Mining the Moon
The Moon is a great source of resources we have little of here on Earth.
The moon is a great source of rare and useful materials. There are just a few problems, like how it is 240 thousand miles away and there is no air.
Resources on the Moon
The moon has many resources that are rare here on Earth, and even some rare on asteroids. The moon is even relatively close by, making it a prime spot to look for resources.
We are running low on rare Earth metals. China, which controls 90% of the world's rare Earth metals, has only an estimated 20 years before it runs out. We use these in every form of electronic we make, which would mean this would be a shattering blow to humanity in general. [1][6]
China plans on mining on the Moon. Their space programs for initial exploration will start in 2020. On Earth mining rare Earth metals is barely profitable. This means that going to the moon before we completely run out will not result in a profit. Due to the difference in geological processes of the Earth and Moon, the majority of the moon is covered in very low grade ore of Rare Earth metals. This means means mining operations would have to be very large and inefficient, but are still possible. Automation and solar power could make this worthwhile.[5]
Helium-3 is far more common on the moon than Earth.The magnetic fields of Earth push helium-3 away, while it has built up over time on the moon. It is a possible fuel source for fusion reactions. This would have many benefits over nuclear reactors today. There would be no radioactive byproducts, and it is 70% efficient (which is far better than anything we use today). [2]
There are an estimated 1,100,000 metric tonnes of helium-3 on the moon. About 25 tonnes of it could power the entire United States for a year. This gives each tonne of it a value of over three billion dollars. [3]
Titanium is useful for a lot of different things here on Earth. Alloys made with titanium are very strong and light. Unfortunately it is not very common.
Deposits of titanium on Earth have about 1% titanium, while the deposits on the moon can hit up to 10%. While we are struggling to find good deposits here on Earth, there is a massive amount on the moon. [4]
Mining
The moon is a very different environment from Earth, which means we must redesign how we mine. Humans can not do the majority of the work, they are too inefficient. Humans need food, water, oxygen, and pressure. In space these tend to be expensive. That means the use of humans would be regulated to overview, repair, and research.[5]
Mining titanium could happen in small centralized operations like we are used to today. This is because the ore is centralized and in massive deposits, the other resources are too spread out for this. We must dig through thousands, even millions, of tons of moon rock and dust just to get enough of it. Good thing we will have solar power and automation, because that would be boring to do by hand and with oil like here on Earth. [6]
Transportation
The last major problem is one of transportation. The resources could just be used there on the moon, but that won’t be too useful.
Chemical rockets are expensive. They will not work well for long-term operations, which means we will need a newer type of transportation. Most of the time we will be launching inanimate objects without an atmosphere to slow us down. That means one option is simply launching them fast enough to hit Earth or go into orbit.
A mass driver is one option. A mass driver works much like a rail gun. It uses a relatively low amount of electricity to launch an object. With all the helium-3 on the moon it will be easy. [7]
Other options include low-velocity transport. This has been proposed in the form of an interplanetary transport system. This is a method that uses the Lagrange points as a means to reach a planet with low amounts of energy. (The Lagrange points are where the gravity of two bodies cancel out.) Once a ship reaches this point all it needs to do is let gravity do the rest. There are a few problems with this method though: it takes a long time and it still takes a lot of energy to reach the Lagrange points. [8]
Either way the transport ships could even be made of material found on the moon, saving tons of energy bringing it back and forth.
The moon has massive amounts of useful resources, and we have the technology to get them. The only problem is that we hate change so much that we will suck our resources dry before we go look for new ones.
The problem there is probably capitalism, but at least we get phones made to break right?
It's crazy how many resources are available a "stones throw" away, relatively speaking, and yet functionally inaccessible. I wonder whether, post Apollo, if space exploration had kept apace instead of diverting all that money to, well, wars, where we might be technologically on that front.
well the problem is with capitalism
we needed to put "all" our resources to "defeating" our enemies in the space race, and we even lost that. Afterwards with no enemies the profit motive kicked in.
It's hard to deny the galvinizing force of ideological hatred.
At least getting to the moon is getting a whole lot cheaper than it used to be. Will be interesting to see when Moon Express do get their launch, which after all is scheduled for this year. Now although I am a bit sceptical as to whether that will happen this year, it is great to see the progress made in the Google Lunar XPRICE.
The world will also have to revisit its now almost ancient Outer Space Treaty. It is interesting that the US and Luxembourg, now home to the countries looking to exploit this opportunity both on the moon and on asteroids, have gone ahead and established their own laws. It will hopefully force the hand of the UN to up the pace on finding a new agreement.
That is intriguing, and as much as I love space, I think our main focus needs to be preserving this pale blue dot, as difficult as that sometimes appears to us all.
I think our main focus should be the opposite actually. There are some things we have no hope against whatsoever. We need to get out and away as fast as possible, before those hit us.
I'm one of those crazy people who doesn't think we have been to the moon
we didn't even have enough tech to fake the landing go away
scary, I mean, seriously scary.
what's scary about mining on the moon lol
What is scary, is what we do not know about. We are not the masters of the universe. There is much we do not know. Nor do we realize the effects of our actions in space.
" Nor do we realize the effects of our actions in space."
still don't get what you mean by that
Well, I think you need to accept that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, our human actions in space have an effect. We can go in many tangets about this, but let's just speak of space pollution.
I guess that this is a larger understanding. I agree that most humans cannot see beyond themselves. They cannot ever even fathom that they are having an impact on others.
Space is bigger, older and wiser than us humans. We are like 3 year olds in a china store. We have no idea what we are doing. Really.
I need an actual example to have any idea what you are actually talking about
wow amazing.!i like it.
please upvoute & followed,thank😉
All this seems sci fi at the moment. Also, I don't know if we should be so eager to start chipping away at the moon. We don't want to create another variant of the current climate crisis. People (or rather companies?) are by nature conservative, so once they find a way to make money from the moon, they will be resistant to moving elsewhere afterwards. They'll stay there til there's not a moon-pebble left!
Also, will mining on the moon change the face I see (or rather, project) on the moon? Could they mine in a way that will make the face even more human-like? :P
" People (or rather companies?)" the word you are looking for is the ruling class. Also it will take them hundreds of years to have a noticeable effect, the moon is massive unlike our thin atmosphere.
"Could they mine in a way that will make the face even more human-like?"
please no
😂
Awesome ! Thank you for sharing with us.
Upvoted & Followed