A modular high volume transport system for lunar Regolith.

Regolith is a collective term for the upper layer of a stony soil. Such layers exist on earth as well as on other planets of our solar system like the moon.

To enable ISRU a constant and homogeneous stream of material is necessary. ISRU (in situ resource utilization) is the use of extraterrestrial resources on site. This technic is the first step for an independent and affordable extraterrestrial outpost. Such outpost could serve as a lab, training ground and interstellar hub for further exploration of the solar system.

As lunar regolith contains Oxygen (O), Iron (Fe), Silizium (Si), Aluminium (Al), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and others it can be used for the following: Rocket-fuel-production, solar-sintering and 3D-printing.

No. The system is stationary.

We acknowledge that both underlying concepts (vertical [1] and horizontal [2]) are based on peer-reviewed papers by Hioyuki Kawamoto from Waseda University (kawa@waseda.jp). Our team has made changes to both concepts, resulting in a complete regolith transport system called regONE. Vertical [1]: Vertical Transport of Lunar Regolith and Ice Particles Using Electrodynamic Traveling Wave Hiroyuki Kawamoto; Kazuhiro Hata; and Takahiko Shibata July 2021, Journal of Aerospace Engineering 34(4) Horizontal [2]: Vibration Transport of Lunar Regolith for In Situ Resource Utilization Using Piezoelectric Actuators with Displacement-Amplifying Mechanism Hiroyuki Kawamoto May 2020, Journal of Aerospace Engineering 33(3)