Backup Ice Storage
Cold Reservoir Holding Frozen-Water Backup
The backup ice storage reservoir is a 100-kilogram vessel composed of a 316L stainless steel inner tank, multi-layer insulation, and an outer aluminum shell, designed to hold a 1,000-kilogram emergency water reserve. Sited sub-surface near permanently shadowed regions to mitigate micrometeoroid risk, the tank uses natural 90 K ambient temperatures to achieve passive, zero-power storage. Maintaining water in a frozen state prevents the self-discharge and condensate losses common to warm lunar storage systems. During contingencies, an integrated heater provides slow drawdown over a 30-day emergency reserve window without requiring active cooling machinery over its 50-year operational lifetime.
Cold reservoir holding frozen water as a backup reserve — exploits the natural cold of PSR-adjacent siting for zero-energy passive storage.
Purpose
Cold reservoir holding frozen water as a backup reserve — exploits the natural cold of PSR-adjacent siting for zero-energy passive storage.
Context
Child of L2-WTR-STOR in L1-WTR water processing chain
Principles
- ▸Frozen water has zero self-discharge (vs. condensate loss in warm storage)
- ▸Passive PSR cold (~90 K) requires only insulation, no active cooling
- ▸Slow drawdown via dedicated heater when needed
- ▸Sized for 30-day emergency reserve
- ▸MMOD shielding via regolith berm
Typical implementations
- ▸Lunar ice deposit storage concept (academic)
- ▸Apollo lunar surface frozen-water concepts
- ▸Cryogenic propellant storage heritage
Lunar considerations
- ▸Exploits free lunar thermal environment
- ▸Robotic refill from L3-ISR-ICE-CONT
- ▸Sub-surface siting reduces MMOD risk
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Cold reservoir holding frozen water as a backup reserve — exploits the natural cold of PSR-adjacent siting for zero-energy passive storage. |
| capacity kg | 1000 |
| reserve days | 30 |
Physical
| mass kg | 100 |
| materials | 316L SS inner tank, MLI, Outer aluminum shell |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 0 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 50 |
| mtbf hours | 500000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Frozen water for emergency melt-and-use
Requires
- Reserve fill from ice mining
- Passive radiator path
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Backup Ice Storage" (L3-WTR-STOR-ICE). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-WTR-STOR-ICE
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.