In-situ resource utilization (ISRU)OperatingTrust: Agency-primaryLast verified
PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1)
Prime contractor: NASA Kennedy Space Center + Honeybee Robotics (TRIDENT drill)
Project facts
- Prime contractor
- NASA Kennedy Space Center + Honeybee Robotics (TRIDENT drill)
- Award date
- First-use target
- Flown on IM-2 (March 2025); follow-on planned
Customers
NASA
Overview
Two-instrument ISRU technology demonstrator: TRIDENT drill (Honeybee Robotics, ~1 m depth) + MSOLO mass spectrometer (Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations). Flew on IM-2 Athena March 2025; TRIDENT achieved full range-of-motion demo but MSOLO scans detected only anthropogenic gases due to side-orientation landing.
Source bibliography
- [1]NASA Scienceretrievedhttps://science.nasa.gov/lunar-science/clps-deliveries/prime-1-im/
- [2]NASAretrievedhttps://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/nasas-lunar-drill-technology-passes-tests-on-the-moon/
- [3]NASAretrievedhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission/polar-resources-ice-mining-experiment-1-prime-1/
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