Conceptual Design of ARIES Rover for Water Production and Resource Utilization on the Moon

In 2024, humanity will begin the colonization of the Moon and for this to happen, many items are required to be brought from the earth. However, if the resources could be extracted and used in situ to make commodities, it would make it easier to establish a settlement. The most valuable resource in space is water, because of its usage during life-supporting activities and importance in the production of rocket fuel. One way to obtain it is to produce it from Ilmenite mineral, found in reserves called “Mares”. Using Hydrogen, Ilmenite at high temperatures can be reduced and produce water. However, according to mineralogical characterization of the samples carried by the Apollo astronauts, not all Ilmenite is suitable for this process. Moreover, to start a space mining unit, it is necessary to find a deposit with high reserves and good metallurgical performance. Therefore a conceptual design of ARIES Rover is proposed, which is a mechatronic system classified as a Land-based robot, capable to resist the lunar environment, take regolith samples, and test them in situ using the technology of “Ilmenite reduction by Hydrogen”, to find geological deposits with the best quality of ore to produce water. The idea is being developed by the first author of this paper since 2019, after his space studies training at the International Space University - Strasbourg. The implementation is expected to be ready by 2021 and the tests will begin in 2022 in Pampas de La Joya Desert in Peru. This research was carried out with the support of Space Medicine and Biomechatronics Research Group - TMSP.