A Preliminary Framework For The Selection Of Materials & Manufacturing Processes For Lunar Surface Systems Assuming Integration To A Space Circular Economy

Abstract:  In-situ resource utilization and in-situ manufacturing are being actively pursued as ways to enhance the development of human activities in space. However, the re-purpose of space systems through processes like recycling, re-manufacturing, and re-use, has not received the attention it deserves given its potential to reduce the waste generated by human activities in space, improve the sustainability of space habitats, and reduce the environmental impact on Earth of human activities in space.  This dissertation explores the available life cycle analysis methodologies in order to understand how the industry treats and measures re-purposability, and what re-purposing enabling technologies are available or under development, and proposes the use of the embodied energy and derived metrics to: quantify the waste generated by a space system when reaches its end of life, how re-purposable a space system is, and how valuable the outputs of the re-purposing process are for the habitat were the system is being processed. This data can then used to provide feedback regarding manufacturing process and material selection for the design, enabling a systems architect to optimize it with re-purposability in mind.  This Design to Re-purpose methodology (DTR) is tested through the analysis of selected components of an Lunar Habitat design from Hassell Studios, to the extend possible given the early state of the design, and with some assumptions regarding the expected repurposing technologies available. It demonstrated that performs as expected for the scenario provided, and yielded useful material selection feedback, including how the value of the re-purposing output material can infuence the design to optimize its re-purposability and the subsequent value it provides to the habitat.  Further development of this methodology is necessary, as well as additional testing especially considering scenarios where the initial system is not built on Earth, for which a preliminary road map was laid down.