A Conceptual Open Pit Mine Architecture for the Moon Environment

Karol Seweryn; Adam Kolusz; Izabela Świca; Arkadiusz Tkacz; Alberto Gallina; Jacek Katzer; Janusz Kobaka; Petr Konecny; Przemysław Młynarczyk

doi:10.2478/arsa-2024-0002

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A Conceptual Open Pit Mine Architecture for the Moon Environment

Artificial Satellites

Volume 59 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

By: Karol Seweryn, Adam Kolusz, Izabela Świca, Arkadiusz Tkacz, Alberto Gallina, Jacek Katzer, Janusz Kobaka, Petr Konecny and Przemysław Młynarczyk

Open Access

|Apr 2024

Figures & Tables

The BLSS scheme includes the cultivation of microalgae in PBR and soybeans in the greenhouse as an oxygen source as well as food. Red arrows indicate waste generated during the mission from the crew (wastewater, carbon dioxide). Green arrows are goods like oxygen and food which are obtained from microalgae and plant cultivation. The blue arrow indicates nutrients provided from microalgae biomass (nitrogen, phosphorus) to plant cultivation. *Created with BioRender.com*

Reference astronaut’s daily water mass balance takes into account water demand and the source of water from the human body. Blue arrows indicate drinking water, food preparation water, water in launched food, and metabolic water. Yellow arrows are perspiration and respiration water vapor, urine, and feces water. Data are taken from Ewert et al. (2019). *Created with BioRender.com*.

Open pit mine block diagram describing the flow of lunar regolith, products, and reactants between processes

Timeframe of critical phases of an open pit mine development and operation

A schematic view of the proposed mining site. The site's vertical boundary is set at a depth of 10 m, based on average regolith layer estimates. The pit's average width is 30 m, with lengths determined by regolith mass requirements: 49.9 m during construction and 158.6 m (annually) during exploitation. The pit walls have a slope angle of 60°, chosen for safety despite the Moon's lower gravity. The haul road has a grade of 20%, with an elevation spread over a distance of 50 m, split into two 25-m sections on the pit's narrower side.

Table 1.

Demand for tonnes of regolith (substrate) in different states to carry out the selected processes

Regolith mass, t/year	Process	R0	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
Selling regolith	Excavation	68,959
Selling regolith	Magnetic separation		68,959
Construction of habitat	Excavation	6,662
	Magnetic separation		4,168
	Hydrogen reduction			375
	Backfilling				2,495	340
Construction of roads	Excavation	1,780
	Magnetic separation		1,780
	Compaction				1,620
Greenhouse construction	Excavation	19,987
	Magnetic separation		12,503
	Hydrogen reduction			1,125
	Backfilling				7,484	1,021
Construction of storage	Excavation	5,376
	Magnetic separation		5,376
	Compaction				4,789
	Backfilling				103
	Recultivation				60,000
Crew	Excavation	440
	Magnetic separation		440
	Fertilization				400
	Cultivation						400
Sum	Construction	45,103	35,893	3,001	12,699	1,361	400
Sum	Operations	85,633	85,633	1,501	60,000	0	400

Table 2.

Demand for reactants in different states to carry out selected processes

Mass in tonnes	Process	H₂	O₂	Algae	Plants/food	N	P	K	CO₂	H₂O	Binder
Construction of habitat	Hydrogen reduction	4.36
Construction of roads	Compaction										270.0
Greenhouse construction	Hydrogen reduction	13.08
Crew	Electrolysis									0.28
	Life support		0.7	0.26	0.07					4
	Fertilization			0.03
	PBR			0.00					0.50	70
	Cultivation							0.001	0.11	87
Sum	Construction	17.44	0.73	0.29	0.07	0.0013	0.001	0.001	0.61	161.28	270.00
Sum	Operations	0.00	0.73	0.29	0.07	0.0013	0.001	0.001	0.61	161.28	0.00

Table 3.

