Poseidon

Why Moon Mining?

To power future deep space missions

The detection of hydrogen and water ice at the lunar polar regions by NASA’s LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) in 2009 has sparked the uprising global enthusiasm for lunar resource exploration. LCROSS sent the rocket stage Centaur to induce an impact on the surface of the permanently shadowed crater Cabeus, that is located near the South Pole of the moon. Upon the impact, a debris plume rose from the bottom of the crater and released water vapor into space. NASA measured the hydrogen content of the plume with LCROSS. The concentration of water was determined as 5.6% by mass. Thermal images of the South Pole were used to analyze the temperature changes before and after the impact of Centaur.

This discover has tremendously impacted the desire of the aerospace industry to further explore the moon and to consider or closest extraterrestrial neighbor as a strategic base for future space travels. Specifically, the industry has recognized the remarkable potential of trapped water ice in lunar permanently shadowed craters (PSC) for the generation of spacecraft propulsion fuel. The PSCs pose relevant design constraints on future mission systems for the exploration of the lunar water ice reservoir, as the temperature at the bottom of the craters can easily drop below 100 K, moon dust has the potential to irritate mechanical joints of the surface equipment, and a local generation of solar energy will be impossible. But as John F. Kennedy has already expressed in 1962, we choose to explore the moon because it is hard!

Explore the following tabs to find out about the context of our innovation (NASA RASC-AL), our design strategies, and the team. Welcome to Poseidon!

RASC-AL 2018

Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts - Academic Linkage

The NASA competition empowers students to design and present innovative technologies related to the fascinating challenges of the aerspace industry. Every year, the National Institue of Aerospace encourages college student teams to tackle one of the proposed challenges and to submit design proposals.

The themes for the 2018 competition include:

1. Reusable Hybrid Propulsion Stage

2. Artificial Gravity Reusable Crewed Deep Space Transport

3. Propellant Resupply Capability

4. Lunar Polar Sample Return Architecture

Our team has begun its innovation for a tele-operated lunar core excavation and return transfer system for theme 4. The transfer system will transport a lunar sample from the surface of a permanently shadowed crater to the airlock of the orbiting deep space gateway. We are excited about this opportunity to explore the space resource industry and are confident in our proposed design.

Please refer to the RASC-AL website here for further information about the competition.

The roadmap for the competition is shown below.

Our Innovation

Stay tuned! Updates will follow soon.

In the mean time, please enjoy the wonderful view of Cabeus at the lunar South Pole.

About The Team

A team of motivated and hard working engineering students from the Colorado School of Mines. We are driven by our passion for grand challenges encountered on the Earth, the moon, and beyond.

Our Leadership:

Project Lead: Adam Marcinkowsky Can be found nerding out with books on team leadership and great historic figures.

Operations Team Leads

Secretary: Patrick Ng Loves to try out new recipes and hike beautiful trails in CO.

Communications: Sergey Koryakin Can be found meditating and teaching meditation to others.

Strategy: Grant McHargue Loves to go to the gym and do other physical activites.

Quality Control: Nick Wagner Pursues incredible landscape photography.

Marketing: Daniela Machnik Gets up super early in the morning just to see a beautiful sunrise.

Design Team Leads

Extraction and Drilling: Paul Stanton Licensed through the U.S. Soccer Federation as a soccer coach.

Geology and Site Selection: Nick Wagner

Propulsion and Transfer: Kevin Miller Can be found in the outdoors playing sports, hiking and camping.

Anchoring and Landing Legs: Jacob Drozdowicz Enjoys climbing up large piles of rock and sliding across flaky, frozen water on two planks of wood.

Contact

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';