Development of Lunar South Pole Transportation Pathing Model for Moving Isru Product From Point To Point

The surface transportation of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) products, such as water ice and oxygen, remains a critical gap in current lunar infrastructure planning. To address this, Northrop Grumman (NG), under DARPA’s LunA-10 initiative, sponsored a concept to evaluate transportation route planning at the Lunar South Pole. A Texas A&M University Aerospace Engineering Senior Design Team developed the Lunar Pathing Sensitivity Model (LPSM), a software tool that evaluates terrain constraints to identify feasible routes for lunar transport systems, with specific consideration of terrain slopes and temperature extremes associated with permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). The model incorporates terrain classification, a derived traversability metric, and maximum slope thresholds for two candidate transport modes. The LPSM was evaluated between NASA’s Nobile Rim 1 landing zone and the IM-2 NOVA-C lander site, a potential ISRU area, identifying a safe and cost-effective 28 km path. This paper presents the project results: a pathing algorithm that enables early-phase mission planning, along with a discussion of its current limitations and recommendations for future refinement. The LPSM tool supports decision-making for route selection in the extreme lunar environment and is adaptable to evolving mission architectures.