Redwire is celebrating its lunar and Martian manufacturing technology, Mason, passing a Critical Design Review (CDR) with NASA.

Mason, Redwire's Moon infrastructure tech

Mason is a tool suite for the construction of berms (mounds), landing pads and roads for future lunar and Martian habitats.

The project is part of a $12.9 million award from NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. This is to prototype Mason for broader plans. Specifically, to support a long-term presence on – and exploration of – the lunar surface.

“We are proud to have successfully completed this exciting milestone and bring Mason one step closer to launch,” said Redwire President of Space Missions, Tom Campbell.

“Leveraging Redwire’s unmatched in-space manufacturing experience, Mason technology is critical to enabling sustainable operations on the Moon and Mars surface.”

Mason
Basically, Mason can convert lunar or Martian regolith into a solid material similar to concrete.

It comprises three tools. First is a grader tool, BASE (Blade for Autonomously Surfacing Environments). Second, a compaction tool called PACT (Planetary Automated Compaction Tool). And a microwave sintering tool called M3LT (Microwave Melter of Martian and Lunar Terrain).

They are designed to be platform agnostic for use on different landers, rovers, or robotic arms.

Redwire highlights that regolith can cause a variety of equipment failures and manoeuvrability challenges, as well as health impacts. Mason has to mitigate these risks and also significantly lower the cost of lunar exploration efforts.

Demonstration
What comes next? Redwire engineers will now fabricate the Mason critical design prototype. This will also involve functional testing of the three tools.

Redwire says it is currently exploring flight opportunities for a demonstration mission.

LunA-10
Gitai, Honeybee Robotics, Northrop Grumman, Redwire Space and SpaceX were among the 14 companies selected last year by DARPA. This was for sponsored “LunA-10” projects involving commercial lunar infrastructure.

They companies agreed to work together over the course of the seven-month study to design new integrated systems spanning multiple lunar services.

These include lunar power; mining and commercial in-situ resource use; communications, navigation, and timing; transit, mobility, and logistics; and construction and robotics.