In situ resource utilization#Mars

In the context of ISRU, water is most often sought directly as fuel or as feedstock for fuel production. Applications include its use in life support, either directly for drinking, for growing food, producing oxygen, or numerous other industrial processes, all of which require a ready supply of water in the environment and the equipment to extract it. Such extraterrestrial water has been discovered in a variety of forms throughout the Solar System, and a number of potential water extraction technologies have been investigated. For water that is chemically bound to regolith, solid ice, or some manner of permafrost, sufficient heating can recover the water. However this is not as easy as it appears because ice and permafrost can often be harder than plain rock, necessitating laborious mining operations. Where there is some level of atmosphere, such as on Mars, water can be extracted directly from the air using a simple process such as WAVAR. Another possible source of water is deep aquifers kept warm by Mars's latent geological heat, which can be tapped to provide both water and geothermal power.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

Rocket propellant production has been proposed from the Moon's surface by processing water ice detected at the poles. The likely difficulties include working at extremely low temperatures and extraction of water from the regolith. Most schemes electrolyse the water to produce hydrogen and oxygen and cryogenically store them as liquids. This requires large amounts of equipment and power to achieve. Alternatively, it may be possible to heat water in a nuclear or solar thermal rocket,{{Cite web |title=LSP water truck |url=http://www.neofuel.com/space98/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=www.neofuel.com}} which may be able to deliver a large mass from the Moon to low Earth orbit (LEO) in spite of the much lower specific impulse, for a given amount of equipment.{{Cite web |title=steam rocket factor 1000 |url=http://www.neofuel.com/moonice1000/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=www.neofuel.com}}

The monopropellant hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) can be made from water on Mars and the Moon.{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/monograph21/Chapter%206.pdf|title=Chapter 6: Viking and the Resources of Mars (from a history of NASA)|publisher=NASA|access-date=2012-08-20|archive-date=14 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714113836/https://history.nasa.gov/monograph21/Chapter%206.pdf|url-status=live}}

Aluminum as well as other metals has been proposed for use as rocket propellant made using lunar resources, and proposals include reacting the aluminum with water.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/24/nasa_alice_test/|title=New NASA rocket fuel 'could be made on Moon, Mars'|last=Page|first=Lewis|date=24 August 2009|work=The Register|access-date=10 August 2017|archive-date=11 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411053120/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/24/nasa_alice_test/|url-status=live}}

For Mars, methane propellant can be manufactured via the Sabatier process. SpaceX has suggested building a propellant plant on Mars that would use this process to produce methane (Methane) and liquid oxygen (O₂) from sub-surface water ice and atmospheric {{chem|CO|2}}.{{cite journal |last1=Musk|first1=Elon |title=Making Life Multi-Planetary |journal=New Space |date=1 March 2018 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=2–11 |doi=10.1089/space.2018.29013.emu |bibcode=2018NewSp...6....2M |doi-access= }}

It has long been suggested that solar cells could be produced from the materials present in lunar soil. Silicon, aluminium, and glass, three of the primary materials required for solar cell production, are found in high concentrations in lunar soil and can be used to produce solar cells.{{Cite journal|title = Materials refining on the Moon|journal = Acta Astronautica|date = 2007-05-01|pages = 906–915|volume = 60|issue = 10–11|doi = 10.1016/j.actaastro.2006.11.004|first = Geoffrey A.|last = Landis|bibcode = 2007AcAau..60..906L }} In fact, the native vacuum on the lunar surface provides an excellent environment for direct vacuum deposition of thin-film materials for solar cells.{{Cite journal |last1=Curreri |first1=Peter |last2=Ethridge |first2=E. C. |last3=Hudson |first3=S. B. |last4=Miller |first4=T. Y. |last5=Grugel |first5=R. N. |last6=Sen |first6=S. |last7=Sadoway |first7=Donald R. |date=2006 |title=Process Demonstration For Lunar In Situ Resource Utilization—Molten Oxide Electrolysis |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20070018263.pdf |url-status=live |journal=MSFC Independent Research and Development Project (No. 5–81), 2. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507143218/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20070018263.pdf |archive-date=7 May 2017 |access-date=7 July 2017}}

Solar arrays produced on the lunar surface can be used to support lunar surface operations as well as satellites off the lunar surface. Solar arrays produced on the lunar surface may prove more cost effective than solar arrays produced and shipped from Earth, but this trade depends heavily on the location of the particular application in question.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

