Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747

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Acta Astronautica
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actaastro

The Moon needs an international lunar resource prospecting campaign

Clive R. Neal a, *, Antonino Salmeri b, Angel Abbud-Madrid c, James D. Carpenter d,
Anthony Colaprete e, Karl A. Hibbitts f, Julie Kleinhenz g, Mathias Link h, Gerald Sanders i
a
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
b
Lunar Policy Platform, 22 Calle De Valdesangil, Spain
c
Center for Space Resources, Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO 8040, USA
d
European Space Agency, European Space Research and Technology Centre, Keplerlaan 1, 2201AZ, Noordwijk, the Netherlands
e
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA
f
Johns Hopkins University – Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, MD 20723, USA
g
NASA – Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Rd, Cleveland, OH 44135, USA
h
Luxembourg Space Agency, 19-21 Boulevard Royale, 2449 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
i
NASA – Johnson Space Center, 2101 E NASA Pkwy, Houston, TX 77058, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The Moon is a highly valued destination for human space exploration because it is close and it contains a wide
Moon array of lunar and Solar System science targets, which include resources that could be used to sustain humans on
Lunar resources the lunar surface. These resources have the potential to enable sustainable human space exploration, develop a
Prospecting
vibrant cislunar economy, and directly benefit society here on Earth. However, recent rhetoric about the
Evaluation
Reserve potential
importance and value of these resources has used the term as if we know they are reserves. An immediate and
International campaign vital next step has not yet been realized to define the reserve potential of such resources, and that is designing
Space law and implementing a coordinated international lunar resource evaluation (prospecting) campaign. This paper
Outer Space Treaty outlines the issues that need to be addressed by such a campaign, including why it needs to be international in
nature and how the coordination can be started and evolved, as well as exploring the benefits that would come
from prospecting on the Moon.

1. Introduction
The idea promoted in this paper has been and will continue to be
developed through community workshops and conferences (e.g. Refs.
[1–5]). It is essential that this is an international effort, not only from a
practical implementation viewpoint, but also to address legal and policy
issues. There is international interest in lunar resources to not only
sustain humans on the Moon, but also in developing resources for export
back to Earth (e.g. Refs. [6–8]).
Lunar resources are pivotal in enabling a sustained human presence
on the Moon and for developing a vibrant cislunar economy (e.g. Refs.
[9–11]). However, in these documents the term “resources” has been
used as if we have a good, quantitative understanding of where the re­
sources are, how much is there, what other components are also there,
how extractable the resources are, and what the commodities are worth.
Unfortunately, none of these factors have been quantified for polar
volatiles and other lunar resources. In order to obtain datasets that could
inform each of these issues, a coordinated resource eval­
uation/prospecting campaign is required to quantify the nature, abun­
dance, accessibility extractability, and overall reserve potential of
these potentially game-changing resources. Fortunately, independent
efforts have formed a strong foundation for developing such a campaign
(e.g. Refs. [1–5,12–16], which include two virtual Lunar Surface Science
Workshops (numbers 17 and 18) in 2022: #17 Defining a Coordinated
Lunar Resource Evaluation Campaign [3], and #18 Implementing a
Coordinated Lunar Resource Evaluation Campaign [4].
2. Resources vs. Reserves
In reading how lunar resources have been presented (e.g. Refs.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: cneal@nd.edu (C.R. Neal), antonino@openlunar.org (A. Salmeri), aabbudma@mines.edu (A. Abbud-Madrid), james.carpenter@esa.int
(J.D. Carpenter), anthony.colaprete-1@nasa.gov (A. Colaprete), karl.hibbitts@jhuapl.edu (K.A. Hibbitts), julie.e.kleinhenz@nasa.gov (J. Kleinhenz), mathias.
link@space-agency.lu (M. Link), gerald.b.sanders@nasa.gov (G. Sanders).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.11.017
Received 28 February 2023; Received in revised form 2 November 2023; Accepted 10 November 2023
Available online 17 November 2023
0094-5765/© 2023 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C.R. Neal et al. Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747

Fig. 1. Representation of the distinction between resources and reserves.

Adapted from [19]. For a colour version of this figure, please refer to the Web
version of this article.
[9–11]), the term “resource” in a lunar context has been used inter­
changeably with “reserve”, which has caused confusion. Based upon
current knowledge and likely users, the only potential lunar reserve is
oxygen from regolith as it is present in about the same proportion
anywhere on the Moon [17]. However, defining it as a “reserve” requires
the economic and legal issues to be addressed (Fig. 1). This semantic yet
critical distinction is crucial in understanding the full scientific, explo­
ration, and commercial potential of lunar resources. The United States
Geological Survey [18] defines resources and reserves as follows:
Resource: a concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous
materials in or on the crust in such form that economic extraction of a
commodity is regarded as feasible.
Reserve: That portion of an identified resource from which a useable
mineral or energy commodity can be economically and legally extracted at
the time of determination.
Usually not all reserves are recoverable. Potential reserves can be
inferred based upon geological context, but need to be demonstrated to
exist. The boundary between economic and subeconomic is fluid and
depends upon the price point for the commodity – as the price rises
through demand, the field of economic reserves will expand and vice
versa.
Given that markets for commodities from lunar resources are non-
existent, it has been suggested the reserve definition should be
different. Kleinhenz et al. [12] argued that there are factors other than
money and making a profit that need to be considered, such as keeping a
crew of astronauts alive, or enabling the exploration of ever-more
distant parts of the Solar System. Another finding from this work was
that current data sets are insufficient to define a lunar water reserve;
identifying shallow water deposits can only be accomplished with
neutron spectrometry and radar, but interpretation of existing data
(particularly regarding distribution) is inadequate. This is in part due to
the footprint of observations, which for neutron data is currently defined
from the LRO LEND instrument as ~10 km spatial resolution from ~50
km altitude [20], and the fact that the signal for water-ice detection
using radar could also be generated by buried boulders (e.g. Ref. [21]).
