Lunar Science, Resources and Innovation at Field Simulations

Hawai`i Island has had a pivotal role in human Lunar Exploration by virtue of its high-fidelity science and technical field sites.  The geologic and historically recent volcanic landscape along with the geochemical simularity of Hawaiian basalts with Lunar basalts have made Hawaii a prime location for field test simulations.   This presentation will briefly highlight the legacy Apollo astronaut geology training. The  post-Shuttle In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) field tests on equipment &  techniques for lunar oxygen production will be covered along with mission simulations for NASA’s RESOLVE and VIPER lunar polar missions.  Google Lunar X-Prize (GLXP) field trials have also occurred.  Finally educational aspects with University level robotic mining competitions (Lunabotics/RMC/PRISM) will be shown.

            The geo-technical properties of the tephra (basalt sand) at the field site(s) will be explored, and shown to provide a good lunar simulant for laboratory use and experimentation. Samples are still currently available for researchers.