Latest In-situ resource utilization Stories

NASA is conducting a nine-day field test starting Tuesday outside Hilo, Hawaii, to evaluate new exploration techniques for the surface of the moon. These mission simulations, known as analog missions, are performed at extreme and often remote Earth locations to prepare for robotic and human missions to extraterrestrial destinations. The In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) analog mission is a collaboration of NASA partners, primarily the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), with help from the...

HILO, Hawaii, July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is conducting a nine-day field test starting Tuesday outside Hilo, Hawaii, to evaluate new exploration techniques for the surface of the moon. These mission simulations, known as analog missions, are performed at extreme and often remote Earth locations to prepare for robotic and human missions to extraterrestrial destinations. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The In-Situ Resource Utilization...

The New York Times reported on Saturday that NASA is considering plans to place fuel stations in space for spacecraft to fill back up before heading to the moon or Mars. The report said engineers will meet at NASA headquarters in Washington next month to discuss how propellant depots, as NASA calls it, could be used to reach farther into space. The Times said NASA performed study of propellant depots, which found that the budget needed for the project from 2012 through 2030 would be $60...

ESA's Directorate of Human Spaceflight is inviting industrial, technology and scientific communities to provide inputs for experiments and payload elements for accommodation on its first lunar lander.This Request for Information follows last year's ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level, where funding was approved for ESA to work towards launching a lunar lander in the 2017"“20 timeframe within the European Transportation and Human Exploration Preparatory Activities program and the Global...

NASA has concluded nearly two weeks of testing equipment and lunar rover concepts on Hawaii's volcanic soil. The agency's In Situ Resource Utilization Project, which studies ways astronauts can use resources found at landing sites, demonstrated how people might prospect for resources on the moon and make their own oxygen from lunar rocks and soil.The tests helped NASA gain valuable information about systems that could enable a sustainable and affordable lunar outpost by minimizing the amount...

The cool, rocky slopes of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that is Hawaii's highest mountain, will serve as a stand-in for the moon as researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, NASA and other organizations test a robot designed for lunar prospecting.During the field experiment, Nov. 1-13, the robot called Scarab will simulate a lunar mission to extract water, hydrogen, oxygen and other compounds that could potentially be mined for use by future lunar explorers. The...

NASA has been exploring space for nearly half a century, often with stupendous success. Yet "there's one thing we really don't know: what is the best way to explore a planet?" declares Paul D. Spudis, a senior planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.Discovering the most effective techniques for exploring a planet is itself cutting-edge research"”just as discovering the most effective mining technologies or the best ways of...

Life is tough for a humble grain of dirt on the surface of the Moon. It's peppered with cosmic rays, exposed to solar flares, and battered by micrometeorites -- shattered, vaporized and re-condensed countless times over the billions of years. Adding insult to injury, Earthlings want to strip it down to oxygen and other elements for "in situ resource utilization," or ISRU, the process of living off the land when NASA returns to the Moon in the not-so-distant future.But, as Robert...

Why colonize the Moon before going to Mars? NASA scientists give their reasons.Science@NASA -- NASA has a new Vision for Space Exploration: in the decades ahead, humans will land on Mars and explore the red planet. Brief visits will lead to longer stays and, maybe one day, to colonies. First, though, we're returning to the Moon. Why the Moon before Mars? "The Moon is a natural first step," explains Philip Metzger, a physicist at NASA Kennedy Space Center. "It's nearby. We can...