Bulk Regolith Handling Technologies for Landing/Launch Pad Site Preparation and Blast Shield Construction

The Phase 2 effort further refines our Phase 1 defined CONOPS and system architecture for a lunar launch/landing pad (LLP) construction operationbased on a clear description of the envisioned fleet of fixed and mobile robotic systems and how it will evolve from the first landing, and lunar operations needed to prepare the equipment to survive the first lunar night after landing and extraction from the lander. It then establisheshow the LLP facility construction would take place with specific attention to the general LLP construction site layout, site setup, pad pavement construction with in-situ produced bricks frommolten regolith, and finally LLP protective berm construction. The CONOPS considershow the extensive and high-value robotic construction equipment suite could be redeployed after the LLP is complete. This includesproviding local logistics support such as lander unloading and equipment delivery from its unloaded location to its destination on the Moon, supporting Lunar Base operations, constructing new infrastructure, and mining operations to extract resources for use on the Moon. Civil engineering processes and geotechnical assessments for bulk regolith manipulations and conveyanceare further developed for LLP construction using an an end-to-end system architecture approach. Specific areas of innovation include: A bulk regolith distribution system forhauling excavated regolith, processing at a sorting station, and sieving for feedstock production for the LLP brickmaking robots Definition ofmultiple autonomous machines and enabling machine-to-machine collaboration Site layout with traverse distance and path optimization Physics-based terra-mechanics simulations of vehicles and tool implements A physics-engine for plumeflow surface interactions Prototype universal tool-implement payload adapter for interchangeable functions of the robot mobility platform A framework of construction processes using autonomous robotics technologies focused on efforts for launch/landing pad (LLP) site preparation and construction of the pad. These are applied to the construction system architecture of vehicles and devices needed for site preparation including: construction equipment delivered to the lunar surface cargo hold packaging and offloading setup and staging at the initial landing location regolith excavation and conveyance techniques filtering and sieving feedstock for making LLP bricks pad construction building the LLP blast shield protective berms. Main Objectives: Refine Phase 1 CONOPS and System Architecture Configuration management of Phase 2 CONOPS & System Architecture Proof-of-concept for a Regolith Distribution System Develop Universal Tool-Implement Payload Adapter (UTIPA) for robotic platform Vehicles power and energy requirements Proof-of-concept for RegoPAC Berm Bagging Machine (BBM) Assess soil mechanics with models and simulations Deliverables: UTIPA Prototype Excavator Field Demo Subscale BBM Prototype Feedstock sorting and distribution proof of concepts Geotechnic modeling and simulations Physics-engine surface interaction plume flow modeling Physics-based terra-mechanics modeling for vehicles and implements power and energy requirements
Benefits: Research results will be highly relevant and applicable to multiple lunar surface construction projects: Lunar Landing Pads (LLP), roads, parking / industrial yards, foundations. Outside of the primary space markets, applications for selected technologies developed under this project may exist in: Global land mine / buried ordnance clearance operations Terrestrial infrastructure (roads and bridges) repair and maintenance Erosion protection (hill slopes and river banks) Environmental remediation