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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
Focused microwave beams into the lunar regolith. The region below the surface is heated by the focused microwave beams, which drives volatile gases upwards to be collected (e.g., by rover cryotraps). In this figure, a high-power microwave source 34 is connected to the array 37 by a parallel wire transmission line 32. A plurality of shunt tuning devices 35 can be adjusted for maximum (or to improve) coupling efficiency of microwave power between the source 34 and the antenna array 37. Each of the antenna arrays 37 launches a converging microwave beam 39 into the lunar regolith 38. The multiple converging beams 39 overlap in a region 40 below the surface of the regolith. The heated region 40 then drives volatile gases upwards to be collected by the rover cryotraps. In this manner, the dipole broadside arrays 37 can deliver the same subsurface heating performance as the waveguide slotted arrays (WGSA) of FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2 but with a lower weight and a more volumetrically compact design. The savings in weight and volume increase proportionally for larger rover domes and for microwave sources with longer wavelength. Claims (22) What is claimed is: 1. A method for mining lunar polar permafrost to extract gas propellants, comprising:providing a rover vehicle for mining permafrost from a landing site, the rover vehicle configured to combine radio frequency (RF), microwave, and infrared radiation to heat the permafrost at a depth control heating profile; lowering a dome from the rover vehicle to a surface of the landing site, the dome having a conformable skirt configured to increase gas collection efficiency and a plurality of infrared heaters configured to warm the surface of the mining location, the interior surface of the skirt having arranged thereon a plurality of phased wire dipole antennas arranged in a plurality of broadside arrays; deploying from the rover vehicle a plurality of drilling devices configured to enable subsurface RF heating; sublimating ice at a predetermined depth, using a combination of radiation sources, to cause water vapor to migrate upward and out of the permafrost; using a rotating belt to capture cryogenic vapors; and storing the vapor as a liquid in one or more water storage tanks. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of phased wire dipole antennas for each of the broadside arrays are connected by a plurality of wire transmission lines to a common feed point. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the wire transmission lines has a length that is about one-half of an operating wavelength. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of phased wire dipole antennas has a length that is about one-half of an operating wavelength.
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