37results about "Extraterrestrail material mining" patented technology

A lunar regolith reduction reactor system includes a housing, a crucible, and a pair of electrodes. The housing includes a base structure and a cover structure detachably connected to the base structure, a gas input port to permit input of hydrogen gas into the housing, and a gas output port to permit outgassing of water vapor and gases. The crucible is designed to hold an amount of lunar regolith in the housing. The electrodes are disposed apart from one another and adjacent the crucible, wherein the electrodes are connectable to a power source to generate an electric arc to heat lunar regolith in the crucible and initiate a reduction reaction to separate oxygen gas and reduce separated material into a molten state.

Systems and methods for autonomous extraction of volatile minerals from extraterrestrial regolith are disclosed. A rover tows a mineral-collection wagon that mechanically prepares surface regolith and positions a detachable collector shield over a target area. When lowered, the shield rim seals against the regolith to define a localized, low-leakage environment. A radiant heating element raises the regolith to vaporization temperature; released species migrate to the shield's inner surface, which is cryogenically or ambiently cooled to condense solids as a removable film. After a heating / collection cycle, the shield is decoupled for retrieval and processing while the wagon immediately accepts a replacement shield, enabling continuous, modular operation. Embodiments support guided alignment, power coupling, optional daisy-chained wagons, and reciprocating or continuous motion to increase throughput on lunar or similar vacuum surfaces.

Described herein are embodiments directed to a heat recovery arrangement for collecting vaporized gas trapped in regolith. The heat recovery arrangement generally comprising a rover that carries heat recovery elements that cooperate with a primary heat source. The heat recovery elements include a preheat contact element that preheats a region of regolith before the region is brought to high heat by the primary heat source. As the rover moves forward, the preheat contact element receives heat collected from the high heat region via a heat recovery sled that moves in contact with the high heat region. Heat is transferred between the heat recovery sled and the preheat contact element via a heat transfer medium that circulates through the heat recovery sled and preheat contact element.

The present disclosure relates to a coring assembly for extraterrestrial drilling and a preparation method of the coring assembly for extraterrestrial drilling. The coring assembly for extraterrestrial drilling includes: a limit locking mechanism, a flexible coring rotary body, a variable-diameter cone, an equal-tension bundled rope, and an end cap. One end of the flexible coring rotary body is connected to the limit locking mechanism, and the other end of the flexible coring rotary body is connected to one end of the variable-diameter cone. The flexible coring rotary body and the variable-diameter cone form a flexible coring structure. A storage structure is connected within the variable-diameter cone; and the other end of the variable-diameter cone is connected to the end cap via the equal-tension bundled rope.

The invention discloses an array type penetrometer and a moon polar region water ice temperature control mining and in-situ hydrogen production method, and relates to the technical field of moon water ice resource mining and in-situ utilization. The array type penetrometer is composed of a plurality of simple temperature control penetrometers, an in-situ exploitation hydrogen production penetrometer and a control system. An end heating and side wall heating module is arranged in the simple temperature control penetrometer, and the penetrometers are evenly distributed along the circumference. The in-situ mining hydrogen production penetrometer is located in the center of the circumference and is composed of a thick-wall cylinder body structure, a dense hole ventilation grid, a conical head heating module, a side wall heating module and a microwave plasma module. Temperature difference, air pressure difference and pore conductance difference are generated in a water-ice reservoir through the array type temperature control penetrometer, water-ice phase change is driven, directional migration and enrichment towards a central area are achieved, then part of rarefied water vapor is cracked in situ through a microwave plasma generating device arranged in the central penetrometer, and co-production of water, oxygen and hydrogen is achieved.

Systems and methods for the in situ extraction of materials, for example lunar regolith, from a celestial body. The systems and methods described herein can be used in outer space or on Earth. A high pressure gas is delivered to loosen up the material and form a borehole. A deployable mast deploys from a stowed, coiled configuration to a linear, deployed configuration into the borehole. A deployable tube may deploy to assist with delivering the gas and / or collecting the loosened material. One or more jets emit the gas. The jets may be supported at a free end of the tube or mast. The jets may direct loosened material through the tube and / or mast toward a collection reservoir. A flow separator may filter the loosened material from the gasses.

The invention discloses a device and a method for improving the microwave mining efficiency of moon water ice, and belongs to the technical field of in-situ mining of extraterrestrial water ice. The device comprises a multifunctional drilling unit, an air pressure reconstruction unit, a multifunctional heating unit and a moisture collection and storage unit, the multifunctional drilling unit is used for drilling frozen lunar soil, and the multifunctional drilling unit is further used for providing a sealed environment for the frozen lunar soil extracted through drilling; the air pressure reconstruction unit is used for setting a pressure environment for frozen lunar soil in the multifunctional drilling unit according to preset requirements; the multifunctional heating unit is used for heating the frozen lunar soil in the multifunctional drilling unit in a pressure environment set by the air pressure reconstruction unit, so that the frozen lunar soil in the multifunctional drilling unit generates liquid water, and ice in the frozen lunar soil is melted and vaporized by taking the liquid water as a microwave absorption and heat conduction carrier; and the water collection and storage unit is used for collecting and storing water vapor generated by melting and vaporizing ice in the frozen lunar soil in the multifunctional drilling unit.

A gaseous substance collection system that can be used on extraterrestrial celestial bodies is envisaged for collecting target gaseous atoms and molecules that float in a shielded environment at a pressure equal to or less than 1 * 10-5 bar. The shielded environment is defined within a cover placed on top of the granular soil, and in one embodiment, the granular soil is a weathered layer. The cover includes a cover body extending from an edge to a top of the cover. The shielding environment is not communicated with the external environment through the cover body. The mining device further comprises a blade, a heat source and a gas collecting face. A blade extends from the edge and is configured to penetrate particulate soil. A heat source disposed in the cover is configured to heat particulate soil. The gas collection face is disposed in the shielded environment and is configured to maintain a temperature below 100 DEG Kelvin.

The invention discloses a comprehensive disaster prevention and control system and method for rock breaking engineering of lunar mineral resource exploitation. A shielding protective cover is used for preventing rock debris and dust in a rock breaking working area from escaping out of the shielding protective cover; the dust monitoring device is used for monitoring the dust concentration at different positions of the rock breaking working area; the distributed optical fiber strain sensing device is used for monitoring the strain of the surface of the shielding protective cover; the control center is used for receiving a signal fed back by the distributed optical fiber strain sensing device, evaluating the damage degree of the shielding protective cover and repairing the position, needing to be repaired, of the shielding protective cover through a magnetic field or a temperature field excited by the repairing device; the vacuum adsorption pipeline conveys rock debris and dust generated in the rock breaking working area to the collection cabin by generating negative pressure, and the control center regulates and controls the negative pressure value of the vacuum adsorption pipeline by receiving the dust concentration condition, so that controllable expansion of cracks in the moon rock breaking process is achieved, the generated debris and dust are collected, and the rock breaking efficiency is improved. And the construction safety is effectively ensured.

The invention discloses a vacuum microgravity environment asteroid solid mineral mining device and mining method, and belongs to the technical field of asteroid resource utilization. The problems that an existing asteroid sampling device is extremely small in sampling amount, large-scale mineral collection cannot be achieved, and hard rock mass cannot be treated are solved. A flexible closed skirt is installed at the end of the rigid closed barrel, the side face of the rigid closed barrel communicates with the solid mineral collecting mechanism, and the rotating mechanism is installed on the inner wall of the rigid closed barrel in the radial direction. The microgravity mechanical mining mechanism, the laser hole forming mechanism and the high-pressure gas blowing-out mechanism are fixedly connected to one side of the rotating mechanism. Mineral is reversely crushed through the microgravity mechanical mining mechanism, continuous and stable crushing of solid mineral is achieved, airflow is directionally jetted to a preset area through the high-pressure gas blowing-out mechanism, and efficient and large-scale collection of irregularly moving particles is achieved.

