Martian Regolith Crushing Formal Status Update One Members: Nick Sestito & Christopher Graham

Overall Project Objective  Develop a Martian Regolith Crusher That will:  Crush a solidified Martian regolith permafrost-mix  Aid in the process of extracting water for a theoretical manned Martian colony  Create an optimal output product for a minimal heating power requirement

Current Project State  What has been done?  Crusher input Justification  Material/Crushing Criteria  Dimensional Cube Designation  What are we in the middle of?  Designating an optimal output regolith size created by the crusher  Suggesting a water/regolith filtration process  thermodynamic and heat transfer problem  Where will this lead us?  Designing/Improving previous semester crusher  Determine an overall Crushing mechanism  Determine whether a grinder will need to be added to the process

What has been done?  Selecting a material for the input regolith simulant  Set the criteria to the worst cast scenario:  Failure Strength:  Regolith/ice/salt mix < Seawater Ice < Fresh water ice  Criteria: Pure Freshwater ice  Mechanical property data is readily available

 Justify dimensioning for the crushing input  Initial requirement: 1 cubic meter of regolith per Martian day (sol)  Pervious semester’s publication proposal:  Cutting a cubic liter sized grid  10cm deep into Martian permafrost/icy veins  Leaving a grid of cantilever beams  Need 500 cubes hauled and crushed per sol What has been done?

 Justifying dimensioning for the crushing input  Current regolith excavating prototype basis  Lysander and Cratos excavators  Dust Pan Sweepers  Strictly a power requirement basis  Give an idea of:  Cubes hauled/sol  Excavating process suggestion What has been done?

What are we in the middle of?  Developing an optimal product size for the crusher output  Minimize oven heating power requirement  Powering necessity: Crusher <<< Heater

 The Heating Apparatus:  Assume hot CO2 gas heating  RAPID-L reactor specifications  Maximum radiator temperature  Establish a max CO2  Assume t=500 K What are we in the middle of?

 Estimate total heating requirement (200 K regolith heated to 400 K, latent heat of vaporization for water extraction)  Estimate HTC to each particle based on diameter and CO2 velocity  Convert permafrost collection rate number particle/time unit  Estimate the time required for the feedstock particles to be heated from 200 K to 400 K What are we in the middle of?

 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamic problem:  Find optimal pressure to run system in  Satisfy oven CO2 density and put water phase change above triple point  Forced convection on a falling particle  Most effective Heat Transfer Coefficient for particles  Lump system analysis  Uniform temperature change with varying time  Particles are small enough  Designate:  Heating pipe diameter and height  CO2 temperature and velocity  Filtration system of regolith, CO2 and condensate What are we in the middle of?

Where will this lead us?  Once an input and output has been determined and justified:  The geometry of the crusher has been determined  What type of Crusher?  A crusher and Grinder combination process?  Overall allow us to begin designing/improving a regolith crusher

Where will this lead us? Input Size  Thermal Model (Thermo & Heat Transfer Problem)  Output Size  Force Orientation/Requirement Fracture Strength (Strength of Materials Problem)  Crusher Type/Geometry (Design Problem)  Power Required for Crusher Function (Design Problem)  Test and Improve