The first in-space ISRU test is targeted for 2018. NASA plans to launch a mission called Resource Prospector that includes a rover with instruments to scout for telltale hydrogen, drill out samples, heat them and scan for water vapor and other volatiles on the moon.
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Vapor also could be re-condensed to form a drop of water.
"A lot of the technologies have broader use than just lunar ... it's just a convenient location to be testing the ISRU technology," said Jason Crusan, director of Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA headquarters in Washington DC.
A second ISRU experiment is due to be aboard NASA's next Mars rover, which is slated for launch in 2020. The device, which has yet to be selected, would pull carbon dioxide from the planet's atmosphere, filter out dust and other particles and prepare the gas for chemical processing into oxygen.
The demonstration also could include actual oxygen production.
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"It's basic chemistry," Spudis said. "The real issues are not the basic process. The issues are what are the unforeseen things about the environment, about being in space, being on the moon, being on Mars, that we don't know or we don't anticipate that are going to impact that production."