Browsing by Author "Tewes, Philipp"
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Item Analysis of a Cold Trap as a Purification Step for Lunar Water Processing(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Holquist, Jordan; Pasadilla, Patrick; Bower, Chad; Tewes, Philipp; Kelsey, Laura; Cognata, ThomasIn-situ resource utilization (ISRU) has been proposed for processing the regolith-bound water-ice to provide fresh water, breathable oxygen, and rocket propellant for exploration missions beyond cis-lunar space due to direct evidence of water-ice in the persistently shadowed regions (PSR) on the lunar surface. One possible method of extraction is the sublimation and vapor transport of the water from regolith to a collection and processing system, minimizing mechanized mining. However, the water-ice is found concurrently with other volatile species that can sublimate with water vapor, potentially contaminating and degrading downstream processing systems. Paragon Space Development Corporation® and Giner Inc. are currently developing the ISRU-derived water purification and Hydrogen Oxygen Production (IHOP) system in order to collect, purify, and process water-ice from PSRs on the lunar surface. A critical component of this system concept is a Cold Trap that selectively deposits water-ice from a water vapor stream while rejecting the majority of the contaminant volatiles. This paper presents an analysis of the possible modes of contaminant retention in the Cold Trap, as well as quantitative, bounding case estimates of the contaminants that could be retained. Results of this analysis indicate the need for further water purification steps prior to generating potable water, breathable oxygen, and rocket propellants.Item Closing the Water Loop for Exploration: 2020-2021 Status of the Brine Processor Assembly(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Kelsey, Laura; Boyce, Stephanie; Speight, Garland; Pasadilla, Patrick; Tewes, Philipp; Rabel, Emily; Meyer, CaitlinParagon Space Development Corporation has developed a Brine Processor Assembly (BPA) for demonstration on the International Space Station (ISS). BPA will recover water from urine brine produced by the ISS Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) and ground testing has demonstrated to achieve water recovery rates significantly greater than the 75-90% that is currently recovered by the UPA's Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD) subsystem. BPA utilizes the forced convection of spacecraft cabin air coupled with a robust membrane distillation process to recover purified water from 22.5 liters of brine within a 26 day cycle. An ionomer-microporous membrane pair contains the brine while transferring purified water vapor to the cabin air. The water vapor is collected by the existing spacecraft condensing heat exchangers, which already recover metabolically produced water vapor as humidity condensate. This paper will discuss progress to-date on meeting critical technical and ISS integration milestones. Flight hardware was successfully delivered to NASA in Fall 2020 and the flight unit was launched to the ISS in February 2021. After installation on the ISS, on-orbit experiments will be conducted for a year to evaluate BPA performance in microgravity. By increasing overall water recovery on ISS to greater than 98%, BPA demonstrates a critical capability needed to close the brine processing technology gap identified in NASA's Water Recovery Technology Roadmap. This technology achieves an essential capability to enable human exploration of deeper space.Item Closing the Water Loop for Exploration: 2022 Status of the Brine Processor Assembly(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Boyce, Stephanie; Molina, Sunday; Harrington, Walter; Joyce, Connor; Pasadilla, Patrick; Tewes, Philipp; Williamson, Jill; Perry, Jay; Toon, Katherine; Meyer, Caitlin; Harper, Susana TapiaParagon Space Development Corporation developed a Brine Processor Assembly (BPA) for demonstration on the International Space Station (ISS). BPA recovers water from urine brine produced by the ISS Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) via a patented process and ground testing has demonstrated water recovery rates greater than 90% from the previously concentrated urine brine. BPA utilizes the forced convection of spacecraft cabin air coupled with a membrane distillation process to recover purified water from 22.5 liters of brine within a 26 day cycle. By increasing overall water recovery on ISS to greater than 98%, BPA demonstrates a critical capability needed to close the brine processing technology gap identified in NASA's Water Recovery Technology Roadmap. This paper discusses operational progress since launch to the ISS in February 2021. After installation, checkout, and activation on the ISS, BPA operations were successfully initiated in April 2021. Despite successful nominal operation, crew