Company - Space Applications Services
Product/Service - LUVMI, LUVMI-X
- Classification
- Surface Spacecraft
- Category
- Commercial Rover
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- Not announced
Lunar Rover
Product/Service - ALCHEMIST
- Classification
- Space Resources
- Category
- ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilization)
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2025
ALCHEMIST - In Situ Resource Utilisation
Prospecting is a first step of in the value chain.
- ESA’s Phase 0 study to define a demonstration ISRU payload
- ESA’s ISRU terrestrial testbed which is proving ISRU technology for the production of oxygen and water from regolith using the reduction of iron oxides from Lunar regolith simulant
- ESA’s Phase A/B1 study (ALCHEMIST) to specify and prototype the payload that will demonstrate ISRU on the moon by 2025.
GROUND-BASED PILOT PLANT
Space Applications Services (SpaceApps) has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA), and will lead an international consortium to design an ISRU Ground-Based Pilot Plant (GBPP), 2023-10-12
This plant aims to produce oxygen and metal from Lunar regolith on Earth, a major step in the advancement of In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) technologies. The GBPP will be hosted at the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) in Luxembourg, strengthening the strategic partnership between ESA and ESRIC in the field of space resources. The plant will complement the existing ALCHEMIST-ED Hydrogen Reduction demonstrator, which was successfully delivered by Space Applications Services, and the ISRULAB FFC Cambridge process cells currently in development by SpaceApps.
The primary objectives of this activity include:
- Developing a preliminary design, concept of operations, and costing for the GBPP.
- Acquiring long-term characterisation and understanding of the technologies currently foreseen in other projects, and their integration at the system level in the GBPP.
- Providing ESA with the detailed design of the Process Reactor Unit and breadboarding of critical technologies.
Created: 2023-03-05
Updated: 2025-01-09
Product/Service - Skybeam
- Classification
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Category
- Space Solar Power
In-Space Assembly
- Status
- Concept
- First launch
- Not announced
Skybeam: Assembly of a Space Solar Power system with European Technologies
- November 2021 to November 2022
- Advanced green energy generation concepts like space-based solar power (SBSP) have extensively been studied in the past, but have not been implemented due to several challenges. One of these key challenges is the fact that solar power satellites demand tremendously large infrastructures, that require numerous launches with large masses.
- Advanced green energy generation concepts like space-based solar power (SBSP) have extensively been studied in the past, but have not been implemented due to several challenges. One of these key challenges is the fact that solar power satellites demand tremendously large infrastructures, that require numerous launches with large masses.
- This study idea aims to give a new look at the assembly of a SBSP station based on strategic technologies being developed in Europe, in particular: HOTDOCK modular interfaces allowing the interconnection of structures (part of the PER ASPERA programme)A number of Multi-Arm Robot (MAR) (being developed in the ESA MIRROR project) The concept foresees multiple multi-axis robots that create the vast (km-scale) structural elements of the solar power satellite by mounting standardized construction elements together.ness. Various enabling technologies for space robotics are being developed in collaboration between ESA, National Agencies, the EU and Industry as part of the PER ASPERA programme.
- The concept foresees multiple multi-axis robots that create the vast (km-scale) structural elements of the solar power satellite by mounting standardized construction elements together. To do so, the robots are potentially attached to a central truss girder and slide up and down, or translate through HOTDOCK-compatible interfaces along the ever-growing spacecraft-structure. The study will use existing reference architectures and focus on the in-orbit construction process of extremely large infrastructure.
Status Comment / Notes
Created: 2023-03-11
Updated: 2024-10-02
Product/Service - Walking Manipulator, HOTDOCK
- Classification
- Miscellaneous
- Category
- In-Space Assembly
Robotic Arm
Space Robotics
Hardware
- Fields
- Docking Technologies
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- Not announced
Walking Manipulator
HOTDOCK - Mating/Demating Device
Look at a microscopic level at what happens to our heart as we age. The plan in a nutshell:
- Print on Earth a 3D miniature heart on a chip with bio-ink and living cells.
- Build an artificial blood vessel system around it that feeds the heart.
- Send everything to Space and mimic a long life on Earth.
- Remote test, analyze the aged heart and test any drugs.
Created: 2023-04-06
Updated: 2024-01-21
News, Research, Projects and Patents
Title | Type | Date | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
White paper - Microgravity for biotech & pharma | Whitepaper | 2022-01-01 | > |
ESA awards Space Resources contract to Space Applications Services | Project | 2021-05-12 | > ESA awards contract to Space Applications Services to deliver systems and optimise operations for producing oxygen from Lunar soil through the FFC process. |