Seven university teams were selected to develop concepts supporting metal production on the Moon in NASA’s 2023 annual Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge: Lunar Forge.
The awards total about $1.1 million, with values between $120,000 and $180,000 based on each team’s proposed concept. The challenge is a unique collaboration between NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s (STMD) Game Changing Development (GCD) program and NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement Space Grant Project.
The 2023 BIG Idea Challenge awardees are:
Colorado School of Mines
Lunar Alloy Metal Production Plant (LAMPP)
Advisors: Dr. Christopher Dreyer, Dr. George Sowers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Honeybee Robotics
Artemis Steelworks: Advancing Reactor Technologies for Electrolytic Manufacturing of In-Situ Steel
Advisors: Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, Dr. Antoine Allanore, Dr. Olivier De Weck, Dr. Martin Culpepper, George Lordos
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Lunar In-Situ Aluminum Production Through Molten Salt Electrolysis (LISAP-MSE)
Advisors: Dr. Daoru Han, Dr. Jeffrey Smith, Dr. Fateme Rezaei, Dr. David Bayless, Dr. William Schonberg, Dr. Daniel Stutts
Northwestern University with Wearifi, Inc.
ACRE: Autonomous Casting RovEr
Advisor: Dr. Ian McCue
Pennsylvania State University with RFHIC and Jacobs Space Exploration Group
Development of the Smelting with Microwave Energy for Lunar Technologies (SMELT) System for In-Situ Resource Processing
Advisors: Dr. Sven Bilen, Dr. Aleksandra Radlinska
University of North Texas with Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes Institute, UNT; Enabled Engineering
Solid-state Integrated Manufacturing Process for Lunar Environment (SIMPLE)
Advisors: Dr. Rajiv S. Mishra, Dr. Hector Siller, Dr. Ravi Sankar Haridas
University of Utah with Powder Metallurgy Research Laboratory
Production of Steel from Lunar Regolith through Carbonyl Iron Refining (CIR)
Advisors: Dr. Hong Y. Sohn, Dr. Michael F. Simpson, Dr. Michael L Free
In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) – or the ability to use naturally existing resources – is fundamental to a steady cadence of Artemis missions and a sustained human presence on the Moon and a lunar economy. Metal’s strength and resistance to corrosion make it key to building structures needed for a lunar base, such as pipes, cables, landing pads, transport rails, and pressure vessels to contain volatiles like fuel. However, the metal materials for infrastructure are heavy, making them challenging and costly to transport from Earth.
Proposing teams submitted a wide variety of concepts for technologies needed at any point in the lunar metal production pipeline.
“The BIG Idea Challenge expands opportunities for students and faculty to immerse themselves in real NASA projects, as well as supports student pursuits in STEM,” said NASA’s Space Grant Project Manager Tomas Gonzalez-Torres. “Through participating in the BIG Idea Challenge, these teams are making big strides at the university level as well as toward excellence in their future careers.”
Once funded, teams continue designing, building, and testing their concepts in advance of a November 2023 forum, where their work will be showcased to the public and judged by a panel of NASA and industry experts. The forum allows the university-led teams to interface with ongoing lunar mission planning discussions that are underway within STMD’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII). Once developed, these projects are incubated by universities and could augment technology currently in development by NASA.
For more information: Big Idea Challenge
