Expanding human activities beyond LEO 12 April 2018 Piero.messsina@esa.int ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use
Why Explore? New knowledge Challenge driven innovation Inspiration Global partners
What s Next? GER3
Human Lunar Surface Demonstration Mission Goal: By 2030 demonstrate integrated human-robotic mission scenario for enhanced mission performance and in preparation of human lunar surface exploration Implementation Leverage on Orion, DSG and commercial services International partnership (CSA, JAXA, others) Possible decision on extended definition phase (A/B1) at CM19 Outcome Return of lunar samples Demonstration of long range surface mobility and tele-ops Risk reduction for human missions Establishment of logistic cargo lander Consolidated partnership and roles for human mission scenario
HERACLES Elements: Preparation for human lunar landing
ISRU Demonstration Mission Goal: Produce drinkable water/ breathable oxygen by 2025 with an ESA investment not exceeding 250 M Implementation Procured as commercial service ESA support to prior demonstration of private sector led services (lunar pathfinder, Alina, others) Engagement of new R&D actors through partnerships Mission coordinated with international Partners Outcome Validated ISRU processes/ technologies Strong European ISRU community established New scientific discoveries Established commercial services/ new procurement approach Society attracted to preparation of sustainable human presence in space
What do Humans need for Exploration? Energy Production & Storage Life Support, Habitability & Systems Architecture Radiation Shielding Robotics and Human Factors In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), Materials & Additive Manufacturing Simulation, Virtual Reality & Analogue Exercise Hardware and Countermeasure Concepts
3D Printing Projects Main Areas (1/3) Recyclability of engineering thermoplastics (in close collaboration with ESTEC) How can we efficiently recycle 3d printed parts on mission What material changes do we observe in parts created from recycled material? Printing objects with planetary regolith (with DLR) Investigating different approaches to printing with regolith simulants (laser, microwave, heating, solar) How do you extract, process and use regolith to produce building elements? What are the properties of the produced samples?
3D Printing Projects Main Areas (2/3) 1. Additive Manufacturing & ISRU Objective is to develop competency for ESA & DLR in the area of 3d printing with ISRU material Investigating all feasible approaches to sintering and processing regolith towards this goal (Solar foused light, microwave melting, laser sintering, alternative heating approaches) Increase understanding of how to handle and process regolith Top: How to process lunar regolith? Left: Microwave setup for producing melted regolith samples, Below (a) (b): Regolith simulant under irradiation and final result Far Left: CAD concept for regolith based 3d printer (courtesy Dr. Fateri, DLR), Left: Demonstrator of system built at DLR as part of Spaceship EAC
ISRU Main Areas (3/3) ISRU is seen as a key technology for sustainable human spaceflight missions Objective to address knowledge gaps surrounding ISRU and demonstrate low-trl approaches for further development by interested agencies Intimate cooperation with institutes located at DLR Köln as part of the Spaceship initiative Going forward, aim will be to investigate resource extraction from regolith (via EXPERT) 1.New Lunar Simulant Development EAC-1 EAC requires substantial simulant demand (700 ton) to meet needs for LUNA facility Standard US based simulants are cost prohibitive and not suitable EAC-1 has been proposed as a potential new simulant for agency usage many interested parties in this development across Europe/USA 1.H2020 Regolight Project Support for the DLR led Regolight solar sintering H2020 project (Samantha Cristoforetti is a member of advisory board)
The ESA/EAC LUNA-Flexhab project Flexhab is an analogue habitat facility designed to test future operations, training and technology in the scope of a future lunar mission. It features a fully equipped lunar habitat for 4-6 persons depending on mission configuration Flexhab is designed to be connected to the currently under construction LUNA facility at the ESA-DLR premises in Cologne, Germany. However it is also capable of operating autonomously in many different environments to support simulation campaigns.
- The initiative «spaceresources.lu» is part of the larger policy of Luxembourg to diversify its economy in the longer term. - Luxembourg is active in space since the 1980ies, with the creation of SES - Today, SES is one of the leading satcom operators in the world - Cooperation with ESA started in 2000, with Luxembourg becoming a full member in 2005 - Contributions to ESA have risen steadily over the past 10 years, from 2-3 M to ~25 M. - Currently the Luxembourg Space sector has ~30 entities with more than 800 employees, representing more than 1% of the total GDP - February 2016: Space Resources Initiative - February 2016: Agreement with Deep Space Industries - October 2016: Agreement with Planetary Resources - March 2017: MoU with Ispace inc.
As from 1 st August 2017 the Luxembourg law on the exploration and use of space resources will enter into force Article 1. Space resources are capable of being appropriated.
Their Vision Is To Expand The Economy Into Space. Deep Space Industries is an asteroid mining company, changing the economics of the space industry by providing the technical resources, capabilities and system integration require to prospect for, harvestv, process, manufacture and market inspace resources. Made In Space is the space-based manufacturing company. We specialize in leveraging the unique properties of the space environment to develop solutions to commercial, industrial, research and defense challenges. We see a future where life and work in space are commonplace. A private lunar exploration company focused on developing microrobotic systems to locate, characterize, extract, produce and deliver resources from the lunar surface to customers on the Moon and in cislunar space. Their vision is to create a sustainable ecosystem in outer space and extend humans presence throughout the solar system. TransAstra Corp - Services for asteroid mining, space solar power, space tourism and manufacturing in space OffWorld - Developing universal industrial robots to do the heavy lifting on the Moon, asteroids, & Mars. Aten Engineering - Solutions for detection, discovery, follow-up, and characterization of Near Earth Asteroids.
The Vision for a Moon Village The Moon Village is growing ensemble suited for multiple uses and open to multiple users. It will be served both by automatic and robotic as well as human capabilities to ensure flexibility and sustainability as well as to cater for potential contribution of all Nations. It will call for the provision of common services thus opening new markets. The Moon Village is to incrementally evolve as an open, inclusive and sustainable endeavour to serve humankind by supporting world-class science from the Moon, novel cooperation opportunities open to all partners, opportunities for public as well as industrial and commercial players, inspiring education and cultural activities to mobilize the citizens of the World and in particular the younger generations.
The Vision for a Moon Village The Moon village shall also serve a test bed for new governance schemes and alliances, allowing the emergence of new paradigms in science on/from the moon, new private/commercial activities (resources mining, moon products, entertainment/tourism), human/robotics interaction, involvement of general public with new immersive technologies and ways of crowd shaping for the younger generation in particular. Its incremental evolution should allow short-term achievements within forwardlooking objectives and a new narrative.
A worldwide topic From exploration to expansion In-space and lunar economy development opportunities scientific endeavours technological breakthroughs Global peaceful cooperation for the benefit of humankid
Thank you piero.messina@esa.int