Development of a Size Classification and Beneficiation Breadboard for ISRU Applications
Maturing a lunar regolith particle-size separation and beneficiation breadboard and validating it within a robotic ISRU chain in the LunaLab.
- Principal Investigator
- Prof. Dr. Miguel Olivares-Mendez
- Funding
- European Space Agency (ESA)
- Duration
- Sep 2026 – Mar 2028
- Researchers
- Dr. Raúl Castilla Arquillo, Dr. Abhishek Bera
- Partners
- Maana Electric
Overview
Sustaining long-term human and robotic operations on the Moon requires using local resources. Given the cost of continuously transporting material from Earth, In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is key to establishing self-sustaining lunar bases, reducing reliance on resupply, and enabling scalable commercial activity on the Moon.
Before lunar regolith can be turned into oxygen, metals, or feedstock for additive manufacturing, it has to be excavated, transported, and beneficiated: sorted into the particle size fractions that each downstream process needs. ZYBFF is an ESA activity that accelerates the development of beneficiation technologies, with a focus on regolith particle size separation and classification.
The project builds on the beneficiation concept that Maana Electric and SpaceR developed and tested together, with Aalborg University, as Team LuMA in ESA's Second Space Resources Challenge. The consortium matures this concept through design improvements and testing.
Research Objectives
Tailored Particle Size Fractions
Separating controlled particle size fractions of regolith, tailored to the needs of downstream processes such as oxygen and metal extraction and additive manufacturing.
Efficiency and Durability
Improving the efficiency of the separation technology and the long-term durability of materials and components exposed to lunar regolith simulants.
Regolith Handling
Improving the technologies needed to feed and transfer regolith through the system.
Scalability
Assessing how the system scales, from a first technology demonstration on the Moon to larger ISRU operations.
Integration and Validation in the LunaLab
SpaceR integrates its robotic excavation and mobility capabilities with the beneficiation breadboard into an end-to-end ISRU architecture, validated in the LunaLab, SnT's lunar analogue facility.
Consortium
Maana Electric — Luxembourg
Development and testing of the size classification and beneficiation breadboard.
University of Luxembourg (SnT / SpaceR) — Luxembourg
Robotic excavation and mobility, integration into the ISRU chain, and experimental testing in the LunaLab.