Another potential application of lunar-derived solar arrays is providing power to Earth. In its original form, known as the solar power satellite, the proposal was intended as an alternate power source for Earth. Solar cells would be launched into Earth orbit and assembled, with the resultant generated power being transmitted down to Earth via microwave beams.{{cite web

|title = Lunar Solar Power System for Energy Prosperity Within the 21st Century

|publisher = World Energy Council

|url = http://www.moonbase-italia.org/PAPERS/D1S2-MB%20Assessment/D2S2-06EnergySupport/D2S2-06EnergySupport.Criswell.pdf

|access-date = 2007-03-26

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120326081335/http://www.moonbase-italia.org/PAPERS/D1S2-MB%20Assessment/D2S2-06EnergySupport/D2S2-06EnergySupport.Criswell.pdf

|archive-date = 2012-03-26

}}

Despite much work on the cost of such a venture, the uncertainty lay in the cost and complexity of fabrication procedures on the lunar surface.

The colonization of planets or moons will require obtaining local building materials, such as regolith. For example, studies employing artificial Mars soil mixed with epoxy resin and tetraethoxysilane, produce high enough values of strength, resistance, and flexibility parameters.{{cite journal |title=Polymeric composites on the basis of Martian ground for building future mars stations |journal=International Journal of Astrobiology |date=April 2016 |last1=Mukbaniani |first1=O. V. |last2=Aneli |first2=J. N. |last3= Markarashvili |first3=E. G. |last4=Tarasashvili |first4=M. V. |last5=Aleksidze |first5=D. |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages= 155–160 |doi=10.1017/S1473550415000270 |bibcode=2016IJAsB..15..155M |s2cid=123421464 }}

Asteroid mining could also involve extraction of metals for construction material in space, which may be more cost-effective than bringing such material up out of Earth's deep gravity well, or that of any other large body like the Moon or Mars. Metallic asteroids contain huge amounts of siderophilic metals, including precious metals.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

{{See also|SpaceX Mars transportation infrastructure|Mars Direct}}

ISRU research for Mars is focused primarily on providing rocket propellant for a return trip to Earth—either for a crewed or a sample return mission—or for use as fuel on Mars. Many of the proposed techniques use the well-characterised atmosphere of Mars as feedstock.{{cite journal |last1=Starr |first1=Stanley O. |last2=Muscatello |first2=Anthony C. |title=Mars in situ resource utilization: a review |journal=Planetary and Space Science |date=2020 |volume=182 |pages=104824 |doi=10.1016/j.pss.2019.104824}} Since this can be simulated on Earth, these proposals are relatively simple to implement, though it is by no means certain that NASA or the ESA will favour this approach over a more conventional direct mission.{{cite web|title=Mars Sample Return|url=http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEM1PM808BE_0.html|publisher=esa.int|access-date=2008-02-05|archive-date=3 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203013939/http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEM1PM808BE_0.html|url-status=live}}

A typical proposal for ISRU is the use of a Sabatier reaction, {{nowrap|CO₂ + 4H₂ → CH₄ + 2H₂O}}, in order to produce methane on the Martian surface, to be used as a propellant. Oxygen is liberated from the water by electrolysis, and the hydrogen recycled back into the Sabatier reaction. The usefulness of this reaction is that—{{as of|2008|lc=on}}, when the availability of water on Mars was less scientifically demonstrated—only the hydrogen (which is light) was thought to need to be brought from Earth.{{cite web|title=Sizing of a Combined Sabatier Reaction and Water Electrolysis Plant for Use in in Situ Resource Utilization on Mars|url=http://www.clas.ufl.edu/jur/200109/papers/paper_canton.html|publisher=clas.ufl.edu|access-date=2008-02-05|archive-date=4 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204061340/http://www.clas.ufl.edu/jur/200109/papers/paper_canton.html|url-status=live}}

{{as of|2018}}, SpaceX has stated their goal of developing the technology for a Mars propellant plant that could use a variation on what is described in the previous paragraph. Rather than transporting hydrogen from Earth to use in making the methane and oxygen, they have said they plan to mine the requisite water from subsurface water ice, produce and then store the post-Sabatier reactants, and then use it as propellant for return flights of their Starship no earlier than 2023.{{cite web |url=http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/mars_presentation.pdf |publisher=SpaceX |title=Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species |date=2016-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928040332/http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/mars_presentation.pdf |archive-date=2016-09-28 |access-date=2016-10-09 }}{{cite news |url= http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/elon-musk-shows-off-interplanetary-transport-system/ |title= Elon Musk Shows Off Interplanetary Transport System |work= Spaceflight Insider |last= Richardson |first= Derek |date= 2016-09-27 |access-date= 2016-10-09 |archive-date= 1 October 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161001225649/http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/elon-musk-shows-off-interplanetary-transport-system/ |url-status= live }} As of 2023 SpaceX has not produced or published any designs, specifications for any ISRU technology.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-03 |title=Elon Musk’s Plan to Send a Million Colonists to Mars by 2050 Is Pure Delusion |url=https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-mars-colony-delusion-1848839584 |access-date=2023-12-26 |website=Gizmodo |language=en}}

