Lunar dust presents a serious challenge to all operations on the Moon, whether human or robotic. It can be especially problematic in applications where it is necessary to make high integrity, gas-tight seals, such as within payloads designed for in situ analysis of lunar ices and volatiles. The challenge has been addressed within the context of the ProSPA instrument being developed for the Luna-27 mission. Soft sealing materials are preferred in order to minimise the required sealing force to enable use of lightweight actuators. JSC-1A simulant was used to test and compare the sealing performance of the elastomer Kalrez (R) 7075 and of Indium. It was found that both materials were able to seal at dust levels of up to 0.90 mg/cm(2) with an applied force of up to 400 N. Indium offers the best sealing performance (better than 10(-7) mbar.l.s(-1)) but Kalrez (R) is capable of operation at higher temperature, which may be beneficial in applications in which samples are heated to release gases for analysis.

Water is one of the most vital resources required for future space exploration. By obtaining water from lunar regolith, humans are one step closer to being independent of Earth's resources enabling longer term exploration missions. Hydrogen reduction of ilmenite(FeTiO3) is often proposed as a technique for producing water on the Moon. ProSPA, a miniature analytical laboratory, will perform reduction of lunar soils as an In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) demonstration on the lunar surface. The technique used by ProSPA will be useful for prospecting payloads with limited mass and power resources. This work considers the development and optimization of an ilmenite reduction procedure for use with the ProSPA instrument. It is shown that the reaction can be performed in a static (non-flowing) system, by utilizing a cold finger to collect the water produced from the reaction. Among the investigated parameters an initial H-2:FeTiO3 ratio of 1, in this case equating to a hydrogen pressure of 418 mbar, proved to be best for providing maximum yields over 4 h when operating at 1000 degrees C. Results indicate that a maximum yield of 3.40 +/- 0.17 wt % O-2 can be obtained at 1000 degrees C (with a maximum possible yield of 10.5 wt % O-2). When operating at higher temperatures of 1100 degrees C the ilmenite grains undergo a subsolidus reaction resulting in the formation of ferropseudobrookite and higher yields of 4.42 +/- 0.18 wt % O-2 can be obtained.