SBIR-STTR Award

For this Phase I SBIR, OffWorld will deliver a conceptual design and tech demo that leverages our proven, rugged terrestrial robotic mining capabilities to develop a viable solution to extract icy regolith from beneath the dry overburden on the lunar surface. Our proposed innovation is distinguished by its heritage as an evolution of our existing, durable modular mining platform and associated machine learning framework. The proposed Phase I project will: Deliver a conceptual design that adapts current OffWorld terrestrial mining digger bot species for excavation operations on the surface of the Moon. Propose a development plan for the maturation of the necessary technologies and the development of robot production capacity. Calculate the scale of robotic squads necessary to successfully meet NASA lunar excavation production requirements as identified in the SBIR solicitation. Consider the unique challenges presented by the lunar environment including temperature extremes, low gravity, radiation, dust, and vacuum. Optimize the system to account for the current limited understanding of lunar regolith, considering variations and inconsistencies in the science of lunar geology. Maximize reliability and durability of individual components and design a highly robust and resilient system architecture. Design autonomous maintenance and servicing strategies to account for component failure and to enable a minimum of 5 years of continuous swarm operation. Minimize system mass to the maximum extent possible to reduce lunar mass delivery requirements. Incorporate lessons learned and statistical analysis of current OffWorld terrestrial mining programs. Define requirements for sensors and feedback mechanisms necessary for system optimization and to achieve fully automated icy regolith excavation. Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): OffWorld's lunar surface excavation approach (the proposed innovation) has several NASA applications. All applications are a result of the proposed innovation being a point solution, directly addressing a critical NASA need. These NASA applications include: ISRU, lunar surface overburden penetration, propellant production, propellant depot construction, lunar surface habitat development, landing pad development, and all other lunar surface related activities that require lunar regolith movement and excavation. Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): The management team of OffWorld has been in discussions with commercial entities that have complementary missions to NASA's. These commercial companies, like Astrobotic and Masten, have funded lunar programs which will require: lunar propellant, landing pads, propellant depots, and other surface infrastructure requiring robust lunar surface excavation capability. Duration: 6

OffWorld is developing a system architecture to accomplish difficult tasks in harsh environments on earth, the moon, and beyond. Features of the swarm robotic industrial toolkit include a modular architecture, a common software stack, and shared AI and ML methodologies. OffWorld is developing these capabilities in revenue-generating markets on earth for adaptation off planet to the Lunar environment. By leveraging simultaneous and parallel development paths for terrestrial and Lunar applications, OffWorld can rapidly develop, test, and operationalize the variety of capabilities necessary to deploy a functional Lunar excavation system. By commercializing large terrestrial markets in the mining and infrastructure sectors, OffWorld can build these capabilities primarily with revenue earned from commercial contracts and augmented by investment and other capital opportunities. OffWorld’s technology roadmap includes parallel development pathways of terrestrial and space capabilities to target specific hardware, software, and AI/ML functions. At the end of each of these projects, the hardware, software, and automation advances inform a data-driven evolution of the system architecture and CONOPs, until the system is ready for a demo in the Lunar environment. This NASA Phase II project affords the opportunity to continue refinement of the excavation toolset including the mechanical tooling and the force application approach, as well as the mobility approach and the control software for excavation. These lessons will incorporate into the full system design and move the architecture much closer to deployment. Once the applications of excavation and transport are refined and tested, additional functions will be added to the growing skill set of capabilities. The modular architecture of the OffWorld platform, combined with common software and AI methodologies enable rapid development of additional species of robots that can be used in additional industrial use cases. Anticipated

Benefits:
A major NASA application for this system is the excavation of regolith from the lunar surface. This layer of regolith can be removed, transported and processed for production of water, oxygen, and hydrogen components that can be used as propellant. Additionally, oxygen and water will be necessary for human consumption to support NASA exploration activities. More advanced versions of the OffWorld robotic squads will be able to extract additional volatiles and other materials from the regolith to be used in other industrial applications. Crucial commercial commodities in the developing cis-lunar economy are likely to be propellant, human consumables, energy, and mobility. These materials and services will be necessary for virtually every commercial application. OffWorld will be able to adapt its modular systems into a variety of commercial use cases in mining, infrastructure, and transportation.