85results about "Extraterrestrail material mining" patented technology

Systems and methods are disclosed for mining lunar and Martian polar permafrost to extract gas propellants. The method can comprise identifying a plurality of near-polar landing sites in craters in which the surface comprises permafrost in perpetual darkness, wherein such landing sites have perpetual sunlight available at altitudes of about 100 to 200 m. A mining outpost can be established in at least one of the sites and a high altitude solar array deployed at the landing site using a lightweight mast tall enough to generate near continuous power for the outpost. Systems and apparatus are disclosed for mining the permafrost at the landing sites using radiant gas dynamic mining procedures. The systems can comprise a rover vehicle with an integrated large area dome for cryotrapping gases released from the surface and multi-wavelength radiant heating systems to provide adjustable heating as a function of depth.

Systems and apparatus are disclosed for mining the permafrost at the landing sites using radiant gas dynamic mining procedures. The systems can comprise a rover vehicle with an integrated large area dome for cryotrapping gases released from the surface and multi-wavelength radiant heating systems to provide adjustable heating as a function of depth. Various antenna arrays and configurations are disclosed, some of which can cooperate for a specific aiming or targeting effect.

Systems and methods for industrial robotic platforms. Squads of industrial robots autonomously communicate and work together. A control center may monitor the autonomous operations. Software at the control center, squad, and robot levels forms a distributed control system that analyzes various data related to the platform for monitoring of the various systems. Artificial intelligence, such as machine learning, is implemented at the control center, squad, and / or robot levels for swarm behavior driven by intelligent decision making. Each robot may include a universal platform attached to a task-specific tooling system. A robot may be elected as a squad leader, cartographer leader, or task planning leader. A squad leader, cartographer leader, or task planning leader may perform specialized planning functions for a squad of robots. Information generated by robots performing a task may be transmitted to the control center for further development of machine learning models.

The invention provides large-scale continuous mining and collecting equipment and method for moon water and ice resources. The equipment comprises a mobile platform, and a multifunctional integrated shoveling and digging module, a microwave energy-gathered heating module, a water collecting and storing module and a mechanical arm which are mounted on the mobile platform, the mechanical arm is used for driving the multifunctional integrated shoveling and digging module to be reversely buckled on the surface layer of the ice-containing lunar soil to construct a heating cavity or shovel and dig the lunar soil; the microwave energy-gathered heating module is used for heating the ice-containing lunar soil in the heating cavity in a microwave energy-gathered heating mode so as to perform heat extraction of water and ice resources on the ice-containing lunar soil, and the water collection and storage module is used for collecting and storing water obtained through heat extraction. Water and ice resources in lunar soil from the surface layer to the deep layer can be continuously mined through circulating operation, and large-scale continuous operation is achieved.

Solar thermal and chemical hybrid rocket configurations for mining and other space applications are disclosed. One aspect is a rocket propulsion system configured to provide rocket thrust, including a solar absorber, a rocket nozzle, and a solar power collection system configured to collect solar energy from the sun, generate an energy beam from the collected sunlight, heat the solar absorber to transfer heat to one or more pressurized propulsive gases, and expel the heated pressurized propulsive gases through a rocket nozzle. A solar absorber can be formed from a granular collection or agglomeration of solids (e.g., of beads), which can be layered with more transparent layer(s) above and more absorbing layer(s) below to create a temperature profile in propellant(s) flowing through the absorber. A hybrid motor can provide an energy (e.g., solar) absorber for absorbing and transferring radiative energy as well as a combustion area. Multiple propellants can be present in a single chamber and be forced from a nozzle to produce thrust. Pressure in a rocket can be achieved from heating inert gasses, and alternatively or simultaneously, from mixing and igniting non-inert gasses.

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.

The system extracts water from lunar regolith and includes a regolith intake having a digging bucket that collects lunar regolith soil and a gravel separator that separates and discharges gravel and passes a mixture of ice-regolith powder having ice grains that are about 10-100 microns along the conveyor. A pneumatic separator receives the ice-regolith powder and pneumatically splits the ice-regolith powder into streams of different sized lithic fragments and ice particles per the ratio of inertial force and aerodynamic drag force of the lithic fragments and ice particles. Each split stream may include a magnetic separator that separates further the magnetic and paramagnetic lithic fragments from ice particles to discharge up to 80 percent of lithic fragments to slag.