Currently, there is no actual demand as no customers are identified at
this time for potential products from lunar resources. The United Launch
Alliance (ULA) is the only company that has specified a price point of
$500/kg for propellant derived from lunar water [22]. This number was
also used by Plate [23] in a conceptual economic study for lunar water
mining. Several other business model studies have been developed using
this figure (e.g. Refs. [24,25]), and depending on the assumptions used
Fig. 2. Making use of lunar resources in any human architecture is stymied by
lack of demand and data that show reserve potential. EXPLORATION has been
conducted from orbit. Known roadblocks are shown in red. *A PILOT PLANT
demonstration is currently scheduled to launch in 2023 (Polar Resources Ice
Mining Experiment-1 or PRIME-1), but MINING, FULL PRODUCTION, and
COMMODITIES from resources (orange) still need to be developed. This will not
happen until DEMAND/MARKET is developed and RESERVES are demon­
strated. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
in the specific study, they can be shown to be both profitable and un­
profitable. For example, Jones et al. [24] assume lunar-derived water as
the fuel for a Mars human transportation system and concluded that
sourcing water from the Moon was more expensive than launching it
from Earth. Conversely, the assumptions used by Plate [23] and Sowers
[25] indicate profitability of using lunar-derived water in 0.5 years and
9–11 years, respectively. But are the assumptions used in these studies
realistic? Until we know the details of the lunar water ice derived from
polar volatile deposits in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), this
question cannot be addressed, and neither can the assumptions and costs
associated with lunar resources (extraction, refinement, storage, and
transportation of products) be validated.
3. The lunar (and space) resources conundrum
In situ resource utilization (ISRU) on the Moon (and elsewhere in the
Solar System) is caught in a broken feedback loop (Fig. 2). Data of suf­
ficient fidelity are not available to understand when lunar resources can
be referred to as reserves (e.g. Refs. [1–5,14,15]). Initial exploration
leads to locating promising resource locations. Once those areas are
identified, then reserves of economically recoverable material are
evaluated for mining and processing operations. However, as no market
is defined for the commodities there is no impetus for determining the
economic viability of a resource at a given location (e.g. Ref. [1]).
How can this conundrum be resolved so commercial companies can
participate in the process? It is our opinion that space agencies could be
fundamental to removing the roadblocks shown in Fig. 2: (a) Stimulating
demand by collectively instigating a price point and quantity they would
purchase in support of a permanent human base of operations on the
Moon; (b) creating the environment for a coordinated international
resource evaluation/prospecting campaign so reserve potential can be
truly evaluated, and where implementation of the resource evaluation
campaign could include commercial participation. These two steps
would allow commercial companies to construct quantitative business

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C.R. Neal et al.
models for extracting, refining, and selling lunar water (and other re­
sources) with more confidence. This campaign could form the founda­
tion of a cislunar economy and a sustained/permanent human presence
on the Moon.
4. The legal framework
The exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other
celestial bodies, is governed by international space law. The core of this
specialized body of international law, also known as Corpus Iuris Spatialis
(for a comprehensive assessment, see Refs. [26–28]), comprises of five
international treaties: the Outer Space Treaty (OST) [29], the Agreement
on the Rescue and Return of Astronauts (ARRA) [30] the Liability
Convention (LIAB) [31], the Convention on Registration of Objects
Launched into Outer Space (REG) [32] and the Moon Agreement (MA)
[33]. Over time, these treaties have been interpreted and implemented
through several Resolutions from the General Assembly of the United
Nations [34], as well as thirty-six national space laws [35,36]. In light of
the fundamental role played by the OST in shaping the conduct of space
activities [37], and given the constraints imposed by the size of this
article, this section will provide an overview of the most important
provisions of the OST and assess their applicability to space resource
activities, based upon a review of the most prominent academic con­
tributions addressing this complex subject [38–41].
At the outset, it is important to note that the OST is a treaty on
principles. As such, its provisions can be interpreted in various ways,
depending on preferred balancing choices and methods of interpretation
[42]. Thus, the considerations expressed in this section should be
considered as possible interpretations and not as definitive statements of
the law. Article I OST provides States with the freedom to explore and
use outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, without
discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality, in accordance with
international law, and for the benefit and interest of all Countries. This
broad formulation has been chosen to allow for the conduct of all kinds
of space activities, except those explicitly forbidden by Treaty, under the
applicable limitations defined throughout the OST. The lists below
provide a snapshot of the main OST provisions relevant to space
resource activities.
• Outer space and celestial bodies shall be explored and use without
discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality, in accordance with
international law, for the benefit and interest of all Countries – and
there shall be free access to all areas of celestial bodies (Article I
OST).
• Outer space and celestial bodies shall not be subject to national
appropriation by any means (Article II OST).
• Space activities shall be conducted in accordance with international
law, and in the interest of maintaining international peace and se­
curity and promoting international cooperation and understanding
(Article III OST).
• The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for
peaceful purposes (Article IV OST).
• Space activities conducted by non-governmental entities shall
require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate
State, which shall be internationally responsible for assuring that
they are carried out in conformity with the OST (Article VI OST).
• Each State Party to the OST that launches or procures the launching
of an object into outer space, as well States from whose territory or
facility an object is launched, are internationally liable for any
damage caused, either on Earth or in space (Article VII OST), noting
that different rules apply for States Parties to the Liability Conven­
tion, according to which liability for damages caused by space ob­
jects in outer space or on celestial bodies shall be attributed on the
basis of fault.
• Space activities shall be conducted with due regard to the corre­
sponding interest of other States, appropriate international
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Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747
consultations shall be undertaken if there are reasons to believe that
they would cause potentially harmful interference, and appropriate
measures shall be adopted to avoid the harmful contamination of
celestial bodies (Article IX OST).
• To the greatest extent feasible and practicable, States agree to inform
the UN Secretary General, the public and the international scientific
community of the nature, conduct, locations and results of their
space activities (Article XI OST).
Further to the OST, the prospecting of space resources for the pur­
poses of scientific investigation, as suggested in this paper, is explicitly
permitted by Article 6 of the MA [33], according to which in the course
of scientific investigations States have the right to “collect on and
remove from the Moon samples of its mineral and other substances”.
