The ROxygen Project: Outpost-Scale Lunar Oxygen Production System Development at Johnson Space Center

Abstract

In 2009; the Augustine report reinforced the importance of in situ oxygen production as a critical technology for sustainable exploration. Engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Johnson Space Center have been working on making this critical technology a reality through the design, fabrication, and testing of two hydrogen reduction reactors, accomplished as part of the ROxygen project. Engineers built and extensively tested a small-scale reactor that provided key design parametrics for the second reactor—a large-scale vessel consistent with the scale required to produce 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) of oxygen per year. Once designed and fabricated, this large-scale reactor was tested in the laboratory and in the 2008 in situ research utilization field test on the slopes of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and in the laboratory at Johnson Space Center. This paper presents an overview of the approach taken, the high-level design information required, and the typical test data accrued for both the small-scale and large-scale reactors.