Regolith to Rebar: ISRU - E&C Metal Workshop

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Venue: Virtual

Registration for this event is now closed.

The Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) is hosting a one-day virtual workshop that looks into the supply and demand sides of in-situ derived metals and metalloids that are derived from O2-extraction technologies. We plan to bring together lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) developers to represent the supply side and Excavation & Construction (E&C) focus group participants to represent the demand side, in an early attempt to link the in-situ production, the processing and the use/consumption of metals and metal-like by-products that result from O2 production technologies on the lunar surface. The workshop will consist of 10-minute long talks from the two perspectives, followed by a panel discussion accompanied by an interactive Miro board session(s) in tandem. This workshop is intended to lay the foundation for the development of an eco-system in this nascent field of lunar ISRU metals and to strengthen public-private partnership. Our over-arching goal is to develop a common and realistic mutual understanding of what is possible for metal ISRU in the near-term (next 5-10 years). Some issues to be addressed include:

• Discuss infrastructural needs for the use of metals. What kinds, how much, and in what shape and form?
• Discuss the usefulness of the ‘low hanging fruit’ resulting from current O2 extraction processes. What these products will be, how useful would they be, and if modest post-processing can be effective?
• Discuss feasibility of metal-specific manufacturing processes on lunar surface.
• Develop concepts for how to integrate the two sides, including identifying possible roles for NASA.
• Identify gaps and challenges in metal construction on lunar surface.
• Discuss economic feasibility of metallic yields and any desired associated additional processing, including areas ripe for improvement.

Registration is required, and the deadline to sign up is 15 February.