However, it is important to note that differently from the Outer Space
Treaty, which is a widely accepted Treaty counting 114 Parties as of
August 2023, the Moon Agreement has only been ratified by 22 States,
none of which is participating in the proposed Campaign (see the next
section; India is only a Signatory to the Agreement, and as such is not
legally bound by its provisions) [43], although Article 18 of the Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties provides that a State is obliged to
refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty it
has signed pending formal ratification. As this is an issue for India to
address and does not affect other missions, we feel the Agreement is not
applicable to the conduct of the Campaign suggested in this paper and
thus its provisions are not addressed here.
In principle, space resource activities can be conducted as part of the
freedom to use celestial bodies, provided that they comply with the OST
provisions outlined above [42]. As mentioned, the broad formulation of
the Treaty and the need to make delicate balancing choices among its
provisions means that the legality of space resource activities will have
to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, depending on their goals, terms
and modalities [38]. So far, existing State practice has clarified the
permissibility of the recovery and use of small quantities of lunar and
asteroid resources for scientific purposes [38–42,44–46]. However, the
larger scale and commercial purposes of future planned space resource
activities will likely require an international framework with dedicated
rules, such as those proposed in The Hague International Space Re­
sources Governance Working Group Building Blocks [47]. To this end, in
2021 the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) established a Working Group on Legal
Aspects of Space Resource Activities [48]. Amongst many tasks, the
Working Group has been mandated to develop, by the year 2027, a set of
initial recommended principles for space resource activities, taking into
account the need to ensure that they are carried out in accordance with
international law and in a safe, sustainable, rational and peaceful
manner [49]. Meanwhile, States retain the freedom to propose, under
their own international responsibility, possible interpretations of
applicable OST provisions [49]. This could be done through the enact­
ment of dedicated national legislation, as done by the U.S.A.,
Luxembourg, the UAE, and Japan [50–53], and/or the conclusion of
multilateral agreements (whether or not legally binding), such as the
Artemis Accords [54] and the announced intergovernmental agreement
governing the International Lunar Research Station [55].
The organization of an international lunar resource prospecting
campaign provides a great opportunity to test the applicable legal
framework and be intentional about setting precedents positively
shaping the conduct of lunar (and space) resource activities in accor­
dance with the OST. To begin with, we suggest the following three
features.
1) The global relevance of lunar resources requires the involvement of
all interested actors, irrespective of their degree of economic and
scientific development. To this end, the campaign could be organized
as an international joint venture pursuing an incremental set of
mission goals building on one another, to allow for inclusive and
C.R. Neal et al.
diverse participation. The selection of contributions should be based
upon objective criteria, with international cooperation being a
preferential factor, and ideally (for neutrality) entrusted to a non-
governmental entity.
2) The variety of data that will be obtained throughout the campaign
allows for the possibility to provide benefits to both its participants
and the broader science community. To achieve this goal, the
campaign could adopt a multi-purpose data policy foreseeing
different levels of access to different datasets, depending on the
contributions provided and including at least one level of open access
available to the broader science community.
3) The unprecedented level of cooperation and coordination required
for the campaign can be used as a catalyst to accelerate current rule-
making efforts for lunar governance. To succeed in this, the
campaign could require its participants to develop and respect
shared standards for prospecting lunar resources and evaluating
their potential as lunar reserves, ideally with support from a tech­
nical entity managing the standards development. Depending on the
success of the campaign, these standards could be incorporated in
domestic licensing conditions and submitted for consideration by the
UN Working Group on the Legal Aspects of Space Resource
Activities.
The suggested features would also promote the establishment of
positive policy precedents for implementing the Long Term Sustain­
ability Guidelines for Outer Space Activities [56] within the context of
lunar activities, with regards to the exchange of technology and equip­
ment for space activities (C.1), the avoidance of unnecessary duplication
of function and efforts in capacity building (C.3.3), the development of
technologies maximizing the reusability or repurposing of space assets
(D.1.3), and finally the encouragement of the participation of devel­
oping countries (D.1.5).
5. The Campaign
Another reason for this campaign to be international in nature is a
practical one. Brown et al. [16] used 10 orbital datasets to define the top
targets for surface evaluation of polar volatiles. The surface area defined
by the top 10 targets exceeds 6000 km2, so one nation/space agency
would find it very difficult to implement a thorough evaluation
campaign for polar volatiles, let alone for other resources (e.g., metals,
helium-3, etc.).
An attempt to develop a coordinated international lunar resource
evaluation campaign was conducted in an ad hoc fashion by the Inter­
national Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) missions to the
south pole. This was conducted by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group
(LEAG) in the Volatiles-2 Specific Action Team [57] to coordinate the
measurements from the missions required to understand polar volatiles.
These missions included the Russian Luna 27 lander and Luna 28 south
pole sample return missions, the JAXA SELENE-R mission, the Chinese
landers Chang’E-P1, -6, and P2 landers, with Chang’E− 6 being a robotic
sample return mission, the KPLO orbital mission (currently active at the
Moon), and The Resource Prospector rover mission from the United
States (which has been superseded by the Volatiles Investigating Polar
Exploration Rover - VIPER).
5.1. Starting the coordination
There is an opportunity to build on this through the scheduled mis­
sions to explore polar volatiles outside of those in the LEAG-ISECG
report [57]. These missions include orbital and landed missions. The
orbital missions will yield important diverse and complementary data­
sets. The latter mission category is critical for providing important
ground truth observations to validate orbital data. To date, our group
has contacted each of the missions described below (noting that the
authorship contains members of the missions PRIME-1 - Kleinhenz and
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Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747
Sanders, and VIPER – Colaprete) about coordinating data collection ef­
forts on the same targets.
• The ongoing NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), now in
extended science mission 5, includes a focus on volatiles at the polar
regions. LRO datasets are featured in published assessments of polar
volatiles [13,16]. The instruments yield data with the following
footprints: Diviner (temperature) = 240 m/pixel; LOLA (active
normal reflectance) = 500 m/pixel; Mini-RF (monostatic radar cir­
cular polarization) = 150 and 30 m/pixel; LEND (neutron suppres­
sion in wt.% water equivalent hydrogen) = ~10,000 m/pixel; LROC
(narrow angle camera PSR imaging) = 10–40 m/pixel.
