NON-PROPRIETARY DATA NASA SBIR/STTR Technologies Identification and Significance of Innovation Technical Objectives and Work Plan NASA and Non-NASA Applications Firm Contacts Expected TRL Range at the end of Contract (1-9): 5-6 Actual TRL at the end of Contract: 4 The objectives of the project were to design, develop and construct prototype bucket ladder excavator, turret arm, universal mounting port, and other related accessories, including visualization and simulation software. The project suffered damage and interference due to inappropriate application of otherwise prudent audits by DCAA and JSC procurement. Instead of Pre-Award Audit, a Contract Compliance Audit was initiated – without a contract. These interferences imposed a 14-month delay from the end of the Phase One to the start of Phase Two, nearly costing us the project. The DCAA could not back up to perform the correct audit, and there were several concurrent and duplicative audits, imposing a spurious cashflow that wouldn’t allow us to properly manage the project. Documented 20%+ of the project funding for additional accounting plus management cost eroded the R&D funding. Progress payments were erratic, at 3-6 mos intervals, adding to overhead and damaging productivity and morale. Promised mobility platforms/modular interface designs were never provided by NASA, so we constructed a small trailer to replace the Turret and universal mounting ports with temporary fixtures, visible in the above figures. In the four years from initial project award, the Blade’s industrial capacity (1 mT / hr) was discarded by NASA. We completed this fascinating project with working hardware in spite of overwhelming bureaucratic interferences. Applications for an Excavator / Mobility Platform Ensemble include mining and civil engineering constructions. The excavator was designed to dig and move anhydrous regolith of varying degrees of compaction. The resulting structures include trenches (as narrow as 10 cm), pits, ramps, berms, postholes, etc. for the emplacement of habitats, landing pads, cables, conduits, etc. NASA appears to be uniquely interested in all-electric excavators, since pneumatic and hydraulic hardware is widely available COTS on Earth. Discussions with R&D departments of existing earth-moving manufacturers assure us that automation to the extent that we are developing is not allowed in Terrestrial regulated civil engineering, mining and construction sites. A human operator is required for each piece of equipment at a worksite due to the density of operations, no matter how well automated. With our enhanced in-house capabilities, we are studying new hardware options, and when a future NASA needs industrial-class COTS hardware to mine Ice-Laden regolith, call us! Other applications for project elements are pending. MPED is a small, low-power and low mass tool ensemble being developed for deployment in Lunar and Martian surface operations on near-term robotic missions. The value of a near-term MPED demonstration mission is resolving the multiple unknowns related to Lunar excavation and construction technology early in the exploration timeline. The feedback from an experimental bucket ladder excavator in the Lunar environment will directly lead to development of robust, reliable ISRU systems as autonomous precursors to landing exploration teams. Lunar regolith properties and in-situ engineering competence is essential, especially with respect to Lunar polar regions. Proposal No. NASA X MPED: An ISRU Bucket Ladder Excavator Demonstrator System Contract No. NNJ08JA60C PI: Gary “ROD” Rodriguez sysRAND Corporation Parker CO Gary Rodriguez, Systems Architect & CEO (M) Lincoln Avenue Unit 130 Parker CO (O) or