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Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2018
The Helium Extraction & Acquisition Testbed (HEAT) is an experimental lunar volatiles extraction ... more The Helium Extraction & Acquisition Testbed (HEAT) is an experimental lunar volatiles extraction system designed to test recuperative heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHX) technology that could be used to release volatiles from lunar regolith. HEAT has passive and active granular flow components that allow for the controlled flow of regolith through a variety of HPHX configurations. HEAT has instrumentation to measure regolith and heat pipe temperature at key positions in the device to ascertain the HPHX recuperative efficiency of the device. Volatile gas release is also measured with the use of a residual gas analyzer. The primary volatile of interest for this investigation is helium-3 (3 He). As a surrogate for 3 He containing regolith, 4 He containing JSC-1A regolith simulant is used. A summary of the design of the HEAT device and an overview of the modeling approach for an HPHX is discussed in this paper.
Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2017
Research is ongoing to develop an experimental volatiles extraction system that can demonstrate a... more Research is ongoing to develop an experimental volatiles extraction system that can demonstrate a heating process for releasing helium-3 (³He) and other valuable lunar volatiles from lunar regolith. Beyond the Apollo and Luna program lunar samples, there is no regolith or regolith simulant implanted with solar wind volatiles that is available. A device, named the Solar Wind Implanter (SWIM), has been developed to implant helium into batches of JSC-1A simulant. It uses a voltage difference between planar electrodes to accelerate helium ions (up to the average solar-wind speed of 450 km/s) into a thin, falling sheet of regolith simulant. Initial implantation tests have been conducted and SWIM is being calibrated by performing tests to determine electrode current under varying operational parameters and by measuring the dose and temperature release pattern of helium in implanted samples.
Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2016
Research is ongoing to develop a prototype lunar volatiles extraction system that will demonstrat... more Research is ongoing to develop a prototype lunar volatiles extraction system that will demonstrate a process for acquiring helium-3 for future fusion power plants that would produce little to no radioactive waste, and other volatile gases that can be used for life support in space. The prototype system is called the Helium Extraction and Acquisition Test bed (HEAT). Testing of HEAT will focus on obtaining information on the rate of 3 He extraction possible and to what extent thermal energy recovery can be employed in this kind of volatile extraction system. Before demonstrating the evolution of 3 He out of regolith simulant, simulant that is embedded to a known concentration must be available in order to gauge the performance of HEAT. An implantation device is being developed to implant helium into batches of JSC-1A regolith simulant for HEAT. The implantation device under development is referred to as the Solar Wind Implanter (SWIM).
Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2012
Preventing and removing the build-up of regolith on an astronaut’s space suit is a major issue ... more Preventing and removing the build-up of regolith on an astronaut’s space suit is a major issue facing future manned exploration missions. The dust poses a health threat to astronauts; it also adversely affects their equipment. The Field Integrated Regolith Cleaning Experiment (FIRCE) was designed to study different techniques for removing regolith as well as reviewing what commercial off-the-shelf products were best suited for cleaning space suit orthofabric and polycarbonate (used on the astronaut’s visor). All of the commercial products worked well in both the 1-g environment as well as the 0-g environment. All were ranked above a 7.0/10 for ease of use and above 7.6/10 for cleaning effectiveness. A custom made magnetic brush, designed to attract the regolith’s static charge was not effective at removing dust because the humidity in the air prevented the build-up of static charge on the regolith.Â
Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2018
The Helium Extraction & Acquisition Testbed (HEAT) is an experimental lunar volatiles extraction ... more The Helium Extraction & Acquisition Testbed (HEAT) is an experimental lunar volatiles extraction system designed to test recuperative heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHX) technology that could be used to release volatiles from lunar regolith. HEAT has passive and active granular flow components that allow for the controlled flow of regolith through a variety of HPHX configurations. HEAT has instrumentation to measure regolith and heat pipe temperature at key positions in the device to ascertain the HPHX recuperative efficiency of the device. Volatile gas release is also measured with the use of a residual gas analyzer. The primary volatile of interest for this investigation is helium-3 (3 He). As a surrogate for 3 He containing regolith, 4 He containing JSC-1A regolith simulant is used. A summary of the design of the HEAT device and an overview of the modeling approach for an HPHX is discussed in this paper.
Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2017
Research is ongoing to develop an experimental volatiles extraction system that can demonstrate a... more Research is ongoing to develop an experimental volatiles extraction system that can demonstrate a heating process for releasing helium-3 (³He) and other valuable lunar volatiles from lunar regolith. Beyond the Apollo and Luna program lunar samples, there is no regolith or regolith simulant implanted with solar wind volatiles that is available. A device, named the Solar Wind Implanter (SWIM), has been developed to implant helium into batches of JSC-1A simulant. It uses a voltage difference between planar electrodes to accelerate helium ions (up to the average solar-wind speed of 450 km/s) into a thin, falling sheet of regolith simulant. Initial implantation tests have been conducted and SWIM is being calibrated by performing tests to determine electrode current under varying operational parameters and by measuring the dose and temperature release pattern of helium in implanted samples.
Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2016
Research is ongoing to develop a prototype lunar volatiles extraction system that will demonstrat... more Research is ongoing to develop a prototype lunar volatiles extraction system that will demonstrate a process for acquiring helium-3 for future fusion power plants that would produce little to no radioactive waste, and other volatile gases that can be used for life support in space. The prototype system is called the Helium Extraction and Acquisition Test bed (HEAT). Testing of HEAT will focus on obtaining information on the rate of 3 He extraction possible and to what extent thermal energy recovery can be employed in this kind of volatile extraction system. Before demonstrating the evolution of 3 He out of regolith simulant, simulant that is embedded to a known concentration must be available in order to gauge the performance of HEAT. An implantation device is being developed to implant helium into batches of JSC-1A regolith simulant for HEAT. The implantation device under development is referred to as the Solar Wind Implanter (SWIM).
Proceedings of the Wisconsin Space Conference, 2012
Preventing and removing the build-up of regolith on an astronaut’s space suit is a major issue ... more Preventing and removing the build-up of regolith on an astronaut’s space suit is a major issue facing future manned exploration missions. The dust poses a health threat to astronauts; it also adversely affects their equipment. The Field Integrated Regolith Cleaning Experiment (FIRCE) was designed to study different techniques for removing regolith as well as reviewing what commercial off-the-shelf products were best suited for cleaning space suit orthofabric and polycarbonate (used on the astronaut’s visor). All of the commercial products worked well in both the 1-g environment as well as the 0-g environment. All were ranked above a 7.0/10 for ease of use and above 7.6/10 for cleaning effectiveness. A custom made magnetic brush, designed to attract the regolith’s static charge was not effective at removing dust because the humidity in the air prevented the build-up of static charge on the regolith.Â