RESOLVE Rover Tests In Situ Resource Utilization in Hawaii

Artemis Jr, CSA’s ISRU rover (Credits: NASA/Joe Bibby).

NASA is developing a robotic explorer at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to track down water on the moon, Mars or on an asteroid. The Canadian Space Agency provided Artemis Jr., which is the rover for the payload, the onboard drill and sample transfer system, as well as avionics microprocessors. The principle hardware system, the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE), will be mounted on CSA’s Artemis Jr. rover. RESOLVE includes a drill, a chemical plant (with an oxygen and volatiles extraction node, gas chromatograph, and mass spectrometer), a neutron spectrometer, and a near infrared spectrometer. The system will be tested on the side of Mauna Kea, in some of Hawaii’s volcanic ash deposits, which provide geologic terrain and composition similar to what scientists expect to find on the moon, an asteroid, or Mars. The simulation will also include a mockup of a lunar lander, complete with a camera, communication, and navigation package.