A similar reaction proposed for Mars is the reverse water gas shift reaction, {{nowrap|CO₂ + H₂ → CO + H₂O}}. This reaction takes place rapidly in the presence of an iron-chrome catalyst at 400 °C,

{{cite web

|title = The Reverse Water Gas Shift

|url = http://spot.colorado.edu/~meyertr/rwgs/rwgs.html

|access-date = 2007-01-14

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070226143427/http://spot.colorado.edu/~meyertr/rwgs/rwgs.html

|archive-date = 2007-02-26

}}

and has been implemented in an Earth-based testbed by NASA.

{{cite web

|title = Mars In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Testbed

|url = http://rtreport.ksc.nasa.gov/techreports/2001report/100/103.html

|publisher = NASA

|access-date = 2007-01-14

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071017033321/http://rtreport.ksc.nasa.gov/techreports/2001report/100/103.html

|archive-date = 2007-10-17

}}

Again, hydrogen is recycled from the water by electrolysis, and the reaction only needs a small amount of hydrogen from Earth. The net result of this reaction is the production of oxygen, to be used as the oxidizer component of rocket fuel.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

Another reaction proposed for the production of oxygen and fuel{{cite journal|title=Mars Rocket Vehicle Using In Situ Propellants|journal = Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets|first1=Geoffrey A.|last1=Landis|first2=Diane L.|last2=Linne|date=1 January 2001|volume=38|issue=5|pages=730–735|doi=10.2514/2.3739|bibcode=2001JSpRo..38..730L}} is the electrolysis of the atmospheric carbon dioxide,

: \overset{atmospheric \atop {carbon\ dioxide}}{2CO2} ->[\text{energy}] {2CO} + O2{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/26705-nasa-2020-rover-mars-colony-tech.html |title=Oxygen-Generating Mars Rover to Bring Colonization Closer |access-date=1 December 2016 |first=Mike |last=Wall |date=2014-08-01 |website=Space.com |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423074206/https://www.space.com/26705-nasa-2020-rover-mars-colony-tech.html |url-status=live }}

It has also been proposed the in situ production of oxygen, hydrogen and CO from the Martian hematite deposits via a two-step thermochemical {{CO2|link=yes}}/H₂O splitting process, and specifically in the magnetite/wüstite redox cycle.Francisco J. Arias. 2016. On the in situ production of oxygen and hydrogen from Martian hematite deposits via a two-step thermochemical CO₂/H₂O splitting process. Journal of Space Colonization. Issue 5. ISSN 2053-1737. Although thermolysis is the most direct, one-step process for splitting molecules, it is neither practical nor efficient in the case of either H₂O or CO₂. This is because the process requires a very high temperature (> 2,500 °C) to achieve a useful dissociation fraction.{{cite journal|last1=Ermanoski|first1=Ivan|last2=Siegel|first2=Nathan P.|last3=Stechel|first3=Ellen B.|title=A New Reactor Concept for Efficient Solar-Thermochemical Fuel Production|journal=Journal of Solar Energy Engineering|volume=135|issue=3|year=2013|issn=0199-6231|doi=10.1115/1.4023356}} This poses problems in finding suitable reactor materials, losses due to vigorous product recombination, and excessive aperture radiation losses when concentrated solar heat is used. The magnetite/wustite redox cycle was first proposed for solar application on earth by Nakamura,{{cite journal|last1=Nakamura|first1=T.|title=Hydrogen production from water utilizing solar heat at high temperatures|journal=Solar Energy|volume=19|issue=5|year=1977|pages=467–475|issn=0038-092X|doi=10.1016/0038-092X(77)90102-5|bibcode=1977SoEn...19..467N}} and was one of the first used for solar-driven two-step water splitting. In this cycle, water reacts with wustite (FeO) to form magnetite (Fe₃O₄) and hydrogen. The summarised reactions in this two-step splitting process are as follows:

: Fe3O4 ->[\text{energy}] {3FeO} + \overbrace{1/2O2}^{\underset{(\operatorname{by-product})}{oxygen}}

and the obtained FeO is used for the thermal splitting of water or CO₂ :