The invention discloses a device and a method for exploiting water-ice resources in a permanent shadow area of the moon, and belongs to the field of utilization of in-situ resources of the moon. The water and ice resource mining device for the permanent shadow area of the moon is arranged on one side of a movable platform and comprises a feeding mechanism, the feeding mechanism comprises a nut movable plate capable of ascending and descending, and a rotary driving mechanism and a heating extraction mechanism are arranged on the nut movable plate; the heating extraction mechanism comprises a plurality of drill pins which are uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction, and the outer sides of the drill pins are sleeved with alternating coils; the rotary driving mechanism comprises a rotary driving motor capable of driving the drill point to rotate; after the drill point drills into lunar soil, heating to volatilize and vaporize ice; the device further comprises a water vapor transfer mechanism and a condensation collection mechanism, and the water vapor transfer mechanism is located at the lower end of the device and can guide water vapor into the condensation collection mechanism to be condensed and collected. The problems that an existing lunar soil water-ice mining method is small in effective heating range of deep lunar soil, low in water-ice mining efficiency and difficult to be suitable for large-scale water-ice extraction of the moon are solved.

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 collecting vaporize gas via a CPC arrangement. The CPC arrangement generally comprises a transporter that carries around a cover with one or more cryogenically cooled plates (or some other cryogenically cooled surface) therein. A plurality of CPCs dispersed on the transporter each have a concave reflective bowl that captures and directs sunlight through a fiberoptic cable where the sunlight is focused on regolith in an internal environment defined within the cover when resting atop the regolith. The focused sunlight heats the regolith and liberates the gas from the regolith, which is trapped in the internal environment. The gas in the internal environment condenses on the cooled plates where it can be collected and processed.

The invention discloses a V-shaped drill bit drilling mechanical model modeling method considering lunar soil muck uniform distribution, and belongs to the technical field of lunar surface drilling and lunar soil mechanical analysis. In order to solve the problem of cutting force and power consumption calculation errors caused by neglecting of dynamic pressure of excavated muck on a cutting area in a traditional drilling model, a lunar soil cutting mechanical model considering uniformly distributed pressure is established, and a calculation formula of cutting resistance of a central failure area and a lateral failure area is deduced; a relation model between the horizontal component, the vertical component, the total cutting force, the torque, the power consumption and the efficiency of the cutting force and drill bit structure parameters is constructed. According to the method, the dynamic uniform pressure effect of excavated muck on a cutting area is quantified, the limitation of a traditional lunar soil drilling model in cutting force and power consumption prediction is improved, a theoretical basis is provided for structure optimization, energy consumption control and reliability improvement of lunar drilling equipment, and the method has high engineering application value.

The invention discloses a lunar surface and lunar deep base in-situ non-cementation integrated construction method, which comprises the following steps: through mutual cooperation of a water ice electrolysis lunar vehicle, a thermal rock breaking lunar vehicle and a hoisting-carrying lunar vehicle, selecting a deep lava cave on the lunar as a deep base, and selecting a construction position of a lunar surface base around the deep base; then the hoisting-carrying lunar vehicle carries out loading and unloading operation on the components of the water-ice electrolysis lunar vehicle and carries the position of the thermal rock breaking lunar vehicle; the water-ice electrolysis lunar vehicle continuously converts water-ice resources on the moon into hydrogen and oxygen to supply energy to thermal rock breaking; the thermal rock breaking lunar rover generates high-temperature flames to jet and break rocks, and thermal stripping and associated tensile thermal cracking of lunar soil and lunar rocks are achieved through the high-temperature flames. And finally, synchronous construction is conducted on the lunar surface base and the deep base, materials adopted in the construction process are all taken from the moon in situ, the lunar surface base is constructed by means of a topological interlocking structure, and in-situ non-cementing integrated construction of the lunar surface base and the deep lunar base is achieved.

