The idea of mining the moon was pure science fiction for most people for decades, and even the most ardent believers were a crazy concept. Now, technological advances and rare political support are making it a practical possibility.
future human settlement on the moon
Humans set foot on the moon 50 years ago, but since then, no one has really figured out how to best utilize the Earth's nearest celestial neighbors.
President Lyndon Johnson (right) looks forward to the signing of the Treaty on Outer Space on January 27, 1967.
Origin of lunar mining
The story of lunar mining really begins with a competition between two rocket science giants. One is Weiner von Braun, a pioneer of German-American rocket scientists who led the development of NASA Star V rocket. For von Braun and his supporters, the planets are the jewels of the crown of the solar system—where there is a future of science and the most prestigious thing. Elon Musk (Elon Musk) is the embodiment of this idea, and his ultimate focus is to build a colony on Martian .
Another is American physicist Gerald O'Neill. In his book The High Frontier 2 published in 1976, he advocated keeping infrastructure away from planets and avoiding the energy-consuming need to escape gravity—the most difficult part of space flight. He advocates using the moon's resources to make these huge rotating space stations a reality.
Werner von Braun, the creator of the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon.
Physicists Gerald O'Neal and Johnny Carson on Tonight Show
The battle between these camps unfolds as NASA penetrates into the solar system.
What is on the moon?
lunar mining illustration on the cover of "Popular Machinery" in October 2004.
Moon has many attractive commodities, including metal for construction, silicon for solar panels , and helium-3 that can be used for hypothetical fusion reactors. The common idea is to mine something that is common on the moon but rare on the earth and bring it back to the earth for a considerable price.
The foundation of lunar mining
As time goes by, the problem becomes: the foundation of mining is Oxygen . "By mass, the moon is 42% oxygen, and the maximum cost of space flight is oxygen.
Blue Origin Blue Moon Deploys Animation of the Moon Rover Deployment.
" as rocket fuel. Ice angle is the biggest change since the post-Apollo era. Divide water into hydrogen and oxygen, which is the most effective chemical propellant known.
How NASA's life cycle assessment system works.
More than ten years ago, a spacecraft called LCROSS crashed in a lunar crater, and subsequent spacecraft sampled the resulting plume . The sensor determines the plume's mass record for more than 5% of the water. Once the secret of lunar ice is determined, the next question becomes how to process it into rocket fuel.
Viable Plan for Moon Mining
NASA's Kilopower project (pictured) can help provide nuclear power to settlements on the moon. It could even be Mars.
lunar mining doesn't look exactly the same as ground mining on Earth. Some lunar mining proponents have designed a new way to unlock frozen valuables from the cold weathered layers: hot mining.
Thermal mining applies heat directly to the moon's surface at a sufficiently high temperature, converting ice into water vapor, essentially skipping the liquid phase through a process called sublimation. The steam will then be captured in the large awning , refrigerated, and delivered to the electrolytic plant, where the ice will be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen.
NASA's innovative advanced concept study stated that the effectiveness of direct heating of sublimation ice from ice-cold weathered layer samples has been proven to prove that thermal mining can work. The report also estimates the final size of the lunar fuel plant. " propellant production facility weighs a little over 26 tons and produces 1,100 tons of propellant per year, which can be developed and deployed to the moon at a cost of about $2.5 billion. Assuming that the production life of operation is at least 10 years, positive returns can be generated based on commercial and government demand for propellant, including helping geostationary orbits reach the apex stage of the final orbit.
Engineers from the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) and NASA lowered the walls of the vacuum chamber around the KRUSTY system.
018 researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Security Agency of Nevada and NASA took their kilowatt-resistant The harbor was used to conduct a 28-hour continuous full power demonstration using Stirling technology (KRUSTY).
NASA recognized this fission reactor, which is coupled to the Stirling engine, , closed cycles, and renewable. These are long-lasting, low-maintenance equipment that can effectively power alien thermal mining operations. KRUSTY uses Y-12 highly enriched uranium (HEU) as a fuel source. A batch of small, commercially available low-enriched uranium (LEU) reactors have been gradually released over the past few years. They are called micromodular reactors or MMRs, designed for the most remote places on the planet. Illustrations of MMR reactors with ultra-safe nuclear.
Historical image of mined water on the moon using giant mirrors.
With the idea of mining the moon for about half a century, more new technologies have emerged, making nuclear-powered thermal mining no longer the only game in town. European Space Agency is advancing molten salt electrolysis system able to get oxygen from resources found on the moon, whether it is breathing or producing rocket fuel locally.
Illustration of George Sovos thermal mining proposal.
Another One idea is mirror. Greek mathematician Archimedes uses mirrors to reflect enough sunlight to heat the invader’s wooden boat. Similarly, heliostat (movable mirror) installed near the edge of the crater will direct the sunlight into the cold weathered layer. Apart every 120 degrees along the edge of the crater, three heliostats will ensure stable lighting of the mine, and two heliostats will emit beams in the steam capture tent and fuel processing plant. This scheme completely negates thermal mining.
lunar mining used to seem like an impossible in science fiction, but now the idea is full of potential concepts of how to extract our precious resources of satellite .
lunar mining ing
Tech tycoons are not just talking about it. The competition for the space industry has begun : Tesla boss Musk plans to establish a Mars base in 2028; Bezos' "Blue Origin" space company is studying how humans can survive on the moon for a long time; NASA plans to establish a permanent space station on the moon by the end of 2020, called Lunar Gateway. After this space station is completed, the Altitus lunar module can transport materials weighing up to 15 tons to this base.
can be foreseen that in the near future, with the continuous development of machines and artificial intelligence , the moon will become a test site for space mining technology, space power plants and space industry. After many technologies have been verified, they can also be used to develop some asteroids in the solar system, which are rich in many precious minerals.
Although the initial cost of developing the space industry is very high, the final return may be beyond our imagination. Therefore, space mining must fully consider the public interests, information sharing and legislation of all countries, otherwise the huge benefits brought by the space industry wave may bring unprecedented and unpredictable disasters to mankind.
In short, if the space industry develops properly, the earth may be liberated.