• The Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is now in operation
around the Moon (at the time of writing) at a nominal 100 ± 40 km
orbit. The extended mission has been approved and the orbit will be
lowered to ~50 km. This mission contains the Korean Gamma Ray
Spectrometer that will measure surface composition and has the
ability to detect water in the low wt.% levels and during the mission
the entire surface of the Moon will be analysed >30 times before the
orbit is lowered to ~50 km for the final phase of the mission; pixel
sizes at these two orbits will be ~70 km and ~35 km, respectively
[58]. KPLO also carries ShadowCam – the next generation of the
camera on LRO – that will allow high-resolution images to be ac­
quired within permanently shadowed craters [59]. Data at 60
m/pixel and 240 m/pixel have been reported for Shackleton and
Spudis craters at the south pole [60].
• The orbital component of the Chandrayaan-2 mission from India
remains active. The orbiter contains the following instruments:
Terrain Mapping Camera 2; Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer;
Solar X-ray Monitor; Orbiter High-Resolution Camera; Imaging
Infrared Spectrometer; Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar
(DFSAR); Atmospheric Compositional Explorer 2; Dual Frequency
Radio Science experiment [61]. Of particular interest is the DFSAR
instrument that can examine the shallow subsurface (~3 m; [62]),
and imaging with multiple viewing angles will help in estimating ice
volume and the depth at which it is present [63]. Combining DFSAR
data with other lunar radar datasets has been useful in identifying
water ice in PSRs [64,65].
• Lunar Trailblazer is a mission developed through NASA’s Small
Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program.
The mission goal is to understand the form, abundance, and distri­
bution of water on the Moon and the lunar water cycle through
thermal and infrared mapping of the Moon’s surface [66–68]. It is
due to launch in late 2023 as a secondary payload on Intuitive Ma­
chines second mission (IM-2) to the Moon that will also carry
PRIME-1 (see below). Of particular interest are the mission objec­
tives: detect and map water on the lunar surface at key locations to
determine its form (OH, H2O, ice), abundance, and distribution as a
function of latitude, soil maturity, and lithology; map the form,
abundance, and distribution of water ice in the PSRs; measure sur­
face temperature to quantify local gradients and search for small cold
traps. The spacecraft carries two science instruments that image
simultaneously: a visible/shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer,
the High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3),
similar to the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) but explicitly designed
to measure hydrated materials, and the Lunar Thermal Mapper
(LTM), a multispectral thermal infrared imager to measure temper­
ature, composition, and thermophysical properties [67]. HVM3 will
have a spatial resolution of 50–90 m/pixel, and LTM 40–70 m/pixel
[68].
• The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER)
mission is a solar and battery powered rover mission designed to
operate over multiple lunar days, traversing tens of kilometers as it
continuously monitors for subsurface hydrogen and other surface
volatiles at the lunar south pole [69]. VIPER’s mission area (~5 × 5
km) is centered at 31.6218◦ E, 85.42088◦ S near the western edge of
C.R. Neal et al.
Table 1
Datasets for lunar volatile resource evaluation.
Dataset Specific Data
Composition Concentration of the resource
Concentration & composition of impurities
Form Cement in pore space; Layers; Irregular blocks; Loose ice grains
with regolith
Distribution Horizontal
Vertical
Geotechnical Torque and power required for any drills to penetrate the deposit;
Energy required to move loose regolith; Hardness of the deposit
Near-surface Regolith Buried and surface rock populations
Stratigraphy Ice block/layer distribution
Accessibility Traverse paths;
Nobile crater [70]. The instrument suite comprises the Neutron
Spectrometer System (NSS - measuring thermal and epithermal
neutrons; the Near-Infrared Volatiles Spectrometer System
(NIRVSS); The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrains
(TRIDENT); and Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations
(MSolo) [71]. While it will not enter a large permanently shadowed
crater, it will investigate several small ones in an area where sub­
surface hydrogen is thought to be present, and will determine the
composition through drilling in promising locations and analyzing
the material brought to the surface (e.g. Ref. [72]). VIPER is due to
be delivered to the lunar surface at the south pole by Astrobotic in
late 2024.
• The LUnar Polar EXploration mission (LUPEX) mission [73] from
the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with the Indian
Space Agency (ISRO) to explore the Shackleton – de Gerlache ridge
for volatiles [74] with a launch date TBD. This will be a landed
mission to deploy a rover carrying seven instruments to explore the
surface and subsurface for volatiles. The instruments are: the
REsource Investigation Water Analyzer (REIWA); an advanced lunar
imaging spectrometer; a ground penetrating radar; a mid-infrared
imaging spectrometer; a neutron spectrometer; and an exospheric
mass spectrometer [74]. LUPEX also has drilling capabilities to
determine volatile compositions at depth [73,75].
• NASA’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) is a
NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate payload and will be the
first in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon [76]. It is
scheduled to launch in 2023 by Intuitive Machines on their IM-2
mission as part of the Commercial Lunar Payloads Services (CLPS)
program [77]. Two components make up PRIME-1: first The Regolith
and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT): TRIDENT will
drill up to three feet deep, extracting lunar regolith, or soil, up to the
surface. The instrument can drill in multiple segments, pausing and
retracting to deposit cuttings on the surface after each depth incre­
ment [78,79]; and second the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar
operations (MSolo). This modified-for-spaceflight, commercial-off-­
the-shelf mass spectrometer will evaluate the drill cuttings for water
and other chemical compounds. Soil samples from multiple depths
will be analysed. Note that both instruments will also be used on
VIPER.
• The European Space Agency’s Package for Resource Observation
and in-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Commercial exploita­
tion and Transportation (PROSPECT) allows subsurface (down to
~1 m) and surface volatile deposits to be evaluated. PROSPECT is
comprised of the ProSEED drill module and the ProSPA analytical
laboratory plus the Solids Inlet System (SIS), a carousel of sealable
ovens for evolving volatiles from regolith [80]. It will access and
assess potential resources on the Moon and to prepare technologies
that may be used to extract these resources in the future [7]. While
initially planned to fly on Russia’s Luna 27 mission, it is now
scheduled to be a lander payload on a CLPS mission to the south pole
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Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747
Use Measurement
Evaluate potential investment needed for refining the Required Fidelity?
product
Develop efficient extraction techniques
Variability needs to be documented to understand the
volume of the resource
Understand the effort required to mine the deposit and
investment needed in developing extraction capabilities.
