System analysis of a Moon base at the south pole: Considering landing sites, ECLSS and ISRU

The objective of this paper is to perform an in-depth feasibility analysis and dimensioning of a potential Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) and power system for a crewed lunar base at the lunar south pole. The analyzed ECLSS includes an In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) reactor for oxygen resupply and a Regenerative Fuel Cell System (RFCS) as power supply during shadow phases. The co-dependencies and interactions between the ECLSS sub-systems themselves and with the environment are incorporated to achieve a holistic system analysis. We used a fixed ECLSS configuration based on the current NASA plans for a Moon base ECLSS with a fixed function-to-subsystem allocation. The performed trade-offs are then restricted within the design space, to e.g. resize tanks and individual subsystems instead of considering other possible subsystems. We chose this approach because the aim of this paper is to perform an in-depth system analysis of all related subsystems and their interaction with the environment instead of a top-level trade-off. The first step is the selection of a suitable landing site and the dynamic simulation of its lighting conditions over the investigated period of 1 year. We use a slope map with a resolution of 120 m per pixel, a Permanently Shaded Region (PSR) map with a resolution of 240 m per pixel and a digital elevation model with a resolution of 240 m per point, which is interpolated from a source with a resolution of 60 m per pixel and meshed with triangles by the Thermal Moon Simulator (TherMoS) tool in order to calculate illumination values. The requirements chosen for the candidate landing sites are a slope of less than 5 degrees over a diameter of at least 1 km and having both a PSR and a Peak of Light (POL) in less than 10 km distance. We discuss the four most promising candidate sites in this paper and calculate initial energy storage system estimates to select two landing sites for further analysis. We derive a reaction kinetics model for the ilmenite hydrogen reduction ISRU process from literature data and incorporate it into a dynamic model with simulated lighting and thermal conditions to calculate heat losses to the environment and the required electrical energy for its operation. In addition, we use the derived model to analyze and compare different design options of the ISRU reactor with an Equivalent System Mass (ESM) based optimization approach to identify the optimal operating conditions. Using this approach, we found operating temperatures above 1150 K resulted in higher ESM values for the reactor than lower temperatures. For the Moon base, we combine an ISS ECLSS model and the ISRU reactor model. The state-of-the-art urine and water processing technologies achieve recovery rates of up to 98%. Hence, we expect the overall ECLSS including the ISRU reactor to have a water surplus when combined with a Sabatier reactor to process metabolic CO2 from the crew into methane and water. Therefore, the Sabatier reactor combined with an electrolyzer can potentially generate methane and oxygen as fuel for resupply missions. The system can achieve a theoretic fuel production of 4100 kg per year using this approach. Although the dynamic analysis showed that only 2588 kg could be produced per year because of the lean operating conditions of the Sabatier and its efficiency of below 100%. The produced oxygen and methane could reduce operating costs for the base by reducing the required fuel resupply. Based on the power demands of the other subsystems and the available solar power and shadow duration at the selected landing site, we dimensioned the RFCS and estimate the required mass for it to 19,500 kg. Which is less than half the mass required if lithium batteries are used. The overall system requires resupply of approximately 6580 kg per year for a crew of six. The dynamic analysis of the system showed that the initial mostly steady state sizing approach can be optimized and relevant system parameters can be reduced by more than 15%.

Automated summary

This paper aims to conduct an in-depth feasibility analysis and dimensioning of a potential environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) and power system for a crewed lunar base at the lunar south pole, considering the interdependencies between subsystems and their interactions with the environment. The study involves selecting suitable landing sites, dynamic simulation of lighting conditions, and analyzing different design options for the ISRU reactor. The research also focuses on utilizing state-of-the-art technologies to achieve high recovery rates and potential fuel production for resupply missions.