The application discloses a lunar permanent shadow area permanent water resource exploitation base system, wherein a concentrator, a concentrator support, a focal point catcher, a light energy focusing collimator, a universal light path transceiver and a light energy distributor form a sunlight energy collection and transmission system; through a water resource thermal exploitation pile and a water resource thermal exploitation system, water resource exploitation is carried out by using sunlight energy, and by-products, i.e., bricks and thin waists, are produced to provide building materials for building permanent structures on the moon surface; the application can be used in water resource exploitation engineering in the lunar permanent shadow area and can be used in water resource exploitation engineering in the weak sunlight irradiation area on the moon surface; water molecules released in the process of heating the moon soil can be effectively captured by using water absorption medicine bags formed by using montmorillonite and porous quicklime; the application greatly reduces the requirement of the earth-moon rocket carrying capacity, reduces the difficulty of construction, operation and maintenance of the lunar permanent water resource exploitation base, and prolongs the service life of the water resource exploitation base.

The invention relates to a biological mining method and system device suitable for space resource development. The system device comprises a front-end crushing and grinding device, a microorganism reaction box, a microorganism culture box, a useful element extraction device, a material flow direction control device, a multifunctional mechanical arm, a rear-end useful element storage box and the like. The biological mining method comprises the following steps: crushing extraterrestrial celestial body minerals to a proper particle size, feeding the crushed extraterrestrial celestial body minerals into a microbial reaction box for leaching reaction, and then separating out tailing slag and liquid; the liquid enters a material flow direction control device, microorganisms are isolated for cyclic utilization, and synchronously filtered residual liquid enters a useful element extraction device to separate out target elements; the residual liquid is subjected to water purification treatment and then returns to the microbial incubator to form circulation. The device adopts a modularized and lightweight structure, has the advantages of low energy consumption, high efficiency, strong adaptability, cyclic utilization and the like, is highly unmanned, automatic and intelligent, and can realize efficient extraction and sustainable utilization of space mineral resources.

The invention provides an extraterrestrial celestial body drilling tool system linkage type pressing device. The extraterrestrial celestial body drilling tool system linkage type pressing device comprises a guide rail drilling tool combination pressing assembly, a guide rail supporting and drilling rod limiting assembly and a linkage rope. The guide rail and drilling tool combined pressing assembly is located at one end of a drill rod of the percussion drill and used for pressing and releasing the drill rod, a guide rail and a detector, the guide rail and drilling tool combined pressing assembly is connected with the guide rail supporting and drill rod limiting assembly located at the other end of the drill rod through a linkage rope, and the linkage rope is released while the percussion drill and the guide rail are unlocked; the release of the guide rail support and the drill rod limiting assembly is realized; the guide rail supporting and drill rod limiting assembly is used for guide rail supporting and drill rod limiting. According to the invention, the multi-point pressing and reliable releasing effects on the drilling tool are realized.

The present application envisages a vapor collection system usable on extraterrestrial celestial bodies for collecting target gaseous atoms and molecules (species) floating in a shielded environment having a pressure equal to or less than 1 bar. In one embodiment, a shielded environment is defined within a cover and skirt arrangement that lies over granular soil, in one embodiment, the granular soil is a topsoil layer. Advantageously, the topsoil layer beneath the cover is substantially free of loose rocks that can reduce mining efficiency and / or obstruct sealing of the cover from the surface of the topsoil layer. Thus, certain embodiments contemplate the use of a zero tailing device to exploit a topsoil layer that utilizes a front plough to clear loose rock at a location on the topsoil layer where a cover is to rest, and uses a redeposition blade to collect and redeposit the cleared loose rock behind the cover.

A gaseous substance collection system that can be used on extraterrestrial celestial bodies is envisaged for collecting target gaseous atoms and molecules (materials) that float in a shielded environment at a pressure equal to or less than 1 bar. A shielded environment is defined within a cover and skirt arrangement placed on top of granular soil, in one embodiment, the granular soil is a weathered layer. The cap and skirt device generally include a skirt extending from the cap that is substantially sealed over the weathered layer surface to create a shielded environment that prevents gaseous material from escaping into the space. The skirt may be lowered or dragged across the weathered layer surface, even made into a conforming surface. The gaseous material may be mined by a blade or digging tool and a heat source that releases the gaseous material from the weathered layer.