Will impact the extractability of the regolith resource
Ease of accessibility has an impact on cost of developing
robotic miners.
in 2026, to be delivered by Firefly Aerospace [81]. The process for
site selection has been documented in Ref. [82].
• The Canadian Lunar Rover Mission (LRM) will land in the South
Polar region in the 2026–2027 time-frame through a CLPS delivery.
The 30 kg rover will contain 6 instruments that include a combined
neutron and gamma ray spectrometer, the Frozen Regolith Obser­
vation and Science Tools (FROST) suite (comprised of two multi­
spectral imagers and one Lyman Alpha imager to detect water ice),
the Lunar Advanced Filter Observing Radiometer for Geologic
Exploration (LAFORGE) instrument, and a Radiation Micro-
Dosimeter [83].
As noted above, China and Russia also have planned missions to
investigate the south pole for volatile resources. After returning a pro­
posed 2 kg of regolith samples from Apollo crater in the South Pole –
Aitken basin with Chang’e 6 (expected to launch in 2026); Chang’e 7
will consist of an orbiter, lander, rover, and “mini flying detector” to
explore the south polar region for resources, including PSRs (expected to
launch later in 2026); Chang’e 8 (expected to launch in 2028) will be an
in-situ resource utilization and 3D-printing technology test mission to
verify the utilization and development of such resources [84]. There are
political issues to be overcome in order for the U.S. and China to work
cooperatively together in space exploration. The Wolf amendment,
named after U.S. congressman Frank Wolf who sponsored the amend­
ment, banned NASA from engaging in bilateral agreements and coor­
dination with China. As stated under U.S. Public Law 112–10, Sec. 1340
[85]:
(a) None of the funds made available by this division may be used for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration or the Office of Science
and Technology Policy to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement,
or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to
participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China
or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are specifically
authorized by a law enacted after the date of enactment of this division.
(b) The limitation in subsection (a) shall also apply to any funds used to
effectuate the hosting of official Chinese visitors at facilities belonging to
or utilized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
This amendment represents a significant roadblock in establishing
cooperation in space exploration between the United States (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration) and China (China National
Space Administration) that will require enormous political effort to
repeal. However, specific exceptions can be made if it is in the national
interest.
Russia successfully launched Luna 25 on August 10, 2023 and was
supposed to land at Boguslawsky Crater (72.9◦ S, 43.2◦ E) on August 21,
2023. The goals of this mission were to study the regolith and the
exospheric dust and plasma at this location [86]. However, during a
maneuver to place the spacecraft in a low lunar orbit before landing, an
onboard control unit failed to turn Luna-25’s thrusters off at the proper
time resulting in a high velocity impact on the lunar surface [87]. The
C.R. Neal et al.
next Russian robotic lunar mission will be Luna 26 (aka Luna-Glob-2 and
Luna-Resurs Orbiter) in 2027 - a polar orbiter and communications
relay, and Luna 27 (aka Luna-Resurs Lander) in 2028 - a lander in the
South Pole–Aitken basin on the lunar far side, with Luna 26 as the
communication relay. Luna 27 will also explore the region for polar
volatiles. Luna 28 (aka Luna-Grunt; a sample return mission) is sched­
uled for launch in 2030 [88].
The ongoing and scheduled missions demonstrate the international
interest in the south pole region of the Moon. The missions will carry
different instruments and will have different levels of granularity (i.e.,
surface and orbital missions), but there is an opportunity to integrate
these different mission datasets to derive useful products that would
inform both the science, exploration, and commercial stakeholders
about lunar polar volatiles. To date no intentional pre-mission coordi­
nation is occurring, which represents a missed opportunity to assess
similar targets using multiple datasets. Much-needed data for polar
volatile resource deposits are outlined in Table 1 and a similar table can
be produced for other lunar resources. The definition of a mineral
reserve (Fig. 1) requires the deposit to be known such that there is
confidence that a sufficient quantity can be economically extracted,
processed, refined, and used. The economic aspect of this definition
comes when a price per quantity of that commodity is known (i.e., there
is a demand for the products and potential customers are identified, but
see Fig. 2) such that business models can be reliably quantified. The
current state of understanding of lunar resources is insufficient (in terms
of known magnitudes of specific minerals including water-ice and a
market or price point for any products derived from lunar resources).
However, as noted above, initial coordination is being developed at the
grass roots community level around the missions highlighted.
5.2. The advantages of coordination
A coordinated international lunar resource evaluation campaign
could allow countries to participate in this exploration, regardless of
economic status. Countries could contribute instruments, launch vehi­
cles, rovers, ideas, etc., to ensure the required datasets are obtained for
each site identified by orbital data (e.g. Ref. [89]). Could this be done
through the Artemis Accords [54]? The Accords establish a common
vision via a practical set of principles, guidelines, and best practices to
enhance the governance of the civil exploration and use of outer space
with the intention of advancing the Artemis Program [54]. They are
intended to apply to civil space activities conducted by the civil space
agencies of each signatory. At the time of writing 31 countries have
signed the Artemis Accords, many with little to no history of space
exploration but who recognize the potential positive impact of exploring
the Moon. It is noted that the European Space Agency (ESA) cannot sign
the accords as it does not represent one country, but NASA and ESA have
a strong existing bi-lateral agreement on cooperation in space and
several ESA member nations have signed the Accords. By sharing data
obtained from this campaign commercial companies (and space
agencies) will better understand the reserve potential of lunar resources,
such that a more reliable market value can be determined and the
reserve potential better evaluated. In this way, we could go to the Moon
together for all humanity. Such an approach requires organization,
integration, and coordination at the highest level, but international and
commercial on-ramps to the campaign need be built in from the beginning.
Linking this international lunar resource prospecting campaign to
the Artemis Accords is probably not the avenue to promote cooperation
and collaboration with China and Russia, who currently have philo­
sophical and political differences with the United States, and also have a
collaborative effort to establish a human-tended research station at the
south pole of the Moon(which also includes Pakistan, the United Arab
Emirates, and the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization) [90].