: {{nowrap|3FeO + H₂O → Fe₃O₄ + H₂}}

: {{nowrap|3FeO + CO₂ → Fe₃O₄ + CO}}

This process is repeated cyclically. The above process results in a substantial reduction in the thermal input of energy if compared with the most direct, one-step process for splitting molecules.{{cite journal|last1=Roeb|first1=Martin|last2=Neises|first2=Martina|last3=Monnerie|first3=Nathalie|last4=Call|first4=Friedemann|last5=Simon|first5=Heike|last6=Sattler|first6=Christian|last7=Schmücker|first7=Martin|last8=Pitz-Paal|first8=Robert|display-authors=3|title=Materials-Related Aspects of Thermochemical Water and Carbon Dioxide Splitting: A Review|journal=Materials|volume=5|issue=11|year=2012|pages=2015–2054|issn=1996-1944|doi=10.3390/ma5112015|pmc=5449008|bibcode=2012Mate....5.2015R|doi-access=free}}

However, the process needs wüstite (FeO) to start the cycle, but on Mars there is no wustite or at least not in significant amounts. Nevertheless, wustite can be easily obtained by reduction of hematite (Fe₂O₃) which is an abundant material on Mars, being especially conspicuous are the strong hematite deposits located at Terra Meridiani.William K. Hartmann (2003). A Traveler's Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet. Workman Pub., 2003-Science. The use of wustite from the hematite, abundantly available on Mars, is an industrial process well known on Earth, and is performed by the following two main reduction reactions:{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

: {{nowrap|3Fe₂O₃ + H₂ → 2Fe₃O₄ + H₂O}}

: {{nowrap|3Fe₂O₃ + CO → 2Fe₃O₄ + CO₂}}

The proposed 2001 Mars Surveyor lander was to demonstrate manufacture of oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars,Kaplan, D. et al., [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsmiss99/pdf/2503.pdf THE MARS IN-SITU-PROPELLANT-PRODUCTION PRECURSOR (MIP) FLIGHT DEMONSTRATION] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927132905/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsmiss99/pdf/2503.pdf|date=27 September 2013}}, paper presented at Mars 2001: Integrated Science in Preparation for Sample Return and Human Exploration, Lunar and Planetary Institute, 2–4 October 1999, Houston, Texas. and test solar cell technologies and methods of mitigating the effect of Martian dust on the power systems, but the project was cancelled.Landis, G. A.; Jenkins, P.; Scheiman, D. and Baraona, C. "[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/robomars/pdf/6136.pdf MATE and DART: An Instrument Package for Characterizing Solar Energy and Atmospheric Dust on Mars] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927132807/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/robomars/pdf/6136.pdf |date=27 September 2013 }}", presented at Concepts and Approaches for Mars Exploration, 18–20 July 2000, Houston, Texas. The Mars 2020 rover mission includes an ISRU technology demonstrator (the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment) that will extract CO₂ from the atmosphere and produce O₂.{{cite news | first = Irene | last = Klotz | title = Mars 2020 Rover To Include Test Device To Tap Planet's Atmosphere for Oxygen | date = 21 November 2013 | url = http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/38288mars-2020-rover-to-include-test-device-to-tap-planet%E2%80%99s-atmosphere-for | archive-url = https://archive.today/20131122180303/http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/38288mars-2020-rover-to-include-test-device-to-tap-planet%E2%80%99s-atmosphere-for | url-status = dead | archive-date = 22 November 2013 | work = Space News | access-date = 2013-11-22}}

It has been suggested that buildings on Mars could be made from basalt as it has good insulating properties. An underground structure of this type would be able to protect life forms against radiation exposure.{{cite web |url=https://newatlas.com/martian-architecture/28999/ |title=ZA architects designs buildings for Mars |date=12 September 2013 |first=David |last=Szondy |website=New Atlas |access-date=1 December 2016 |archive-date=2 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202041341/http://newatlas.com/martian-architecture/28999/ |url-status=live }}

All of the resources required to make plastics exist on Mars.{{cite web|url=http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-colonize.html|title=The Case for Colonizing Mars, by Robert Zubrin|access-date=1 December 2016|archive-date=1 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201135135/http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-colonize.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/3-d-printing-seen-key-sustaining-human-colony-mars-f8C11339826 |title=3-D printing seen as key to sustaining human colony on Mars |work=NBC News |date=October 7, 2013 |first=Bahar |last=Gholipour |access-date=1 December 2016 |archive-date=29 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629092607/http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/3-d-printing-seen-key-sustaining-human-colony-mars-f8C11339826 |url-status=live }} Many of these complex reactions are able to be completed from the gases harvested from the martian atmosphere. Traces of free oxygen, carbon monoxide, water and methane are all known to exist.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01886629/file/methane_chapter_revised.pdf|title=Biosignatures for Astrobiology|pages=253–266|access-date=1 December 2016|bibcode=2019bias.book..253L|last1=Lefèvre|first1=Franck|chapter=The Enigma of Methane on Mars|year=2019|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-96175-0_12|series=Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics|isbn=978-3-319-96174-3|s2cid=188091191 |archive-date=8 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308041256/http://exploration.esa.int/mars/46038-methane-on-mars/|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/advanced/mars.html |title=Mars |access-date=2017-09-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615120453/http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/advanced/mars.html |archive-date=2011-06-15}} Hydrogen and oxygen can be made by the electrolysis of water, carbon monoxide and oxygen by the electrolysis of carbon dioxide and methane by the Sabatier reaction of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. These basic reactions provide the building blocks for more complex reaction series which are able to make plastics. Ethylene is used to make plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene and can be made from carbon monoxide and hydrogen:{{cite web|url=http://chapters.marssociety.org/winnipeg/plastics.html|title=Plastics|access-date=1 December 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313094925/http://chapters.marssociety.org/winnipeg/plastics.html |archive-date= 2016-03-13}}

