Lunar Regolith & ISRU Explorer
Compare terrain and processing choices to see what a resource system would actually need to solve. The tool focuses on feedstock, process conditions, products and engineering dependencies rather than inventing tonnes-per-day output from unknown material.
Why the process matters as much as the terrain
Regolith contains oxygen chemically bound in mineral oxides, but recovering it requires a defined chemical or electrochemical process. NASA has tested hydrogen reduction, carbothermal reduction and molten regolith electrolysis concepts. Polar volatile recovery is a different problem because the objective is to preserve, excavate and separate compounds that may already exist as cold-trapped material.
What this tool refuses to invent
Actual output depends on mineral composition, particle size, beneficiation, reactor temperature, residence time, energy availability, gas handling, excavation rate and system losses. Without a measured feedstock and a defined reactor model, an exact oxygen yield would be false precision.