Air Squared, Inc. SBIR Phase I Award, May 2021

NASA seeks to develop novel oxygen extraction concepts thatnbsp;allow for the production of oxygen on the surface of the Moon using Lunar regolith. As part of this system, it#39;s possible the in-situ resource utilization process may require a pressurized volume to be evacuated to prevent the loss of products to the vacuum of space. For this reason, NASA has expressed the need for a contamination-tolerant vacuum pump that can pump down this pressurized volume to prevent having to exhaust these consumables to the vacuum of space. This pump will have two firm requirements:Capable of evacuating a 50 L volume from an initial pressure of 5 psia down to 5 torr in less than two minutes when discharging against a pressure of 1 atmCapable of pumping corrosive trace substances including HCl, HF, and H2S without adversely affecting performance or lifeTo accomplish this, Air Squared is proposing the development of a robust, oil-free contamination tolerant scroll vacuum pump (CTSVP) utilizing experience from tritium handling and International Space Station projects. This approach focuses on a material selection for contamination tolerance on only three components allowing non-wetted components to be optimized for size, weight, and power savings and long life.nbsp;