Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Open Access Master's Report

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Advisor 1

Paul van Susante

Committee Member 1

Jeffrey Allen

Committee Member 2

Chloe He

Committee Member 3

Timothy Eisele

Abstract

In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of finding, extracting, and using the local resources found on extraterrestrial bodies, such as the Moon and Mars. ISRU enables in-situ production of mission consumables—such as rocket fuel and potable water—which will be critical for establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon, a goal NASA intends to accomplish by 2028 with the Artemis missions. The separation and liquefaction of locally extracted volatiles—such as water, CO2, and Methane—is an essential component in lunar surface sustainability, but there are very few technologies being developed for this purpose. This report introduces the Radiative Passive Processing Technology for Offworld Resource Separation (RaPPTORS) system, a simple condenser that uses the cryogenic temperatures in lunar permanently shadowed regions to separate and liquefy gaseous volatile mixtures into their component species via passive radiative cooling. RaPPTORS research aims to develop a high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and a physical prototype of the RaPPTORS condenser. Experimental testing of the physical prototype will be used to ground and validate the CFD model. This report outlines current CFD modelling progress as well as proposed methodologies for future model development and experimental testing. Throughout the duration of this research, RaPPTORS will mature from TRL-2 to TRL-4 and will address research gaps in both CFD condensation modeling and ISRU separation technology development.

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