This aspect of the campaign remains one that requires careful thought
and debate that is beyond the scope of this paper. However, history
shows us that international cooperation in space leads to an enduring
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Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747
program (e.g., the International Space Station, which has successfully
operated for >20 years), whereas international competition does not (e.
g., Apollo, which was canceled <4 years after Apollo 11 had landed).
Exploration of the Moon could facilitate this if all parties dedicated
themselves to go to the Moon together. The coordination of lunar
resource prospecting represents opportunities for international diplo­
macy in an era that desperately needs it. The avenue for collaborating
with China and Russia could be through “science diplomacy” conducted
at the scientist-to-scientist level, but ensuring that laws in each country
are followed.
5.3. Implementation of the campaign
Since the Clementine mission in 1994, almost thirty years of lunar
orbital data define the broad regions prospectors would need to explore
for a particular resource. However, data are lacking, especially for polar
volatiles, such as: form, amount, composition, ease of extraction (e.g.,
geotechnical properties), accessibility, size of the deposit, etc. (Table 1).
So how can the coordination be initiated? The authorship has started a
grassroots approach to do exactly this, focusing on the missions high­
lighted in Section 5.1. By leveraging existing orbital data for planning a
coordinated international lunar resource evaluation campaign, we
would obtain information about lunar resources that has direct rele­
vance for enabling human permanence on the Moon and for commercial
involvement in resource extraction and refinement. This has been star­
ted [91]. In doing so, this would realistically inform whether or not
lunar resources could underpin a vibrant cislunar economy, which
would also benefit society on Earth through, for example, job creation.
By fostering international cooperation, scheduled and future missions
can be integrated into a campaign to investigate these sites. Data thus
collected will be used to down select sites for pilot plant production and
tests beyond that of PRIME-1. A lunar resource evaluation campaign has
many benefits for human space exploration, commerce, and society here
on Earth that will be immediately seen in job creation.
Key leaders of the missions identified above have been contacted
regarding coordination of data gathering efforts, especially from orbital
assets. The orbital missions have a variety of instruments that will return
a wealth of data. If these multiple, diverse datasets were available for the
same locations, surface assets could be more accurately deployed to
obtain the granularity of data needed to understand the reserve potential
at each location. We believe this is the vital next step in underpinning
sustainability of human exploration of the Moon while also helping to
establish a vibrant cislunar economy.
But which sites should be targeted? The largest craters at the south
pole may not be the best targets for initial surface exploration. For
example, Shackleton Crater has a mean rim diameter of 21 km, with the
floor of the crater 4.1 km below the rim with a radius of ~1.75 km, and
an average crater wall slope of 30.5◦ [92]. Landing on the rim in sunlight
and gaining access to the crater floor would be challenging. ShadowCam
on KPLO has the potential to map routes into and out of PSRs (see
http://shadowcam.sese.asu.edu/ for details). VIPER has chosen a
different approach by targeting smaller PSRs near the western rim of
Nobile crater that have orbital data indicating the presence of water ice
[69–72]. It is craters similar to those being explored by VIPER that
should be targeted by this coordination effort. Part of this effort will be
to integrate existing datasets for the targets chosen while obtaining new
data from the orbital missions. This will need to happen soon in order to
take advantage of the missions currently at the Moon and those
shorter-lived missions about to launch (e.g., TrailBlazer). We suggest
that a start can be made by integrating current datasets for the medium
to small PSRs at the south pole (e.g. Refs. [93–95]) around potential
Artemis landing sites. Site selection can be community driven through
international workshops (in-person and virtual), special sessions in
established conferences (e.g., the European Planetary Science Congress;
the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference; the annual LEAG meeting,
the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium meetings, etc.). Data products
C.R. Neal et al.
Fig. 3. Much of the data gathered by a lunar resource evaluation/prospecting
campaign will inform multiple stakeholders. The example shown here is for
polar volatile deposits but can be applied to other resources. For a colour
version of this figure, please refer to the Web version of this article.
will inform future landed missions to ground-truth the orbital data and
achieve sufficient spatial resolution needed to adequately quantify the
reserve potential of each site.
5.4. Expanding the coordination
The data obtained from the campaign will inform multiple stake­
holders (Fig. 3) and the data from the missions highlighted in Section 5.1
are/will be freely available. Evaluations of polar volatile deposits have
been published using existing datasets [12,13,16]; combination of
existing work with the new data anticipated from Section 5.1 missions,
could lead to new interest in surface exploration of the polar volatile
deposits. But how to engage Russia and China in this effort? This could
be done at the scientist level but legal and political issues that stymie
bilateral collaborations between the U.S. and China (e.g., the Wolf
Amendment – see section 5.1 above) need to be overcome. However, the
coordinated campaign is multi-lateral, which at least allows productive
dialogue between China and the Unites States. One way to open up
dialogue is a sample exchange of Chang’e 5 regolith for Apollo regolith.
There is precedent for lunar sample exchanges that open dialogue and
communication. For example, on June 10, 1971, the U.S. received 3.275
g of Luna 16 Mare Fecunditatis regolith from the Soviet Union in ex­
change for 6.141 g of regolith and rock samples from the Apollo 11 and
12 missions [96]. In 1972, another sample exchange saw the U.S. receive
2.13 g of Luna 20 Apollonius highlands regolith in exchange for 4.776 g
of regolith and rock samples from Apollo 14 and 15. Again, the U.S.
received 3.03 g of Luna 24 Mare Crisium regolith from the Soviet Union
in exchange for 0.5 g of an Apollo sample [97], with a further 2.432 g
and 3.471 g of associated Apollo rock chips and regolith samples sent to
the USSR in 1979 and 1981, respectively. These exchanges certainly
developed science diplomacy that resulted in enhanced communication
between scientists and government agencies (e.g., the Apollo-Soyuz
mission in July 1975 - the first crewed international space mission
carried out by the United States and the Soviet Union [98]). Would such
a sample exchange between the United States and China be a way to
develop trust and cooperation in space exploration? With the Wolf
Amendment being part of American law, it would require extraordinary
efforts to make this happen. However, the potential benefits could make
this effort worthwhile. In addition, the current political situation with
Russia is also very difficult at the moment, but diplo­
macy/communications between scientists can still occur. This is why the
grassroots approach in developing this coordinated international lunar
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Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747
resource prospecting campaign could work in terms of fostering
collaboration and cooperation.
