Harvesting Martian Resources to create fuel, water, oxygen and - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

School of Mining Engineering Mars Mining Operation Optimiser - M 2 O 2 Carlos Tapia Cortez - School of Mining Engineering - UNSW A/Prof. Serkan Saydam - School of Mining Engineering - UNSW Dr Laurent Sibille - Ascentech Enterprises, Inc.– KSC Swampworks Prof. Michael Karmis - Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research - Virginia Tech Dr Aaron Noble - Mining and Minerals Engineering – Virginia Tech

RESOURCES “Harvesting Martian Resources to create fuel, water, oxygen and building materials.” Journey to Mars, NASA (2015)

Mars Mineral Resources HOW? Earth

“Mining robots will be a key MINING MODEL part of the planned colonization of Mars” “The vital role mining equipment is set to play when it comes to help people establish their homes in Mars” Musk, E (2016) - SpaceX

Off Earth Mining Technology Prospective MISWE Rassor TBM Rover/ Vacuum Distillation Corer Transporter

OFF EARTH MINING “A lot of experience from the terrestrial mining can be shared to the space industry ” Serres, M (2017)

M 2 O 2 Simulates Martian mining operation for regolith extraction and water production. Assesses and compares technical requirements of Martian mining missions. Uses geological, mineralogical and topographical data. NASA (2017) https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/university-students-mine-for-water-at-nasa-s-mars-ice-challeng

M 2 O 2

M 2 O 2 - Location

M 2 O 2 – Surface Architecture

M 2 O 2 – Surface Architecture

M 2 O 2 – Geological Block Model Rozenite Block Model Original Rozenite Data Rotated Rozenite Data M²O² (37 ◦ )

M 2 O 2 – Surface Architecture

M 2 O 2 – Surface Architecture

M 2 O 2 – Surface Architecture

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Target

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Target

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Equipment

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Equipment

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Equipment

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Mining Method

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Mining Method

M 2 O 2 – Mining System / Processing 21.96 4.12 3.66

M 2 O 2 – Simulation MS MS01 MS MS02 MS03 MS MS0 MS04 25 250 35 35 70 70 40 40 30 30 60 60 200 20 27 25 25 50 50 39 39 15 150 20 20 40 40 1 15 15 30 30 210 29 100 10 38 38 10 10 20 20 38 50 50 38 5 10 10 0 0 0 37 37 MISWE MISWE MISWE MISWE RASSOR RASSOR RASSOR RASSOR TRANSPORTER TRANSPORTER TRANSPORTER TRANSPORTER Mining S System ems P Perfor ormance C e Compar arison on Production & Pro & Cycle time 7.0 7. 200 200 6. 6.0 5. 5.0 (h) (h g /h) (kg / 4.0 4. 100 100 (k 3.0 3. 2.0 2. 1. 1.0 0.0 0. 0 MS01 MS 01 MS02 MS 02 MS03 MS 03 MS MS04 04 Rego golith th P Prod oducti tion Min Mining c cycl cle e time

38 38 39 39 27 27 38 38 65 65 M 2 O 2 – Simulation 210 210 21 21

Conclusions & Recommendations M 2 O 2  Provides a comprehensive approach for assessing Martian mining mission performance and technical requirements.  Helps planning missions by assessing hazardous conditions and geological uncertainties.  Compares the performance of difference mining configuration for water extraction on Mars.  Provides valuable information for the design Off-Earth mining equipment to reach production target for different Martian regions and crew number.

Further Research  Add Machine Learning algorithms to: • Infer, calculate and update In-Situ resources. • Select the more appropriated mining/fleet configuration. • Assess uncertainties. Manage risks . •  Improve Earth mining technology knowledge for adapting to Martian environment (design and performance).  Code the tool in a more powerful platform to improve its graphical and calculation performance.