A regolith oxygen extraction system that extracts oxygen and produces molten regolith by processing and heating a continuous regolith feed. The system feeds regolith through a vertical hopper to a reaction chamber, the regolith itself sealing the inlet to the reaction chamber while maintaining continuous flow. The heated regolith reacts within the reaction chamber to produce oxygen and processed regolith. The processed regolith is removed from the reactor chamber through an extrusion nozzle, the processed regolith itself sealing the produced gases within the reactor chamber while maintaining continuous flow of processed regolith. The system employs non-contact reaction temperature measurement and rapid oxygen content measurement in the regolith upstream and downstream of the reaction zone, and may be integrated with multiple oxygen extraction methods.

The present application contemplates a vapor collection system that can be used on extraterrestrial bodies for collecting target gaseous atoms and molecules (matter) that are floating in a shielded environment at a pressure equal to or less than 1 bar. The shielded environment is confined within a cover and skirt arrangement that is positioned above a granular soil, which in one embodiment is a regolith layer. Advantageously, the regolith layer beneath the cover is substantially free of loose rock that would reduce the efficiency of the mining operation and / or interfere with the sealing of the cover to the surface of the regolith layer. Accordingly, certain embodiments contemplate the use of a zero-tailings arrangement to mine the regolith layer that utilizes a front plow to clear loose rock at the location on the regolith layer where the cover is to be deposited and uses a re-deposition blade to collect and re-deposit the cleared loose rock behind the cover.

A process for extracting volatile constituents from a mass of regolith, particularly of lunar or Martian origin, comprising the following steps: progressive heating of the regolith leading to selective degassing of the various volatile constituents over time, according to the temperature reached by said regolith, with those having the highest vapor pressures degassing before those having lower vapor pressures; selection of at least a first temperature range (T1, T2) during which a gaseous mixture enriched in at least one valuable constituent and depleted in at least one undesirable constituent is collected, notably by degassing the regolith, relative to the initial concentrations of these constituents in the regolith. (Simplified figure: Fig. 2)

A large-movement-stroke light-weight 3D printing space guide rail is of a long and thin structure and is of a skin lattice structure, namely, a bone structure bionic structure. The section of the space guide rail is in an I shape, the upper half portion of the space guide rail is a first-stage feeding working face, and the drilling tool assembly achieves drilling and drill lifting actions through the first-stage feeding working face. And the lower half part is a secondary feeding working surface which is matched with the unfolding bracket to solve the suspension distance with the surface of an extraterrestrial celestial body. The first-stage feeding working face and the second-stage feeding working face are combined through an I-shaped structure, and the movement stroke of the drilling tool assembly is increased. By means of the I-shaped double-working-face large-motion-stroke design, the overall rigidity of the assembly and the space guide rail can be effectively improved, and the motion stroke of the drilling tool assembly is increased; through the structural lightweight design and the I-shaped double-working-face large movement stroke design, the weight of the space guide rail can be effectively reduced; and the skin dot matrix lightweight design is adopted for the long and thin space guide rail, the SLM additive manufacturing production process is selected, and the production period is effectively shortened.

Disclosed is a segregating gas arrangement that generally comprises a gas segregation chamber, at least one cooling plate in the gas segregation chamber, and a carbon adsorber in an adsorption gas capturing chamber. The gas segregation chamber has a rim that when resting atop regolith defines a first interior environment. The cooling plates are in the gas segregation chamber, wherein the cooling plates are maintained at a first temperature above 5° K, which is a condensation temperature that higher temperature condensing gases will condense. The adsorption gas capturing chamber defines a second interior environment that is in communication with the first interior environment. The carbon adsorber is in the second interior environment and is maintained at a second temperature below 3° K. The carbon adsorber is configured to capture the low temperature condensing gas.