members expressed discomfort due to malodor from effluent BPA air. After the initial dewatering cycle was completed, it was determined that BPA would need to mitigate odor before on-orbit operations resumed. To address these concerns, an outlet filter system was developed, and an extensive characterization study was conducted to test the efficacy of the filter in reducing odor. This study included analysis of gas, odor, and condensate samples of filtered and unfiltered effluent air during a brine dewatering cycle with an identical BPA ground unit. The filter assembly demonstrated > 85% first pass reduction in odor without detrimental effects to BPA operations. As a result, a similar assembly was launched to the ISS, installed, and BPA operations were resumed in October 2021. This technology achieves an essential capability to enable human exploration of deeper space, and this experiment was an opportunity to identify the importance of human factors in life support spaceflight hardware.Item Demonstration of Paragon's Water Purification Assembly for Lunar Water Processing(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Holquist, Jordan; Gellenbeck, Sean; Joyce, Connor; Rivera, Robert; Bower, Chad; Tewes, PhilippSince the observation of direct evidence of water-ice in the permanently shadowed regions (PSR) on the lunar surface, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) has been proposed for processing the regolith-bound water-ice to provide fresh water, breathable oxygen, and rocket propellant for lunar exploration missions. However, the water-ice is found concurrently with other typically volatile species that would contaminate and degrade downstream processing systems. Paragon Space Development Corporation® is developing the ISRU-derived water purification and Hydrogen Oxygen Production (IHOP) subsystem to collect, purify, and process water-ice from PSRs on the lunar surface. The primary water purification component of the IHOP subsystem concept is Paragon's Ionomer-membrane Water Processor (IWP) technology that can selectively transport water vapor through the membrane while rejecting contaminant components. This paper presents results, analysis, and discussion of an experimental investigation to demonstrate the performance of the first iteration of Paragon's Water, ISRU-derived, Purification Equipment (WIPE) assembly, one of the major assemblies of the IHOP subsystem. The WIPE assembly was tested for a cumulative duration of 4-weeks with a supply of water vapor and a mixture of expected lunar volatile contaminant components (H2, CO, H2S, SO2, C2H4, CH4, CO2, and CH3OH). Liquid water samples were intermittently collected at the output of the WIPE assembly's process chain and analyzed for their constituents. Water utilization efficiency was also tracked over the course of the test. The controlled test operating conditions and rates matched the expected operating conditions in the lunar operation. The presented results inform next steps in incremental design advancements and demonstrate viability of a core assembly of the IHOP subsystem for lunar ISRU propellant production.Item Demonstration of Paragon’s ISRU Propellant Production Subsystem Electrolyzer and Electrolysis Assembly(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Holquist, Jordan; Joyce, Connor; G Rivera, Robert; Tewes, Philipp; Myles, Timothy; Markham, David; Ebaugh, Thomas; Rich, Meagan; Willey, JasonTo better sustain long term lunar activities, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) has been proposed for processing the regolith-bound water-ice to provide fresh water, breathable oxygen, and rocket propellant for lunar exploration missions. However, the water-ice is found concurrently with other typically volatile species that would contaminate and degrade downstream processing systems. Paragon Space Development Corporation®, along with their partner, Giner, Inc., has been developing the ISRU-derived water purification and In-situ Hydrogen Oxygen Production (IHOP) subsystem to collect, purify, and process water-ice from permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) on the lunar surface to generate hydrogen and oxygen, incorporating state-of-the-art technologies for water-based ISRU. The primary water purification component of the IHOP subsystem concept is Paragon’s Ionomer-membrane Water Processor (IWP) technology that can selectively transport water vapor through the membrane while rejecting contaminant components. The water electrolysis is accomplished by Giner’s lightweight, proton exchange membrane (PEM) aerospace electrolyzer optimized for ISRU applications. This paper presents results, analysis, and discussion of experimental investigations to demonstrate the performance, endurance, and robustness of the electrolyzer, along with initial demonstration of the electrolysis assembly of the IHOP subsystem. The first build of the electrolyzer stack was tested for a