Products (regolith in different states) from selected processes

Regolith mass, t/year	Process	R0	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
Selling regolith	Excavation		68,959
Selling regolith	Magnetic separation			6,206	62,753
Construction of habitat	Excavation		6,662
	Magnetic separation		2,495	375	3,793
	Hydrogen reduction					340
Construction of roads	Excavation		297
Construction of roads	Magnetic separation			27	270
Greenhouse construction	Excavation		19,987
	Magnetic separation		7,484	1,125	11,378
	Hydrogen reduction					1,021
Construction of storage	Excavation		5,376
Construction of storage	Magnetic separation			484	4,892
Crew	Excavation		440
	Magnetic separation			40	400
	Fertilization						400
Sum	Construction	0	55,852	3,230	47,435	2,722	400
Sum	Operations	0	85,633	7,707	92,698	1,361	400

Table 4.

Products (reactants) from selected processes

Mass in tonnes	Process	H₂O	H₂	O₂	CO₂	Plants/food	Algae
Construction of habitat	Hydrogen reduction	39.4
Greenhouse construction	Hydrogen reduction	118.2
Crew	Electrolysis		0.03	0.25
	Life support				0.73
	PBR			0.4			0.29
	Cultivation			0.08		0.07
Sum	Construction	157.53	0.03	0.73	0.73	0.07	0.29
Sum	Operations	0.00	0.03	0.73	0.73	0.07	0.29

Table 5.

Numerical values of coefficients from equations 1 to 8

Process	Name	Symbol	Value	Process	Name	Symbol	Value
Excavation	R0 regolith	α_ex1	1	Cultivation	R5 regolith	α_ct1	1
Excavation	R1 regolith	α_ex2	1		H₂O	α_ct2	0.217
Magnetic separation	R1 regolith	α_ms1	1		CO₂	α_ct3	0.00045
	R2 regolith	α_ms2	0.090		Plants/food	α_ct4	0.00017
	R3 regolith	α_ms3	0.910		R5 regolith	α_ct6	1
Hydrogen reduction	R2 regolith	α_hr1	1	Photobio-reactor	H₂O	α_pb1	1
	H₂	α_hr2	0.012		CO₂	α_pb2	0.00714
	H₂O	α_hr3	0.105		Wastewater	α_pb3	0.05
	R4 regolith	α_hr4	0.907		Microalgae	α_pb4	0.00428
Electrolysis	H₂O	α_el1	1		O₂	α_pb5	0.00571
	H₂	α_el2	0.111		H₂O	α_pb6	0.6
	O₂	α_el3	0.889		N	α_pb7	0.00019
Backfilling	R1 regolith	α_bf1	0.880		P	α_pb8	0.000014
	R4 regolith	α_bf2	0.120	Waste utilization	CO₂	α_wu1	0.2
	Shield	α_bf3	1		Wastewater	α_wu2	1
Compaction	R3 regolith	α_cp1	0.500		O₂	α_wu3	0.15
	Binder	α_cp2	0.500		H₂0	α_wu4	1
	Road	α_cp3	1	Life support	O₂	α_ls1	0.175
Fertilization	R3 regolith	α_ft1	0.999		H₂O	α_ls2	1
	Microalgae	α_ft2	0.000075		Plants/food	α_ls3	0.0175
	K	α_ft3	0.0000025		Microalgae	α_ls4	0.065
	R5 regolith	α_ft4	1		CO₂	α_ls5	0.2
					Wastewater	α_ls6	1

Topology of the proposed open pit mine. Black rectangles describe the mine site, access ramps are indicated in red/black, red/yellow circles represent regolith storage, while blue and black dots show the storage of fluids. Rounded rectangles represent greenhouse (green), habitat (blue), and hydrogen reduction reactor (white) structures. Size of components are in geometrical scale.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/arsa-2024-0002 | Journal eISSN: 2083-6104 | Journal ISSN: 1509-3859 (formerly 0208-841X)

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Language: English

Page range: 11 - 41

Submitted on: Jun 26, 2023

Accepted on: Feb 12, 2024

Published on: Apr 9, 2024

Published by: Polish Academy of Sciences, Space Research Centre

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

Lunar open pit mine,

space resource utilization,

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© 2024 Karol Seweryn, Adam Kolusz, Izabela Świca, Arkadiusz Tkacz, Alberto Gallina, Jacek Katzer, Janusz Kobaka, Petr Konecny, Przemysław Młynarczyk, published by Polish Academy of Sciences, Space Research Centre
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 59 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

A Conceptual Open Pit Mine Architecture for the Moon Environment

Figures & Tables

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Table 1.

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Table 5.

Figure 6.

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