Power Lander for Support of Long-Term Lunar Presence

Emerging industrial base and the consequent sustained manned Lunar presence will require consistent high power capacities. This paper proposes a first iteration design of a flyable electric power platform which could serve as an enabler of Lunar Development and Exploration. It is intended to support a small facility solo or an emerging industrial base as part of a grid. Lunar Missions, Habitats and Facilities stand to benefit from an expected decade of non-stop operation, the economics of scale, Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) availability, standardization of design, and logistical support for Lunar encampments provided by this architecture. The unattended and unmanned vehicle design is to be man- and robotics-serviceable after delivery by current and proposed heavy-lift boosters. Design continuity within a family of systems will improve reliability through "lessons learned'' in the field. Further, various configurations of the proposed scalable architecture will provide reference platforms for the indigenous construction of similar power plant facilities from in-situ Lunar resources (ISRU). The baseline design should be directed towards those materials available on the Moon and expected to be manufacturable on-site within the first decade of operation.