: {{nowrap|2CO + 4H₂ → C₂H₄ + 2H₂O}}.

{{main|Lunar resources}}

The Moon possesses abundant raw materials that are potentially relevant to a hierarchy of future applications, beginning with the use of lunar materials to facilitate human activities on the Moon itself and progressing to the use of lunar resources to underpin a future industrial capability within the Earth-Moon system.{{cite journal|last1=Crawford|first1=Ian|date=2015|title=Lunar Resources: A Review|journal=Progress in Physical Geography|volume=39|issue=2|pages=137–167|doi=10.1177/0309133314567585|arxiv = 1410.6865 |bibcode = 2015PrPhG..39..137C |s2cid=54904229}} Natural resources include solar power, oxygen, water, hydrogen, and metals.{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Ian |date=2015| title=Lunar Resources: A Review| journal=Progress in Physical Geography| volume=39| issue=2 |pages=137–167 |doi=10.1177/0309133314567585| arxiv=1410.6865 |bibcode=2015PrPhG..39..137C |s2cid=54904229 }}Lunar ISRU 2019: Developing a New Space Economy Through Lunar Resources and Their Utilization. 15–17 July 2019, Columbia, Maryland.{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Peng |last2=Dai |first2=Wei |last3=Niu |first3=Ran |last4=Zhang |first4=Guang |last5=Liu |first5=Guanghui |last6=Liu |first6=Xin |last7=Bo |first7=Zheng |last8=Wang |first8=Zhi |last9=Zheng |first9=Haibo |last10=Liu |first10=Chengbao |last11=Yang |first11=Hanzhe |last12=Bai |first12=Yifan |last13=Zhang |first13=Yang |last14=Yan |first14=Dong |last15=Zhou |first15=Kefa |last16=Gao |first16=Ming |title=Overview of the Lunar In Situ Resource Utilization Techniques for Future Lunar Missions |journal=Space: Science & Technology |date=2023 |volume=3 |issue=0037 |doi=10.34133/space.0037 |doi-access=free}}

The lunar highland material anorthite can be used as aluminium ore. Smelters can produce pure aluminium, calcium metal, oxygen and silica glass from anorthite. Raw anorthite is also good for making fiberglass and other glass and ceramic products.{{cite web |title=Mining and Manufacturing on the Moon |publisher=NASA |url=http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/6.cfm |access-date=2007-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206083416/http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/6/6.cfm |archive-date=2006-12-06 |url-status=dead}} One particular processing technique is to use fluorine brought from Earth as potassium fluoride to separate the raw materials from the lunar rocks.{{cite web |last=Landis |first=Geoffrey |title=Refining Lunar Materials for Solar Array Production on the Moon |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20060004126/downloads/20060004126.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009034854/http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/2005/TM-2005-214014.pdf |archive-date=2006-10-09 |access-date=2007-03-26 |publisher=NASA}}

Over twenty different methods have been proposed for oxygen extraction from the lunar regolith.{{cite journal| doi=10.2514/3.51397| title=Production and use of metals and oxygen for lunar propulsion| journal=Journal of Propulsion and Power| volume=10| issue=16| pages=834–840| date=1994| author1=Hepp, Aloysius F.| author2=Linne, Diane L.| author3=Groth, Mary F.| author4=Landis, Geoffrey A.| author5=Colvin, James E.| url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=653802&id=8&as=false&or=false&qs=Ntt%3Dlunar%26Ntk%3Dall%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ns%3DHarvestDate%257c0%26N%3D4294808501| hdl=2060/19910019908| s2cid=120318455| hdl-access=free| access-date=7 July 2017| archive-date=26 January 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126210618/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=653802&id=8&as=false&or=false&qs=Ntt%3Dlunar%26Ntk%3Dall%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ns%3DHarvestDate%257c0%26N%3D4294808501| url-status=live}} Oxygen is often found in iron-rich lunar minerals and glasses as iron oxide. The oxygen can be extracted by heating the material to temperatures above 900 °C and exposing it to hydrogen gas. The basic equation is: FeO + H₂ → Fe + H₂O. This process has recently been made much more practical by the discovery of significant amounts of hydrogen-containing regolith near the Moon's poles by the Clementine spacecraft.{{Cite journal| title = The Clementine Bistatic Radar Experiment.| journal=Science| doi=10.1126/science.274.5292.1495| issue=5292

