Monday, May 31, 2010

Lunar Outpost Life Support Architecture Study Based on a High-Mobility Exploration Scenario


Figure 1. Scenario 12.0.1 Lunar Outpost schematic. Lunar Electric Rovers (LER) are shown without a Portable Utility Pallet (PUP) Larger view available in source and through the image above.

Kevin E. Lange
Jabobs Technology, Inc.

Molly S. Anderson
NASA JSC

International Conference on Environmental Systems
Barcelona, July 11-15, 2010

An American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics paper presenting results of a life support architecture study based on a 2009 NASA lunar surface exploration scenario known as Scenario 12.

The study focuses on the assembly complete outpost configuration and includes pressurized rovers as part of a distributed outpost architecture in both stand-alone and integrated configurations. A range of life support architectures are examined reflecting different levels of closure and distributed functionality. Monte Carlo simulations are used to assess the sensitivity of results to volatile high-impact mission variables, including the quantity of residual Lander oxygen and hydrogen propellants available for scavenging, the fraction of crew time away from the outpost on excursions, total extravehicular activity hours, and habitat leakage. Surpluses or deficits of water and oxygen are reported for each architecture, along with fixed and 10-year total equivalent system mass estimates relative to a reference case. System robustness is discussed in terms of the probability of no water or oxygen resupply as determined from the Monte Carlo simulations.

New to the NTRS database, HERE.

No comments: