The Fertile Moon team project at the Masters in Space Studies (2006, International Space University) set out to evaluate the economic feasibility of lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Technologies for hydrogen, oxygen, and water production by creating a model from an interdisciplinary perspective. This study compares the supply of resources produced in-situ on the Moon with those supplied from Earth and makes recommendations based on various scenarios. Presented on behalf of the Team by Bee Thakore at the IAC in 2006. Extended version of the presentation is available on request.

1. “To evaluate the economic feasibility of lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Technologies
for hydrogen, oxygen, and water production by creating a model from an interdisciplinary
perspective. This study compares the supply of resources produced in-situ on the Moon with
those supplied from Earth and makes recommendations based on various scenarios”
-FERTILE Moon Mission Statement-
Miss Bijal Thakore
IAC-06-A3.P.6.04 In-situ Resource Utilization for Space

2. For Energy costs, it is assumed that for all needs more than 10kW, nuclear power will
be used and for all under 10kW, solar cells shall be employed
In terms of costing, different ISRU processes incorporate different costing
considerations, hence the base costing was compared to the ‘supply from Earth’
option
Costing ISRUCosting ISRU
• Cost for development and Production of an ISRU facility include all R&D
required based on the current Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to make them
flight ready.
Capital Costs = CD&P + CInst
Operating Costs = CSpare + CConsum +
CEnergy + CLabor + CMining
• AMCM for R&D costs
• SOCM used for the labor costs
• LUBSIM for Lunar Base cost sim
• TRANSCOST for Earth-Moon
Transportation
• Mining capital costs include equipment cost and Earth-Moon transportation costs.
• Equipment lifetime is considered to be 10 years.

3. Validating the model
• ISRU costing and comparison for
different processes is uncharted
territory
• Model is based on several
assumptions concerning input data,
functions, relationships between
parameter, which affect its overall
accuracy
• Results were checked against several
missions evaluated by previous
modeling tools.
• Most studies carried out in the past concentrate on permanent habitats, whilst
the mixture of resources and supplies change constantly for FERTILE Moon

4. Analysis
Scope of the mining facility
• The molten silicate and carbothermal
processes do not need vast amounts of
regolith (due to their high efficiency) whilst
hydrogen reduction of ilmenite and water
extraction require close to 10 times more
mined area to produce a similar oxygen
output.
Process costs and production runtimes
• Hydrogen reduction is the first, excluding
hydrogen extraction, to cross over the
terrestrial option, at 160 days.
• Results implies that producing the
resources on the lunar surface will be
more economical for short and medium
durations

5. Recommendations
• FERTILE Moon provides a
unique structure to examine
the economic feasibility of
using ISRU technologies to
support various types of
missions.
• The model incorporates
current knowledge and data
available about lunar
resources
• The model shall benefit from incorporating new knowledge from upcoming
prospecting missions
• The model is expandable and can be applied to more resources that can be
produced in-situ

6. Thank you
If you have any questions, please contact:
Thakore@isu.isunet.edu

7. Thank you
If you have any questions, please contact:
Thakore@isu.isunet.edu