ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,247,487, issued on March 11, was assigned to LUNAR HELIUM-3 MINING LLC (Scottsdale, Ariz.).
"Debris clearing rover" was invented by Chris Salvino (Scottsdale, Ariz.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vapor collection system that can be used at an extra-terrestrial body is envisioned to collect target gaseous atoms and molecules (material) floating around in a shielded environment at a pressure at or less than a bar. The shielded environment is defined within a cover and skirt arrangement that rests atop granular soil, which in one embodiment is regolith. It is advantageous for the regolith under the cover to be essentially devoid of loose...