Lunar outpost sustaining human space exploration by utilizing in-situ resources with a focus on propellant production

Space exploration has recently witnessed a surge of renewed interest, in particular, the concept of a human mission to the Moon is increasingly being discussed by national agencies and private enterprises alike. A lunar base is commonly regarded as a good first step for humanity’s expansion beyond Earth. This paper proposes a pre-phase A study about infrastructure on the Moon surface with the capability of sustaining future human space exploration. The outpost will be relying on In-Situ Resources Utilization (ISRU) and on the support of the orbiting Deep Space Gateway (DSG), in line with the current ISECG exploration roadmap. In this context, precursor robotic missions, such as the concept proposed in the ESA-led Heracles study, and related activities on the Moon surface are considered as sources of insight and technology validation. The incremental steps necessary for setting up the Lunar outpost are discussed and analysed, both for surface and on-orbit missions. A feasibility and sustainability study is carried out for a propellant production plant, the primary purpose of which is to provide the capability of refuelling space vehicles. The design of the overall mission revolves around four main building blocks, which are analysed in detail: crew habitats, a large pressurized crew rover, ISRU facilities and a lunar spaceport. The overall mission scenario has been derived from a set of trade-off analyses that have been performed to choose the mission architecture and operations that satisfy the stakeholder expectations: the most important features of these analyses and their results are described within the paper. Regarding the timeframe, the analysed mission is expected to take place after robotic precursor expeditions, which are scheduled to launch in the 2020s. The first manned mission shall follow before 2030 with the purpose of setting up the propellant production facility, which shall be operational by 2035. The study is carried out by the 10th edition of the Specializing Master programme in SpacE Exploration and Development Systems (SEEDS) of 2017/18 at Politecnico di Torino (Italy). This work was performed in cooperation with students from ISAE-Supaero (France) and University of Leicester (UK). The project is supported by Thales Alenia Space Italy, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency.