UK ISRU Review Reveals Prospecting Strength, Barriers

UK ISRU Review Identifies Prospecting Capability and a “Valley of Death”

Frazer-Nash Consultancy has published a review of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technology capabilities in the United Kingdom for the UK Space Agency. Released Oct. 6, the UK ISRU review drew on a survey of UK organizations and a workshop with them. The report says it is for information only and “does not represent national policy.”

ISRU — using materials found on the Moon or Mars instead of hauling them from Earth — is “a growing area in the UK with diverse capabilities, albeit with some barriers to overcome,” the review concludes. It identifies prospecting as the UK’s demonstrated strength, finds most technology still at early stages of readiness, and says a clear national strategy would help the UK play a key part in NASA and European missions.

Prospecting capabilities

Prospecting, the first step in the ISRU process, means identifying and characterizing resources such as ice and minerals. “The UK has demonstrated its strength in prospecting with key projects,” the review concludes.

An Open University instrument flew on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander in January 2024. The lander never reached the surface, but the instrument — a mass spectrometer that identifies chemicals by their mass — ran for 10 days in space and collected 80 spectra, the report says. Another Open University instrument, ProSPA, a miniature laboratory that analyzes gases from heated soil samples, is scheduled, the report says, to reach the lunar south pole in 2027 on an Intuitive Machines lander.

European ISRU demonstration

On extracting oxygen and metal, the review points to the European Space Agency’s proposed ISRU Demonstration Mission, a lander-mounted demonstration plant. The review’s conclusions say “the UK is leading the European development with a largely British consortium involved in the ISRU-DM mission.” Its annex, though, says the mission was originally led by Thales Alenia Space UK and is now headed by OHB, with contributions from AVS, Metalysis, the Open University and Redwire Space Europe of Luxembourg.

An earlier proof-of-concept study using Metalysis’s molten-salt process achieved 96 per cent oxygen extraction from simulated lunar soil, the report says. The mission is listed as proposed, with no launch date.

Early-stage technology and the “valley of death”

Two-thirds of the 27 UK organizations that responded to the survey were companies, most of them small or medium-sized. More than eight in 10 are focused on developing technology for the Moon.

The survey asked each organization to rate its technology on the technology readiness level scale, known as TRL, where 1 is a basic idea and 9 is proven in flight. By SpaceQ’s count of the report’s chart, 15 of the 18 technologies reported sat no higher than the middle of the scale. The report calls the pattern a “valley of death,” with few technologies reaching the upper levels.

The review also says the UK could become a testbed for ISRU technology, using the 21 facilities it lists, though that “would need a driving force and direction from the sector and providers.” It stops short of calling the UK a leader, recommending that the UK Space Agency later decide whether the UK can be considered “a leader in this field,” using criteria from the UK Space Exploration Technology Roadmap.

Citations

A new report reviews UK In-Situ Resource Utilization technology capability — spaceq.ca

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