Lunar Base ISRU Resupply Simulator

Crew size

ISRU integration level

Local production share 0%

Mission timeline

Mission year 0.0 yr

Playback speed 1.0×

Base status

Resupply launches

Self-sufficiency

Imported mass / yr

–

Cost saved vs 0%

Next resupply launch

Cumulative launches vs. time

0% ISRU 50% ISRU 100% ISRU current setting

How it works

An early lunar base imports 100% of its water, oxygen and propellant from Earth, so imported mass — and the number of resupply flights needed to deliver it — scales directly with crew size and mission duration. As the base builds out in-situ resource utilization (ISRU): a regolith-oxygen electrolysis reactor, polar-ice water extraction, propellant production, an increasing fraction of those consumables is made on-site instead of launched from Earth.

imported/yr = crew · [ fixed(irreplaceable) + consumable·(1 − ISRU) ]
launches   = cumulative imported mass ÷ lander payload
self-suff. = consumable·ISRU ÷ (fixed + consumable)

ISRU integration level — the fraction of water/oxygen/propellant demand met locally. 0% means every kilogram is launched from Earth; 100% means only irreplaceable cargo (electronics, spare parts, medical supplies, fresh food) still needs a rocket.
Crew size — more crew means more consumables burned per year, so the launch curve gets steeper at any fixed ISRU level.
Self-sufficiency — differs from the ISRU slider because irreplaceable cargo is never producible locally, so even a "100% ISRU" base still needs some resupply flights, just far fewer.
Watch the ISRU plant on the pad grow more solar arrays, tanks and pipework as you raise the slider — and watch resupply rockets land far less often once it does.

Real-world relevance: NASA's Artemis Base Camp and ISRU demonstrations (regolith electrolysis, polar cold-trap water extraction) exist precisely to bend this curve — every percentage point of local production converts into fewer multi-hundred-million-dollar cargo landers per year of sustained presence.

Year 0.0 / 10

Habitat modules ISRU plant Resupply rocket

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