Within the European Space Agency’s “Commercial In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Demonstration Mission Preparation Phase,” we examined two types of lunar sites in preparation for an ISRU demonstration mission. First, we considered poorly characterized potential resource sites. For these so-called characterization sites, precursor missions would investigate the material properties and address strategic knowledge gaps for their use as ISRU feedstock. Regions of interest for characterization missions include the Aristarchus plateau, Montes Harbinger/Rimae Prinz, Sulpicius Gallus, and Rima Bode. Regional pyroclastic deposits at the Aristarchus plateau and adjacent Montes Harbinger/Rimae Prinz exhibit remotely sensed low-Ti, high-Fe²⁺ compositions. They differ from the high-Ti pyroclastics at Rima Bode and Sulpicius Gallus, which are similar to the pyroclastics northwest of the Taurus Littrow valley (Apollo 17 site). Thus, exploration of the Aristarchus plateau would allow investigation of previously uncharacterized materials, whereas Rima Bode or Sulpicius Gallus would allow comparison to Apollo 17 pyroclastics. Any of these sites would enable evaluation of reported H₂O/OH in these deposits. Second, we examined a possible site for a direct ISRU demonstrator mission. For a stand-alone end-to-end (E2E) ISRU demonstrator, a fuller understanding of the physical and compositional characteristics of potential feedstock is required for mission risk reduction. In this case, locations near preexisting sites would allow extrapolation of ground truth to nearby deposits. Because a Ti-rich pyroclastic deposit appears advantageous from beneficiation and compositional perspectives, we examine an example E2E demo site northwest of the Taurus Littrow valley. Hydrogen and methane reduction, as well as the Fray–Farthing–Chen Cambridge process, could be tested there.

在欧洲航天局的“商业原位资源利用 (ISRU) 演示任务准备阶段”中，我们检查了两种类型的月球站点，为 ISRU 演示任务做准备。首先，我们考虑了特征不佳的潜在资源站点。对于这些所谓的表征站点，前体任务将调查材料特性并解决战略知识差距，以将其用作 ISRU 原料。特征任务感兴趣的区域包括阿里斯塔克斯高原、蒙特斯先驱/里迈普林兹、Sulpicius Gallus 和 Rima Bode。Aristarchus 高原和邻近的 Montes Harbinger/Rimae Prinz 的区域火山碎屑沉积物显示出遥感低钛、高铁²⁺组成。它们不同于 Rima Bode 和 Sulpicius Gallus 的高钛火山碎屑，后者类似于 Taurus Littrow 山谷（阿波罗 17 号站点）西北部的火山碎屑。因此，对 Aristarchus 高原的探索将允许研究以前未表征的材料，而 Rima Bode 或 Sulpicius Gallus 将允许与阿波罗 17 号火山碎屑进行比较。这些站点中的任何一个都可以评估报告的 H ₂这些沉积物中的 O/OH。其次，我们检查了直接 ISRU 演示任务的可能地点。对于独立的端到端 (E2E) ISRU 演示器，需要更全面地了解潜在原料的物理和成分特征，以降低任务风险。在这种情况下，靠近预先存在的地点的位置将允许将地面实况外推到附近的沉积物。因为从选矿和成分的角度来看，富含钛的火山碎屑矿床似乎是有利的，所以我们检查了 Taurus Littrow 山谷西北部的一个示例 E2E 演示站点。可以在那里测试氢气和甲烷还原以及 Fray-Farthing-Chen Cambridge 过程。