The LSPoP pipeline is envisioned to be laid at the South Pole of the Moon for transporting oxygen in the gas form from an extraction site to a proposed future Lunar base
NASA awards grant to Lunar Resources and Wood towards the feasibility of laying the LSPoP pipeline on Moon. (Credit: WikiImages from Pixabay)
Lunar Resources and Wood have secured a grant from NASA to study the feasibility of building the Lunar South Pole Oxygen Pipeline (LSPoP pipeline) on the Moon.
The grant has been given by NASA under its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme.
Lunar Resources is a space industrial company, while Wood is a consulting and engineering firm.
The LSPoP pipeline is envisioned to be built at the South Pole of the Moon for transporting oxygen in gas form from an extraction site to a proposed future Lunar base.
NASA’s grant will cover an initial nine-month feasibility study and is part of the lunar architecture of Lunar Resources to provide in-situ commodities on the Moon’s South Pole by 2028.
Lunar Resources CEO Elliot Carol said: “It is imperative for America to develop industrial infrastructure on the Moon to enable a permanent lunar presence. We are thrilled to team with Wood on the development of the LSPoP, who brings a premiere team to design revolutionary lunar infrastructure.”
Alongside Wood, the space industrial company will lead a design study on the LSPoP pipeline. Their team will carry out an end-to-end system-level design study.
The study will include exploring the possibility of constructing pipeline elements in-situ from the abundant metals that are found on the Moon.
Lunar Resources said that it is leading the development of molten regolith electrolysis and has built full scale systems, which are being evaluated for flights to the Moon. The company has also claimed to have extracted high-purity iron, silicon, and aluminum from its process.
Wood projects business onshore vice president Mark Netzel said: “To bring our pipeline expertise to the lunar surface is incredibly exciting for us, from both the potential impact this pipeline could have on lunar development and the technical challenges we must solve to implement a project this advanced.”
The oxygen transported from the extraction site will be utilized for human habitats, rovers, and other life support systems with a constant supply of high purity oxygen for consumption by humans. It will also be used for oxidiser for launch vehicles leaving the Moon.