Lunar Mining and the Fall of Earthen Industry (the basics)
Tags: Space, Space Exploration, SciFi, Future, Technology

Whilst many prophets of the future, or “futurists”, as they are often called, preach a distinctly Martian future, our most ever-present celestial is often forgotten. The moon hangs there watching.

Despite being a stepping stone and metaphor for our future in space, many forget how crucial the role the moon will play in our future is. With 60s tech, we could reach it in under 3 days, whilst is still takes our most experimental (yet still feasible) advanced space propulsion approximately 3 months (Utilizing Nuclear Thermal Propulsion) to reach the crimson orb of Mars.

Ease of accessibility aside (We are built to fight adversity), the moon is incredibly rich in all kinds of minerals and precious materials due to the lack of a magnetosphere and atmosphere shielding it from radiation and asteroids.

In particular, there are two materials that we specifically want. The first is Helium 3, a particular isotope of Helium that can be fused with deuterium in a Nuclear Fusion plant. More info can be found here about extraction and usage.

Chang’e-1 map of the Moon’s Helium-3 inventory

As the old proverb goes,

“Nuclear fusion is 30 years off, and always will be.”

Recent advancements aside, it will be at least half a century before we see full scale commercial plants. Right now, and most likely for the next century, the main commercial enterprise of the moon will be water.

When first hearing this, many are confused and in dismay, but what you must understand is two things. The first is usage. H2O is obviously made of two compoments, Hydrogen and Oxygen. In a ratio of approximately 6:1 (ratios are given in oxidiser:fuel), they can be used to make perhaps the most basic rocket fuel, Hydrolox.

Hydrolox is not very dense, and is therefore rarely used in launch stages, whilst it has had some minor prevalence in second/third stages due to the actual size of the craft not being a major problem in space. Luckily, that’s exactly where we intend to use it. The fuel can be flown from the low gravitational pull of the moon to orbit using part of it for propulsion, allowing repeated reuse. The fuel can then either stay in lunar orbit or move to earth orbit.

The second thing that must be understood is how cost effective this is. Due to the reusability and self containment (because it uses its own produced fuel) of the system, the first purchase and flight to the moon is the only cost. This is vastly cheaper and superior to flying fuel in the cargo of an earth launched rocket repeatedly.

Credit: NASA

But How Will This Affect Earth?

With most likely more than one provider of orbital fuel, there will be a surplus that will be guaranteed to be used once companies build their systems to utilise this service. This will mean that much less will need to be spent on large spaceships, as only being able to get to orbit, and then continuing with a full refuel will be all that is necessary in almost all crafts. This will reduce the overall cost of spaceflight to the moon, mars, and outer planets with substantial payloads by a large amount.

Recently, in the past few years, especially utilising companies such as SpaceX, many private satellite companies have paid for their tech to be placed in earth orbit. With the price being similar to send to other planets, and with companies having basically free reign over the land, the moon could become an industrial zone of gigantic magnitude in less than a century.

What did you think? This is the first entry of a multi part series, so stay tuned, and support me by following @exzie9 on Twitter, thanks!