The system extracts water from lunar regolith and includes a regolith intake having a digging bucket that collects lunar regolith soil and a gravel separator that separates and discharges gravel and passes a mixture of ice-regolith powder having ice grains that are about 10-100 microns along the conveyor. A pneumatic separator receives the ice-regolith powder and pneumatically splits the ice-regolith powder into streams of different sized lithic fragments and ice particles per the ratio of inertial force and aerodynamic drag force of the lithic fragments and ice particles. Each split stream may include a magnetic separator that separates further the magnetic and paramagnetic lithic fragments from ice particles to discharge up to 80 percent of lithic fragments to slag.
System for extracting water from lunar regolith and associated method
2024-02-06
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | E21C Bergbau oder Steinbruchbetrieb , MINING OR QUARRYING / B03C Magnetische oder elektrostatische Trennung fester Stoffe von festen Stoffen oder flüssigen oder gasförmigen Medien , MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS / B04C APPARATUS USING FREE VORTEX FLOW, e.g. CYCLONES , Zentrifugalapparate mit freier Wirbelströmung, z.B. Zyklone / B64G Raumfahrt , COSMONAUTICS |
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