US government agency NASA is testing cryogenic technology aimed at reducing future mission costs and extending duration by producing fuel on planetary surfaces.
The CryoFILL (cryogenic fluid in-situ liquefaction for landers) project aims to use the Moon’s resources to produce cryogenic fuels on-site.
Oxygen can be extracted from water ice as a gas, then cooled and condensed into liquid fuel.
“If we can produce and liquefy oxygen on the Moon or Mars, we can fuel landers on the surface where they land, reducing the amount of propellant needed to launch from Earth,” said Evan Racine, CryoFILL Project Manager at NASA Glenn.
This could reduce costs for future space missions. The Artemis II launch, including the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule, is estimated to cost around $4.1bn. The wider Artemis programme has cost approximately $93bn to date, according to NASA’s Inspector General.
Although propellant accounts for over 90% of a rocket’s lift-off weight, it typically represents less than 1% of total mission cost.
For CryoFILL, NASA is using a flight-like cryocooler to remove heat from the oxygen extraction system. This allows the oxygen to condense and remain at temperatures below –300°F.
“We’re testing with flight-like hardware to see how oxygen liquefies and how the system responds to different scenarios,” said Wesley Johnson, CryoFILL Lead Engineer.
NASA engineers prepare to integrate a flight-like cryocooler developed by Creare LLC with the CryoFILL system ©NASA
NASA engineers will study how oxygen condenses under various conditions over the next three months.
Once the test is complete, the data gathered can be used by NASA to design technologies for use on the Moon, Mars, or other planetary surfaces.
“These are critical steps toward scaling up and automating future in-situ refuelling,” added Johnson.
However, none of this is possible without the necessary infrastructure, much of which will be supported by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services.
According to NASA, a station will be built on the Moon in stages with autonomous landers providing heavy equipment, followed by crewed missions that will assemble the plant on-site.
Energy will be supplied by a nuclear power reactor or massive solar arrays, while robots will be used to move material and manage the extraction process.
Through the Artemis programme, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly ambitious missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery and to build a foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Artemis II on 1 April, marking a return to crewed lunar flight for the first time in more than half a century.
The Orion spacecraft was loaded with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant, primarily liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
During the mission, which splashed back down to Earth on 10 April, were also used to maintain a breathable atmosphere, regulate pressure, and support crew life systems within the spacecraft.
Orion also features three regenerable carbon dioxide and humidity control units, using an ammonia-derived solvent to remove CO2 and humidity from the cabin atmosphere.
Gases for the mission were supplied by companies such as Linde, Air Products and Air Liquide firm Airgas, which secured a contract to supply high-pressure nitrogen for launch operations.