The invention relates to the technical field of space, in particular to a space mining method. The method comprises the following steps: collecting extraterrestrial star substances, and throwing the substances away from the extraterrestrial star by using electric energy as power through a throwing device, so as to realize the transportation of the substances or the transportation of the extraterrestrial star. The invention further relates to space mining equipment which comprises an energy device and a casting device, the casting device is an electromagnetic catapult device or a centrifugal casting device, and substances are accelerated through electric power to be cast away from extraterrestrial stars.

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.

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 provides a lunar unmanned resource development and utilization system. The lunar unmanned resource development and utilization system comprises a command and control center subsystem, an energy and energy storage subsystem, an in-situ mining subsystem, a resource utilization subsystem and a transportation subsystem, the lunar unmanned resource development and utilization system is not only used for self-closed loop operation, but also used for storing extra resources required by development and production of self operation and transporting the resources to the earth regularly, or providing energy and material supply for other nearby related systems and infrastructures of a lunar base so as to guarantee long-term stable operation of the system. The lunar surface power generation function and automatic production of materials such as materials and parts can be achieved, and self-closed loop of lunar surface energy and materials can be achieved.

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 provides a movable lunar resource exploitation and storage device, and belongs to the technical field of lunar base construction and resource exploitation. The problem that an existing lunar resource mining device is poor in efficiency and stability is solved. The device comprises a storage cabin, a walking structure, an anchoring structure, a mining structure, an energy supply structure and a radar detection and high-precision inertial navigation system, and the walking structure is arranged below the storage cabin and used for driving the storage cabin to move; the anchoring structure can extend into and be fixed below the earth surface of the moon so as to fix the relative position of the storage cabin and the earth surface of the moon; the mining structure can extend below the earth surface of the lunar to collect lunar resources and transmit the lunar resources back to the storage cabin; the radar detection and high-precision inertial navigation system is used for monitoring lunar surface conditions in real time and determining and navigating to a mining position; the energy supply structure is used for functions of the walking structure, the anchoring structure and the mining structure. The device has recoverability and high efficiency, energy consumption is reduced, and sustainability of lunar resource exploitation is improved.

A system and associated method constructs a building material from lunar soil. A magnetic sorter magnetically sorts the lunar soil and the system creates a layered surface comprising a microwave susceptible, thermal conductive top layer of lunar soil and a poorly microwave-susceptible and poorly thermally conductive sublayer of lunar soil. A microwave generator generates microwave energy into an antenna and directs the microwave energy onto the top layer of lunar soil to sinter the microwave susceptible, thermal conductive top layer of lunar soil.

An optical mining apparatus comprising: a light weight solar reflector; optics for controlling the delivery of concentrated sun light onto the surface of a target; and a temperature controlled gas enclosure that contains the target; wherein said solar reflector is oriented to reflect sun light onto said optics.

A water collecting device includes an ice-wall forming part configured to heat the ground to form an ice wall with ice that includes moisture in the ground, and a water collecting part configured to recover a first gas within a region surrounded by the ice wall and collect water from the recovered first gas.

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 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 present invention relates to an intelligent drilling-type space mining robot, comprising: a frame, on which a storage box is fixed, the interior of the storage box is communicated with a compressor, and the communication position is covered with a filter screen; a traveling mechanism is installed on both sides of the frame; the drilling and suction mechanism includes a lifting mechanism, a high-pressure gas tank, a drill barrel, a connecting pipe, a high-pressure delivery pipe and a servo motor, the drill barrel is rotatably connected to the lifting end of the lifting mechanism, a drill bit is fixed at its bottom end, a drill bit hole is formed along the axis of the drill bit, the high-pressure delivery pipe is arranged corresponding to the drill bit hole and forms a high-pressure area through an air outlet hole; a robotic arm is installed at the rear end of the frame for collecting large-particle ores; through the cooperation of the drilling and suction mechanism and the high-pressure air flow, the present invention uses the high-pressure air flow to transport small-particle ores to the storage box and intercepts them through the filter screen, solving the problems of low mining efficiency and poor adaptability of existing space mining robots in a low-gravity and high-radiation environment.