The Canadian Space Agency (CSA)'s Artemis Jr. rover holds the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction (RESOLVE) instruments. This system will be used to drill for water ice and other resources during a simulated mission. Photo credit: NASA/Joe Bibby

Each spacecraft, crewed or robotic, encounters an extraordinary spectrum of vast resources throughout its journey. From the first space missions onward, space architects and scientists have considered incorporating these space resources into their designs to improve efficiency and guarantee the survival of hardware and people in space. This practice of harnessing resources at the exploration site is called in-situ-resource utilization (ISRU).

As we embark on deep-space missions with weeks- or months-long travel times, ISRU becomes increasingly important because resupply missions are expensive and exclusively relying on them may put crews at risk. 

Long-duration habitation, surface systems and human life support systems will evolve through NASA’s capability-driven approach to exploration, but even the most sophisticated designs must include ISRU components when possible. Mission capabilities and return on investment multiply when human consumables and spacecraft propellant can be harvested from extraterrestrial environments.

The 2012 In-Situ Resource Utilization Analog Mission

The 2012 ISRU analog mission is a collaboration between NASA and its partners, primarily the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) with help from the University of Hawaii and the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES). Demonstrations will be conducted on the side of Mauna Kea, in some of Hawaii’s volcanic ash deposits, which provide geologic terrain and composition similar to what scientists expect to find on the moon, an asteroid, or Mars.

Exploration Operations

During the 2012 ISRU demonstrations, investigators will simulate a robotic lunar polar mission to search for and characterize water-ice and volatiles. The principle hardware system, the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE), will be mounted on CSA’s Artemis Jr. rover. RESOLVE includes a drill, a chemical plant (with an oxygen and volatiles extraction node, gas chromatograph, and mass spectrometer), a neutron spectrometer, and a near infrared spectrometer. The simulation will also include a mockup of a lunar lander, complete with a camera, communication, and navigation package.

Science Operations