ISRU_Water_Processing_Demo_concept

The ISRU team along with the Lunar Planetary Institute put together a rigorous mission) that could robotically land all the elements to conduct a Lunar processing demonstration. Communications, power, rover, processor were all included on a single launch of a SDHLV. The goal was that this flight would establish the feasibility for processing water on the Moon and could result in providing a follow on production capability. Unfortunately, though doable, the demo would be too expensive near term along with an uncertainty on when a heavy lift vehicle would be available. It was decided to consider a smaller demonstration using existing launch vehicles.