Lunar Oxygen Production Contest

[kucharek]

http://www.fsri.org/Press_Releases_2nd_Quarter_2005.htm#2Q053

SRI & NASA PARTNER ON CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE FOR LUNAR EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGY

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Florida Space Research Institute and NASA's Centennial Challenges program have partnered to sponsor the Moon Regolith Oxygen (MoonROx) prize to advance the state of the art in oxygen production from lunar soil. The competition will feature a $250,000 cash prize for the first organization or person to successfully demonstrate a system capable of extracting at least five kilograms of oxygen from lunar regolith within an eight-hour period.
"Oxygen extraction technologies will be critical for both robotic and human missions to the moon," said FSRI Executive Director Sam Durrance, a former astronaut, during today's International Space Development Conference. "Like other space-focused prize competitions, the MoonROx challenge will encourage a broad community of innovators to develop technologies that expand our current capabilities."

Although there are several ways to extract oxygen from lunar regolith, no systems have been developed with a capability to produce the quantity required to win the MoonROx challenge. Using such systems, NASA hopes to produce large quantities of oxygen on the lunar surface to provide breathable air for lunar base operations and to fuel vehicles that will land and launch from the Moon.

FSRI and NASA plan to formally release the MoonROx rules in coming weeks. The rules will require competitors to use a NASA-developed simulated regolith identified as "JSC-1" for their prize attempts. MoonROx is a first-to-demonstrate challenge, requiring competitors to register with FSRI at least 12 weeks before attempting a demonstration.

It will be interesting to learn how much power and energy use they allow for the task.

[tlbs101]

It will be interesting to learn how much power and energy use they allow for the task.
That's kinda what I was thinking. If you "throw" enough energy at the problem it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Now, that stated, I don't know the processes and chemistries involved, so there may be more to it than just "throw more energy" at it, but I still think that is the case.

I wonder if there is a requirement in the MoonROx challenge for energy consumption and for mass/weight of the extraction "unit".

[publiusr]

I thought www.britishtitanium.co.uk already won this?

[frogesque]

For breathable air, as well as O2 you also need to dilute it with something inert and humidify it. Would this system also have to produce N2 and water vapour or are they really only interested in O2 for fuel?

Also, have they given up on hopes of finding usable quantities of water ice within deep polar craters?

[Grey]

That's kinda what I was thinking. If you "throw" enough energy at the problem it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Now, that stated, I don't know the processes and chemistries involved, so there may be more to it than just "throw more energy" at it, but I still think that is the case.

I wonder if there is a requirement in the MoonROx challenge for energy consumption and for mass/weight of the extraction "unit".
I think they still haven't published the full rules, but here are a few details gleaned from news sources.

Their device cannot weigh more than 25 kilograms and the challenge ends on 1 June 2008.
Winning requires the team to make five kilograms — about 11 pounds — of breathable oxygen within eight hours using the fake moon dirt and a power source provided.
So there's a weight limit on the device itself, and it will have only a limited power supply.