In Situ Resource Utilization
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In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) refers to the production of useful materials from the resources available at a given location. (The phrase is from the Latin in situ, meaning "at the site", or "in place".)
One form of ISRU is In-Situ Propellant Production, (ISPP), or manufacture of rocket fuel from local resources; the term ISPP is no longer currently much used, in favor of the more generic terminology ISRU, which incorporates use of in-situ resources for uses other than propellant.
ISRU can be categorized into production of materials useful at the current location, primarily:
- life support
- propellant
- radiation shielding
- construction and structural materials
- raw materials for other production useful for habitat expansion
It may be possible to commercialize these processes to produce:
- materials for use elsewhere in space:
- propellant for exploration and colonization
- building materials for habitats and spacecraft
- materials as commodities for possible sale back to Earth:
- high-value materials, such as Platinum Group Metals
- bulk materials, such as nickel and iron refined from asteroidal resources
- materials for manufacture of solar power satellites to export energy to Earth
Contents
ISRU possible on the moon
Construction Materials
Lunar Oxygen (LUNOX)
(see also listing on LUNOX page)
- Ilmenite Reduction
- Glass Reduction
- Fluorine reaction
- Magma electrolysis
- Aluminum reduction
- Carbothermal reduction
- Methane reduction
Metals
Lunar Gasses (other than oxygen)
- Volatile Scavenging
- Hydrogen from electrolysis of Lunar Polar water
Related Articles
- LUNOX
- Ore Bodies
- Value of commodities
- Lunar outgassing
- List of Resources
- List of Construction Materials
