Oxygen from Regolith: The Mini-ROXY Lunar Demonstration Instrument and Mission

The ROXY (Regolith to Oxygen and Metals Conversion) molten salt electrolysis process has been specifically conceived for oxygen and metal extraction from lunar regolith, and meets all of the ISRU viability criteria. Mini-ROXY incorporates all beneficial features of the ROXY process, specifically porous metal cathodes, an optimized fluoride salt electrolyte, and YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) solid oxide membrane anodes, in a compact design with very low resource requirements. Mini-ROXY is therefore ideally suited for a small-scale lunar demonstration of the ROXY process. Preparations of a lunar demonstration mission with a Mini-ROXY facility are underway, including a mission concept and development of the Mini-ROXY lunar demonstrator. We report on the development status and recent progress of the design of the lunar demonstrator, and the test status of a lab reactor and cartridges, in which the electrochemical process will be tested on ground.