Tapping the Wealth of the Moon (2004)

With the renewed attention to Space Exploration and the role of humans in Space questions of the uses of the Moon and other bodies of the Solar system have come to the forefront: is human Space flight hut a romantic quest of childhood dreams or are there key opportunities to he opened and explored for the benefit of mankind - on Earth or in Space? Economic laws - which apply in Space as well as on Earth - will limit beneficial uses of Space for Earth to the immediate vicinity of Earth in the solar system, the Moon. These 'constraints' will limit the uses for Earth to essentially observations, communications and energy - all commodities with 'low muss and 'speed of light' transmission. The revolutionary concept of a 'condominium' of observation facilities is proposed for observations of the universe, the Sun and the Earth - providing a stable, nearly limitless aperture across the electromagnetic spectrum with huge advantages in reliability, costs and assurance of continuity of observations. Similarly, communications, navigation, command and control of civil and scientific activities on the Moon and for Cis- and Translunar space will change fundamentally. Beyond these uses, the 'tapping' of the vast Solar energy resources available on the Moon promises fundamental changes in Space operations, Space transportation and potentially clean energy supplies across all regions of Earth. E.g. with I GWc supply on the Moon a new age of fuelless' space transportation across Cis- and Translunar space is enabled, ultimately allowing speeds of up to one third the speed of light for missions to nearby solar systems. Last and not least, with such assured energy supplies, all the lunar resources can be tapped for the establishment of Closed Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) leading to the first settlement independent of Earth - a most historic step for mankind to assuring its survival and expansion into Space. Key Words: Space observations; Space communications; Space transportation; Unergy .supplies; Lunar resources; Fuel-less transportation; Space operations; Closed ecological life support systems; Space power; Space asset management; Space enterprise; Space exploration; Humans in Space; Assurance of survival. A. The Centrality of the Moon as the next Major Milestone in Human Space Exploration With the Columbia Disaster once more basic questions as to the purpose and scope of US space enterprise were raised and had to he answered. At the core of this enterprise has been and remains the human exploration of Space so much at the core of US/NASA activities since the very inception of the US space program. On January 14, 20U4 the President announced a renewed Space Initiative, setting out firm goals for NASA to accomplish over a certain time period. At the core of that initiative is item three of the White House Fact sheet released as part of this initiative (see quote below). In respect of this decision some stringent economic and programmatic considerations can he advanced to lend strong hi-partisan support to this renewed invigoration of human space flight for the decades ahead. What are the economic and programmatic criteria that might he advanced in support of and as a basis for this renewed national commitment? (see Figure J) Can an economic case he made for the Moon on strictly economic grounds? That is the challenge which is addressed in this paper. President Bush Statement on New Initiative: America will return to the Moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020 and use it as a stepping stone for more ambitious missions. A scries of robotic missions to the Moon, similar to the Spirit Rover that is sending remarkable images back to Earth from Mars, will explore the lunar surface beginning no later than 2008 to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, humans will conduct extended lunar missions as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods. …