| volume=274 |date=November 1996 | pages=1495–1498| pmid=8929403 | bibcode=1996Sci...274.1495N| last1=Nozette |first1=S.| last2=Lichtenberg | first2= C. L. | last3=Spudis | first3=P.| last4=Bonner | first4=R.| last5=Ort | first5=W. | last6=Malaret | first6=E. |last7=Robinson |first7=M. | last8=Shoemaker | first8=E. M.| doi-access=free | hdl=2060/19970023672 | hdl-access=free }}

Lunar materials may also be used as a general construction material,{{cite web| title=Indigenous lunar construction materials| publisher=AIAA PAPER 91-3481| url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=696858&id=2&qs=N%3D4294819768| access-date=2007-01-14| archive-date=3 June 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603214233/http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=696858&id=2&qs=N%3D4294819768| url-status=live}} through processing techniques such as sintering, hot-pressing, liquification, and the cast basalt method. Cast basalt is used on Earth for construction of, for example, pipes where a high resistance to abrasion is required.{{cite web |title=Cast Basalt |publisher=Ultratech |url=http://www.conforms.com/pdf/ultratech/UTD101.pdf |access-date=2007-01-14 |url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828111855/http://www.conforms.com/pdf/ultratech/UTD101.pdf |archive-date=2006-08-28 }} Glass and glass fiber are straightforward to process on the Moon and Mars. Basalt fibre has also been made from lunar regolith simulators.

Successful tests have been performed on Earth using two lunar regolith simulants MLS-1 and MLS-2.{{Cite conference |title=Processing Glass Fiber from Moon/Mars Resources |first1=Dennis S. |last1=Tucker |first2=Edwin C. |last2=Ethridge |url=https://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/1998/05/11/msad28apr98_1a_resources/fiber.pdf |date=11 May 1998 |id=19990104338 |conference=Proceedings of American Society of Civil Engineers Conference, 26–30 April 1998 |location=Albuquerque, NM; United States | url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000918225927/https://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/space98pdf/fiber.pdf |archive-date=2000-09-18 }} In August 2005, NASA contracted for the production of 16 tonnes of simulated lunar soil, or lunar regolith simulant material for research on how lunar soil could be used in situ.{{cite web |title=NASA Science & Mission Systems Office| url=https://isru.msfc.nasa.gov/index.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001050032/http://isru.msfc.nasa.gov/index.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2006-10-01 |access-date=2007-01-14 }}{{cite web |title=bringing commercialization to maturity |publisher=PLANET LLC |url=http://www.planet-llc.com/simulant.htm |access-date=2007-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110163625/http://www.planet-llc.com/simulant.htm |archive-date=2007-01-10 |url-status=dead }}

Other proposalsAnthony Zuppero and Geoffrey A. Landis, "Mass budget for mining the moons of Mars," Resources of Near-Earth Space, University of Arizona, 1991 (abstract here [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=49095&id=2&as=false&or=false&qs=Ntt%3Dzuppero%26Ntk%3Dall%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ns%3DArchiveName%257c1%26N%3D4294808501] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603214250/http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=49095&id=2&as=false&or=false&qs=Ntt%3Dzuppero%26Ntk%3Dall%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ns%3DArchiveName%257c1%26N%3D4294808501|date=3 June 2016}} or here [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1991rnes.nasa...24Z] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022174055/http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1991rnes.nasa...24Z|date=22 October 2018}}). are based on Phobos and Deimos. These moons are in reasonably high orbits above Mars, have very low escape velocities, and unlike Mars have return delta-v's from their surfaces to LEO which are less than the return from the Moon.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

Ceres is further out than Mars, with a higher delta-v, but launch windows and travel times are better, and the surface gravity is just 0.028 g, with a very low escape velocity of 510 m/s. Researchers have speculated that the interior configuration of Ceres includes a water-ice-rich mantle over a rocky core.