An important part of the coordinated international lunar resource
prospecting campaign is the development of standards that address the
uniqueness and complexity of this potential new industry with unique
geological formations and extreme space environment challenges. This
has resulted in the development of the Lunar Ore Reserves Standards
(LORS; [99]). The standards are intended to be an instrument providing
guidance for consistent reporting through a set of classification systems
and guidelines (that are not prescriptive), for any investor, space agency,
government, commercial entity, or any other entity wishing to explore,
extract and utilize lunar resources [99]. Led by Carlos Espejel of iSpace
Europe, the LORS classification frameworks consider geological cer­
tainty, technical certainty, and technology maturity, together with
socio-political, governance, environmental and economic viability. They
are based on existing and very mature terrestrial standards for the
mining and oil and gas industries, as well as the United Nations resource
classification system, and are intended to become a collaborative, in­
clusive and iterative effort that involves a number of expert individuals,
organizations, and research institutions for the development of this
critical and pivotal concept [99].
It is important that international buy-in to these standards is ob­
tained, such that there is a self-imposed supervisory structure for the
reporting and classification lunar resource deposits. Therefore, part of
this campaign will be to socialize LORS and in doing so, evolve these
standards to fully encompass the exploration and extraction of lunar
resources. This has already been started by Carlos Espejel (iSpace
Europe), who has been socializing the concept at international meetings,
in book chapters, and soon in the peer-reviewed scientific and explo­
ration literature. He is involved in this grassroots approach towards a
coordinated international lunar resource prospecting campaign and
socializing as well as updating LORS will be part of the output from this
effort.
One significant finding from the two Lunar Surface Science Work­
shops held on lunar resources [3,4] was that the construction of a Po­
tential Reserve Report for the Moon that would focus initially on polar
volatile deposits, but could be expanded to other lunar resources. This
would use existing and available datasets to examine the reserve po­
tential of different deposits. The product will not, in all probability,
define reserves on the Moon, but will highlight what data are still
needed in order to make a realistic, quantitative determination of
reserve potential for polar volatile and other lunar resources. It will
highlight specific areas for detailed exploration and through interna­
tional coordination, plans for such data could be assembled.
Who is involved and who can be involved? Currently, over 20 in­
dividuals (encompassing science, exploration, and commerce – Fig. 3)
from Europe and the United States are part of this grassroots effort. At
the time of writing, this effort is open to anyone who is passionate about
understanding lunar resources. Simply contact the lead author detailing
your interest. As the coordination proceeds, we are developing a
governance structure that will evolve as needed. The core focus is on
addressing the roadblocks in the lunar ISRU value chain (red type in
Fig. 2), and eventually turning all the stages in Fig. 2 to green.
Finally, the coordinated international lunar resource prospecting
campaign currently operates with an open data policy, given the mis­
sions highlighted in Section 5.1. Data policy is an issue that will need to
evolve if, for instance, data are obtained by a commercial company to
explore a specific region of the Moon that shows promise for significant
concentrations and recovery of useable resources. These data become
proprietary, but should there be a time limit on this? Such details remain
to be resolved, but the point is that such issues are being considered.
5.5. Benefits of the campaign
The data obtained from the campaign will inform multiple stake­
holders (Fig. 3), which creates a problem for NASA because no one
C.R. Neal et al.
Fig. 4. The Moon as an enabling asset. German-American rocket engineer and space visionary, Kraftt Ehricke said “If God wanted man to become a space-faring species,
He would have given man a Moon”. The strategic value of having an off-Earth destination in our own back yard represents an opportunity to expand humanity into the
Solar System while benefitting society on Earth (indicated by the arrow to and from the Moon) through creating a new sector of our economy in cislunar space. For a
colour version of this figure, please refer to the Web version of this article.
mission directorate can take full ownership (i.e., science and exploration
are usually separated – VIPER is a science mission, not a resource
evaluation/prospecting/exploration mission). Hence international
cooperation and coordination would allow science missions to also
inform exploration and commerce, commercial missions to also inform
science and exploration, and exploration missions to also inform com­
merce and science (Fig. 3).
The LEAG Commercial Advisory Board (set up in 2018 as a forum for
members from the commercial space sector to advise on the planning
and prioritization of NASA-funded lunar science and exploration activ­
ities [100]) has demonstrated that its CLPS providers saw unprece­
dented job growth in 2019 (>100 %) and even during a pandemic, job
growth was >65 %. It is evident that on-ramping commercial companies
into the campaign in the United States (e.g., data-buys, CLPS deliveries,
etc.) and elsewhere would be a great addition to the development of a
thriving cislunar economy.
6. Summary and conclusions
In order for lunar resources to be in the critical path for sustaining
human exploration to the Moon, and also in sustaining human life on the
lunar surface, the resource potential must be quantitatively evaluated.
To achieve this, a dedicated coordinated campaign of lunar missions is
required. If one focuses on polar volatiles, the magnitude of the
campaign becomes apparent. By using available orbital data to deter­
mine the top ten best sites (cf. [16]) to target surface evaluation, over
6000 km2 will need to be investigated. Therefore, any lunar resource
evaluation/prospecting campaign will need to be international in na­
ture, as no one space agency will have the budget or mandate to conduct
it alone.
Coordinating this campaign will not be easy, but if it is international
in nature, it provides a great opportunity to test and refine the applicable
legal framework while being intentional in setting precedents that
positively shape the conduct of lunar (and space) resource activities in
accordance with the OST. As such, we propose as a beginning three
foundational features.
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Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747
• The global relevance of lunar resources requires the involvement of
all interested actors, irrespective of their degree of economic and
scientific development.
• The variety of data that will be obtained throughout the campaign
allows for the possibility to provide benefits to both its participants
and the broader science community.
• The unprecedented level of cooperation and coordination required
for the campaign can be used as a catalyst to accelerate current
rulemaking efforts for lunar governance.
Results from this campaign will inform multiple stakeholders (Fig. 3)
and herald the beginning of a new era of international cooperation in
space exploration. It is noted that we promote the inclusion of science,
exploration, and commercial interests in such a campaign, not preferring
one stakeholder over the other two. We should go back to the Moon
together.