The present application relates to the technical field of extraterrestrial resource development, in particular to a microwave-mechanical self-adaptive anchoring device for asteroid resource mining. The device comprises a mechanical arm, a microwave generator, an anchoring drill and an anchoring shell. The mechanical arm is internally provided with a microwave transmission channel, and the microwave generator guides the microwave to the anchoring shell through the channel; the anchoring shell is made of microwave absorbing material and can absorb microwave to heat and assist in melting the surrounding asteroid soil. The anchoring drill is driven by a conical structure and a ring-shaped push plate to drive the anchoring shell to drill down synchronously, and the mechanical lower arm is separated after anchoring is completed through a disengaging plate, a disengaging block and a limiting groove. The system identifies the dielectric properties of the asteroid soil through a dielectric detection device, self-adaptively adjusts the microwave working parameters, and realizes closed-loop control of the melting temperature by using a thermocouple. Through microwave melting anchoring, a fused anchoring body is formed in situ, which has the advantages of high anchoring strength, small disturbance to the asteroid, strong environmental adaptability, safe detachment and the like.

A particle filtration system for protecting a gas isolation region from weathered layer dust using an electrostatic filtration device is described. An ionizing element (e.g., a screen or wand) creates one or more electron curtains that charge neutral dust particles and then are attracted by electrostatic attraction onto a pair of electrically conductive plates. The system operates efficiently under vacuum conditions, utilizing field emission from sharp triangular tips of the ionizing elements to create high density electron streams. The last stage ULPA mesh filter captures any remaining particles, ensuring that only gas enters a gas isolation region. By means of the design, the dust reducing effect is enhanced, the gas collecting efficiency is improved, and sensitive components are protected in the hostile besides-satellite environment.

To provide a method for extracting a volatile substance from the soil of the moon by which the volatile substance is separated from the soil and stored by collecting the soil frozen on the surface of the moon and heating the soil with a solar heat collecting heater, and to provide a gas collecting system using the method.SOLUTION: A method for extracting volatile substances from lunar soil, the method comprising the steps of: (a-1) extracting and storing mixed gas from frozen lunar surface soil by collecting the frozen lunar surface soil and heating the frozen lunar surface soil using a solar collector; (a- 2) primarily analyzing and separating the mixed gas to store hydrogen, oxygen, and water; and (a- 3) primarily analyzing and separating the mixed gas to separate and store Group 0 gas of helium-3 and helium-4 and carbon-based gas, wherein the soil is obtained in a permanent shadow region of the moon.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

The application discloses a lunar permanent shadow area water ice resource exploitation device and method, and belongs to the field of lunar in-situ resource utilization. The device is arranged on one side of a moving platform and comprises a feeding mechanism. The feeding mechanism comprises a lifting screw nut movable plate, a rotary drive mechanism and a heating extraction mechanism are arranged on the screw nut movable plate. The heating extraction mechanism comprises a plurality of circumferentially uniformly distributed drill needles, and an alternating coil is arranged on the outer side of the drill needle. The rotary drive mechanism comprises a rotary drive motor capable of driving the drill needle to rotate. After the drill needle is drilled into the lunar soil, the ice is heated to evaporate and vaporize. The device further comprises a water vapor transfer mechanism and a condensation collection mechanism. The water vapor transfer mechanism is located at the lower end of the device and can guide the water vapor into the condensation collection mechanism for condensation collection. The device overcomes the problem that the existing lunar soil water ice exploitation method has a small effective heating range for deep lunar soil, low water ice exploitation efficiency and difficulty in being applied to lunar large-scale water ice extraction.

The invention provides a large-scale mining system for lunar resources. The large-scale mining system comprises a movable vehicle body, a rotary roller excavating mechanism, a roller side traction disc conveying mechanism, a turnover vehicle hopper mechanism, a rock breaking drilling mechanism and a drilling side traction disc conveying mechanism. The rotary roller excavating mechanism and the roller side traction disc conveying mechanism are located on one side of the movable vehicle body, the rock breaking drilling mechanism and the drilling side traction disc conveying mechanism are located on the other side of the movable vehicle body, and the turnover vehicle hopper mechanism is located on the vehicle body. The rotary drum excavation mechanism is responsible for collecting and pretreating surface lunar soil and creating working face conditions for subsequent excavation of an underground tunnel; the roller side traction disc conveying mechanism is used for collecting lunar soil and conveying the lunar soil into the turnover car hopper mechanism for storage; the rock breaking drilling mechanism is used for drilling and milling deep lunar soil, and the drilling side traction disc conveying mechanism is used for collecting the lunar soil cut by the rock breaking drilling mechanism and conveying the lunar soil to the vehicle hopper.