cumulative runtime of 6,000 hours to verify long-term durability and performance. A second build was put through four freeze-thaw cycles with performance testing before and after each cycle to show robustness through non-operational environmental conditions experienced on the Moon. Further, the electrolyzer balance of plant assembly was built and tested. Results met the nominal electrolyzer subsystem performance requirements. The integrated IHOP subsystem will be demonstrated with both water purification using a simulated lunar volatile contaminant load and water electrolysis of the resulting water operating together in future testing.Item Demonstration of Paragon�s Ionomer-membrane Water Processing (IWP) technology as a Purification Step for Lunar Water Processing(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Holquist, Jordan; Gellenbeck, Sean; Bower, Chad; Tewes, PhilippSince the observation of direct evidence of water-ice in the permanently shadowed regions (PSR) on the lunar surface, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) has been proposed for processing the regolith-bound water-ice to provide fresh water, breathable oxygen, and liquid rocket propellant for lunar exploration missions. However, the water-ice is found concurrently with other typically volatile species that would contaminate and degrade downstream processing systems. Paragon Space Development Corporation� is developing the ISRU-derived water purification and Hydrogen Oxygen Production (IHOP) subsystem to collect, purify, and process water-ice from PSRs on the lunar surface. The primary water purification component of the IHOP subsystem concept is Paragon�s Ionomer-membrane Water Processor (IWP) technology that can selectively transport water vapor through the membrane while rejecting contaminant components. This paper presents results, analysis, and discussion of an experimental investigation to probe the effectiveness of the IWP technology for purifying water vapor of expected lunar volatile contaminant components (H2, CO, H2S, SO2, C2H4, CH4, CO2, and CH3OH). Liquid water samples were collected on the clean-side of the IWP from seven test batches with inputs of water vapor and varying contaminant components present at much higher loading concentrations with respect to water vapor than expected in the process during lunar operation. The controlled test operating conditions matched the expected operating conditions in the lunar operation. Each collected water sample was analyzed for impurities and results indicate the conservative performance of the IWP technology for this application. The presented results inform downstream process designs and demonstrate viability of a core component of the IHOP subsystem for lunar ISRU water purification.Item Experimental Proof of Concept of a Cold Trap as a Purification Step for Lunar Water Processing(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Holquist, Jordan; Gellenbeck, Sean; Bower, Chad; Tewes, PhilippSince the observation of direct evidence of water-ice in the permanently shadowed regions (PSR) on the lunar surface, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) has been proposed for processing the regolith-bound water-ice to provide fresh water, breathable oxygen, and liquid rocket propellant for lunar exploration missions. One possible method of extraction is the sublimation and vapor transport of the water from the regolith to a collection and processing system. However, the water-ice is found concurrently with other typically volatile species that can sublimate with water vapor and that would contaminate and degrade downstream processing systems. Paragon Space Development Corporation� is developing the ISRU-derived water purification and Hydrogen Oxygen Production (IHOP) system to collect, purify, and process water-ice from PSRs on the lunar surface. A critical component of this system concept is a cold trap that selectively deposits water-ice from a saturated water vapor stream while rejecting the contaminant volatiles. This paper presents results, analysis, and discussion of an experimental proof of concept demonstration wherein a warm process gas containing water vapor and volatile contaminant components (H2, CO, H2S, NH3, SO2, C2H4, CH4, CO2, and CH3OH) was passed into an evacuated and actively chilled thick-walled glass bottle. Water-ice samples were collected from each of eight test batches with varying contaminant components present at concentrations with respect to water vapor matching their observed proportionality from the LCROSS mission results. Each water sample was analyzed for impurities in both the liquid water and the gaseous headspace of the sample. Results indicate that retained contaminants have concentrations at or below the Henry�s Law estimates made in ICES-2020-71, demonstrating proof of concept of a freeze distillation purification step for lunar water processing by using a cold trap for water collection.