If the reserve potential is proven, the benefits to society on Earth
would be immense, initially realized through job growth in new space
industries, but new technologies developed for sending humans off-
world and commodities made from lunar resources could have untold
important benefits for society back here.
An immediate next step is to remove the roadblocks depicted in
Fig. 2. This could begin with a collective commitment of nations to
achieving a permanent human presence on the Moon. This is where our
implementation of the coordination (see Section 5.3) could lead, once
the reserve potential of lunar resources has been quantified, and this is
achieved by obtaining the data needed for this evaluation as outlined in
Table 1. At the same time, space agencies could create a market for
commodities derived from lunar resources by committing to purchase
increasing quantities per year over the next one to two decades, thus
creating markets and demand, such that credible business models can be
developed. This would be unprecedented in human space exploration
because it requires a long-term commitment at the Moon and a high
level of international cooperation. However, if we cannot make the
Moon sustainable, we definitely will not do that at Mars. The Moon,
therefore, becomes a blueprint for sustainability in human space
exploration, and an enabling asset to allow humanity to move out into
the Solar System (Fig. 4), while at the same time improving society here
C.R. Neal et al. Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747

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Prof. Clive R. Neal is a Professor of Planetary Geology at the University of Notre Dame,
USA. He is currently a member of the National Academies Committee on Astrobiology and
Planetary Science and ESA’s Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Com­
mittee. He served two non-consecutive terms as chair of NASA’s Lunar Exploration
Analysis Group and in 2015, he received the NASA Wargo Award for contributions to the
integration of planetary exploration and science throughout his career. He is passionate
about returning humans to the Moon permanently and in a way that is sustainable and
benefits society on Earth.
Dr. Antonino Salmeri is a space lawyer specialized in the governance of lunar and space
resource activities. He holds four advanced degrees in law and currently works as Director
of the Lunar Policy Platform Initiative. In this position, Dr. Salmeri works with govern­
ments, space agencies, companies and civil society at large on the identifcation of priority
areas to be addressed for safe and sustainable lunar activities, and on the development of
voluntary norms of behavior thereby. Dr. Salmeri also holds various leadership positions in
key space organizations, such as Co-Chair of the Space Generation Advisory Council and
Governing Member of the International Space University. In light of his contributions to
the advancement of space law and astronautics, Dr. Salmeri has been awarded as Young
Space Leader by the International Astronautical Federation and presented with the
Diederiks-Verschoor Award by the International Institute of Space Law.
Dr. Angel Abbud-Madrid is the Director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado
School of Mines, where he leads a research program focused on the human and robotic
exploration of space and the utilization of its resources. He has more than 30 years of
experience in space projects on NASA’s microgravity facilities, including the Space Shuttle
and the International Space Station, and received the NASA Astronauts’ Personal
Achievement Award in 2004. He is currently the President of the Space Resources
Roundtable and member of the Committee on Planetary Protection of The National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Dr. James D. Carpenter is Lead for Moon and Mars Science for ESA’s Directorate of Human
and Robotic Exploration. James is a physicist by training with a background in instru­
mentation for space astrophysics and planetary science. While with ESA James has worked
as a scientist on Moon and Mars mission activities and has led strategy development for
science at the Moon and space resources. In his current role James leads the establishment
of new research activities for the Moon and Mars in the decade to come and beyond.
747
Acta Astronautica 214 (2024) 737–747
Dr. Antony (Tony) Colaprete is a planetary scientist based at NASA Ames. Hired as a civil
servant in 2003, Colaprete split his time between fundamental scientific research and
developing flight instrumentation. Colaprete has been the Principal Investigator (PI) for
several flight projects and instruments, including the LCROSS mission and the Lunar At­
mosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer
(UVS). Currently, he is the Project Scientist for the VIPER mission, PI for the Near Infrared
Volatile Spectrometer Subsystem (NIRVSS) and leads the Ames Flight Instrument Group.
Dr. Karl A. Hibbitts is a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory active in planetary missions, instrument development, and laboratory exper­
iments. He is deputy-PI of the Europa Clipper Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa
and is the technical lead of the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative in-situ resource utili­
zation focus group. Dr. Hibbitts leads an active planetary laboratory environmental facility
that couples ultraviolet through mid-infrared spectral reflectance capabilities with an
ultra-high vacuum and cryogenic system capable of simulating relevant radiation envi­
ronments on the Moon and in the Jovian system.
Dr. Julie Kleinhenz is the deputy lead for the NASA’s ISRU System Capability Leadership
Team, which coordinates ISRU strategy across NASA. She has been working ISRU since
2006, with a primary focus on developing methods of extracting water and oxygen from
lunar and Martian regolith. She helped developed one of the largest dirty thermal vacuum
chambers at NASA and lead test campaigns in the facility for 10 years. She has led and
participated in numerous study teams focused on lunar and Mars ISRU architecture, sys­
tem modelling, and ISRU measurement needs. Dr. Kleinhenz is currently working as
integration engineer for the PRIME-1 mission, is a Co–I on the VIPER mission science team,
and is a member of the NASA simulant advisory group.
Dr. Mathias Link is Director & Member of the Executive Committee at the Luxembourg
Space Agency (LSA). He works on the definition and implementation of Luxembourg’s
space sector development policy and has represented Luxembourg in space-related boards
and committees at the European Space Agency, the European Union, and the United Na­
tions. He coordinates the SpaceResources.lu initiative that aims to promote the exploration
and utilization of space resources. He is also the chairman of the steering committee of the
European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) and served as its first Director be­
tween 2020 and 2022.
Mr. Gerald Sanders has worked at the NASA Johnson Space Center full time for 35 years in
the Propulsion and Power Division of the Engineering Directorate, and has extensive
experience in propulsion, fluid systems, and In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Mr.
Sanders has worked in the area of ISRU for over 27 years. Mr. Sanders currently serves as
the NASA ISRU System Capability Lead, and Co-Investigator for Human Mission Extensi­
bility for Mars OXygen Isru Experiment (MOXIE) on the Mars Perseverance rover. He
received his B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in
1987.