Optimum energy efficiency in lunar in-situ water ice utilization

Lunar in-situ water ice utilization is considered an essential part of the future construction of Lunar Bases. However, the thermal conductivity of lunar regolith without water ice is extremely low, which seriously hinders the thermal mining of lunar water ice. In this study, we proposed a novel approach to optimize the energy efficiency of water ice thermal mining. In this method, a constant temperature heat source with a heating temperature selected according to the particle size of water ice was used to slow down the reduction rate of the thermal conductivity of icy soil. Our simulation results showed that the relatively high mining temperature led to the rapid sublimation of water ice near the heat source, reducing the thermal conductivity of the icy soil and the energy efficiency.