construct structures such as small berms for blast shielding and thermal and radiation protection. The target requirements of the CAST elements produced in this project are as follows:Structural integrity capable of supporting bearing pressures of gt; 150 kg/m2Compressive strength of gt; 12.7 kPAModular size of 19 cm x 9 cm x 8 cmSlag composition inclusive of CaO-Al2O3, K2-SiO2, MgO-P2O5.