This invention relates to a drilling-anchored asteroid mineral harvesting and trans-domain transportation system and method, belonging to the field of asteroid mineral harvesting and transportation technology. It addresses the problems of poor terrain adaptability and low reliability in existing asteroid mining devices. The system includes a harvesting device, a mineral collection mechanism, and a mothership probe. The harvesting device comprises a mineral collection mechanism, a drilling-anchoring mechanism, a centrifugal acceleration mechanism, a jet propulsion device, and a mining robot shell. The mineral collection mechanism is connected to the centrifugal acceleration mechanism, which is housed within the mining robot shell. The output end of the centrifugal acceleration mechanism is coordinated with the mineral collection mechanism. The mineral collection mechanism is mounted on the mothership. The jet propulsion device is located on the upper side of the mining robot shell, and the drilling-anchoring mechanism is located on the lower side of the mining robot shell. This invention can adapt to various asteroid terrains and environments, enabling reliable anchoring on the asteroid surface for mineral harvesting and transportation, effectively improving the efficiency of asteroid mineral harvesting and transportation, and offering high reliability.

The application provides a kind of method and system for transporting material between the earth and the moon based on a cluster of spacecrafts in distant retrograde orbit family.The method comprises: obtaining lunar material;plasma processing the lunar material to obtain target plasma material;launching the target plasma material from the moon to a first cluster of spacecrafts, which operates in a DRO orbit family;the first cluster of spacecrafts receives the target plasma material and transports it to a second cluster of spacecrafts, which operates in a geocentric orbit;and the second cluster of spacecrafts receives the target plasma material.Using this method and system for transporting material between the earth and the moon can form a transportation channel, significantly reducing the cost of transporting material between the earth and the moon and improving the efficiency of transportation.

This invention relates to the field of asteroid resource extraction technology, and in particular to a microwave-laser time-series composite dissociation system and method for asteroid mineral dissociation. The system includes a mineral storage and transportation module, a microwave energy field module, a laser emission module, and a data acquisition, processing, and feedback control module. The mineral storage and transportation module includes a screw conveyor for ore feeding and discharging, a mineral loading crucible, a compaction mechanism, and a pushing mechanism, adapted to the microgravity environment of asteroids. The method sequentially includes mineral conveying, compaction, initial temperature calibration, microwave heating, temperature determination, laser target positioning and fracturing, dissociation assessment, and material discharge and resetting steps. This invention employs a microwave-laser time-series composite mode, avoiding mineral floating and splashing under microgravity, achieving efficient and stable mineral dissociation, improving resource utilization, solving the drawbacks of traditional crushing methods, and meeting the mineral processing needs in asteroid exploration.

The application discloses a drill string internal chip removal system for lunar rock drilling, which comprises a rock taking outer drill bit, an internal swallowing type rock chip removal joint, a rock chip removal cylinder cover, a directional knocking hammer, a knocking hammer mounting plate, a rock chip removal cylinder cover opening and closing transmission shaft, a rock chip removal cylinder cover opening and closing thrust shaft and a rock chip removal cylinder cover opening and closing driving motor. When drilling rock is carried out, the rock chip removal system is arranged, the rock chips generated in the drilling process are moved to the rock chip storage cavity from the hole bottom through the rock chip removal channel under the combined action of directional vibration and self inertia, and are stored in the rock chip storage cavity, so that the hole bottom is cleaned, abnormal wear of the drill bit caused by repeated crushing is avoided, and the service life of the drill bit and the drilling efficiency are improved.

Embodiments are described for collecting gas via a CPC device. The CPC device generally includes a transport device carrying a housing having one or more cryogenic cooling plates (or some other cryogenic cooling surfaces) therein. Each of the plurality of CPCs distributed over the transport device has a concave reflective bowl for capturing and directing sunlight through the fiber optic cable, where the sunlight focuses on the weathered layer in the interior environment defined within the enclosure when placed on the weathered layer. The focused sunlight heats the weathered layer such that gases are released from the weathered layer, which are captured in the internal environment. Gas in the internal environment is condensed on the cooling plate, and the gas can be collected and treated on the cooling plate.