{{cite journal |last=Thomas |first=P. C. |author2=Parker |first2=J. William |author3=McFadden |first3=L. A. |display-authors=etal |date=2005 |title=Differentiation of the asteroid Ceres as revealed by its shape |journal=Nature |volume=437 |issue=7056 |pages=224–226 |bibcode=2005Natur.437..224T |doi=10.1038/nature03938 |pmid=16148926 |s2cid=17758979}}

Near Earth Asteroids and bodies in the asteroid belt could also be sources of raw materials for ISRU.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

Proposals have been made for "mining" for rocket propulsion, using what is called a Propulsive Fluid Accumulator. Atmospheric gases like oxygen and argon could be extracted from the atmosphere of planets like the Earth, Mars, and the outer giant planets by Propulsive Fluid Accumulator satellites in low orbit.{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=C. |last2=Masse |first2=D. |last3=Glass |first3=C. |last4=Wilhite |first4=A. |last5=Walker |first5=M. |chapter=PHARO—Propellant harvesting of atmospheric resources in orbit |title=2010 IEEE Aerospace Conference |date=March 2010 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.1109/AERO.2010.5447034|isbn=978-1-4244-3887-7 |s2cid=36476911 }}

In October 2004, NASA's Advanced Planning and Integration Office commissioned an ISRU capability roadmap team. The team's report, along with those of 14 other capability roadmap teams, were published 22 May 2005.{{cite web |title=NASA Capability Roadmaps Executive Summary |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050204002/downloads/20050204002.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727051631/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050204002/downloads/20050204002.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2022 |access-date=7 July 2017 |publisher=NASA |pages=264–291}} The report identifies seven ISRU capabilities:{{rp|278}}

1. resource extraction,
2. material handling and transport,
3. resource processing,
4. surface manufacturing with in situ resources,
5. surface construction,
6. surface ISRU product and consumable storage and distribution, and
7. ISRU unique development and certification capabilities.{{rp|265}}

The report focuses on lunar and martian environments. It offers a detailed timeline{{rp|274}} and capability roadmap to 2040{{rp|280–281}} but it assumes lunar landers in 2010 and 2012.{{rp|280}}

The Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander was intended to carry to Mars a test payload, MIP (Mars ISPP Precursor), that was to demonstrate manufacture of oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars,D. Kaplan et al., [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsmiss99/pdf/2503.pdf THE MARS IN-SITU-PROPELLANT-PRODUCTION PRECURSOR (MIP) FLIGHT DEMONSTRATION] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927132905/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsmiss99/pdf/2503.pdf|date=27 September 2013}}, paper presented at Mars 2001: Integrated Science in Preparation for Sample Return and Human Exploration, Lunar and Planetary Institute, 2–4 October 1999, Houston, Texas. but the mission was cancelled.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

The Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) is a 1% scale prototype model aboard the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance that produces oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a process called solid oxide electrolysis.{{cite web|title=NASA TechPort -- Mars OXygen ISRU Experiment Project|url=https://techport.nasa.gov/view/33080|website=NASA TechPort|access-date=19 November 2015|archive-date=17 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017155217/https://techport.nasa.gov/view/33080|url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Wall |first=Mike |url=http://www.space.com/26705-nasa-2020-rover-mars-colony-tech.html |title=Oxygen-Generating Mars Rover to Bring Colonization Closer |work=Space.com |date=1 August 2014 |access-date=2014-11-05 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423074206/https://www.space.com/26705-nasa-2020-rover-mars-colony-tech.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last= |date=6 April 2020 |title=Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) – NASA |url=https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/instruments/moxie/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=mars.nasa.gov |language=en}}{{cite news |last=Weinstock |first=Maia |url=http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/going-red-planet |title=Going to the Red Planet |work=MIT News |date=31 July 2014 |access-date=2014-11-05 |archive-date=1 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801010152/http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/going-red-planet |url-status=live }} The experiment produced its first 5.37 grams of oxygen on 20 April 2021.{{Cite web|last=Potter|first=Sean|date=2021-04-21|title=NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Extracts First Oxygen from Red Planet|url=http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-perseverance-mars-rover-extracts-first-oxygen-from-red-planet|access-date=2021-04-22|website=NASA|archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422000817/http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-perseverance-mars-rover-extracts-first-oxygen-from-red-planet/|url-status=live}}

The lunar Resource Prospector rover was designed to scout for resources on a polar region of the Moon, and it was proposed to be launched in 2022. The mission concept was in its pre-formulation stage, and a prototype rover was being tested when it was scrapped in April 2018.[https://www.nasa.gov/resource-prospector Resource Prospector] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308094333/https://www.nasa.gov/resource-prospector/ |date=8 March 2019 }}. Advanced Exploration Systems, NASA. 2017.{{cite news |last=Grush |first=Loren |date=27 April 2018 |title=NASA scraps a lunar surface mission – just as it's supposed to focus on a Moon return |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/27/17287154/nasa-lunar-surface-robotic-mission-resource-prospector-moon |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103060941/https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/27/17287154/nasa-lunar-surface-robotic-mission-resource-prospector-moon |archive-date=3 November 2018 |access-date=29 December 2018 |work=The Verge}}{{cite news |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/04/new-nasa-leader-faces-an-early-test-on-his-commitment-to-moon-landings/ |title=New NASA leader faces an early test on his commitment to Moon landings |first=Eric |last=Berger |work=ARS Technica |date=27 April 2018 |access-date=29 December 2018 |archive-date=18 October 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181018091949/https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/04/new-nasa-leader-faces-an-early-test-on-his-commitment-to-moon-landings/ |url-status=live }} Its science instruments will be flown instead on several commercial lander missions contracted by NASA's new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLSP) program, that aims to focus on testing various lunar ISRU processes by landing several payloads on multiple commercial landers and rovers. The first formal solicitation was expected in 2019.{{cite news |url=http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=52539 |title=NASA Expands Plans for Moon Exploration: More Missions, More Science |work=SpaceRef |date=3 May 2018 |access-date=29 December 2018 |archive-date=1 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001050259/http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=52539 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Draft Commercial Lunar Payload Services - CLPS solicitation |url=https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=46b23a8f2c06da6ac08e1d1d2ae97d35&tab=core&_cview=0 |website=Federal Business Opportunities |publisher=NASA |access-date=4 June 2018 |archive-date=8 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008230832/https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity |url-status=live }} The spiritual successor to the Resource Prospector became VIPER (rover), that was also cancelled in 2024.

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

• {{annotated link|Anthony Zuppero}}
• {{annotated link|Asteroid mining}}
• {{annotated link|David Criswell}}
• {{annotated link|Dan Britt}}
• {{annotated link|Direct reduced iron}}
• {{annotated link|Gerard K. O'Neill}}
• {{annotated link|Human outpost}}
• {{annotated link|Lunar outpost (NASA)}}
• {{annotated link|Lunar resources}}
• {{annotated link|Lunar water}}
• {{annotated link|Lunarcrete}}
• {{annotated link|Mars Design Reference Mission}}
• {{annotated link|Mars to Stay}}
• {{annotated link|Planetary protection}}
• {{annotated link|Planetary surface construction}}
• {{annotated link|Propellant depot}}
• {{annotated link|Propulsive fluid accumulator}}
• {{annotated link|Shackleton Energy Company}}
• {{annotated link|Space architecture}}
• {{annotated link|Space colonization}}
• {{annotated link|Vision for Space Exploration}}

{{div col end}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:BoCLnaClDwIJ:www.spacegeneration.org/files/images/MMWFILES/ISRU_presentation.pdf+human+outpost&hl=en&gl=ca&sig=AHIEtbR531BikZhNPCsx08s2KFYV1WbArg Resource Utilization Concepts for MoonMars]; ByIris Fleischer, Olivia Haider, Morten W. Hansen, Robert Peckyno, Daniel Rosenberg and Robert E. Guinness; 30 September 2003; IAC Bremen, 2003 (29 Sept – 3 Oct 2003) and MoonMars Workshop (26–28 Sept 2003, Bremen). Accessed on 18 January 2010.
• {{cite journal|last1=Crawford|first1=Ian A.|date=2015|title=Lunar Resources: A Review|journal=Progress in Physical Geography|volume=39|issue=2|pages=137–167|doi=10.1177/0309133314567585|arxiv = 1410.6865 |bibcode=2015PrPhG..39..137C |s2cid=54904229}}

• [http://www.aa.washington.edu/research/ISRU/ UW AA Dept. ISRU Research Lab]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061220152248/http://www.newmars.com/wiki/index.php/ISRU_solar_cells ISRU solar cell manufacture]
• [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_knowledge/LTaylor.pdf ISRU on the Moon]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20010124060500/http://www.neofuel.com/mirf/ Moon Ice For LEO to GEO Transfers] Orders of magnitude lower cost for rocket propellant if lunar ice is present
• [https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/msad28apr98_1a Homesteading the Planets with Local Materials]
• {{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21144769 |title=New venture 'to mine asteroids' |work=BBC News |date=22 January 2013 |first=Paul |last=Rincon}}
• [https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/scp07-sanders_isru.pdf In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Capabilities] nasa.gov

Category:Missions to Mars

Category:Space colonization

Category:Exploration of the Moon

Category:Self-sustainability

Category:Space manufacturing

Category:Natural resources