Will Humanity Mine The Moon For Titanium?
Apparently silver isn’t the only thing Earth’s nearest neighbor harbors upon the surface. Astronomers have discovered another element which could aid lunar settlers in their quest to conquer the Moon.
A new map of the Moon has revealed an abundance of titanium ore that is up to 10 times richer than on Earth, a finding that could one day lead to a lunar mining colony, astronomers said on Friday. [...]
“Lunar titanium is mostly found in the mineral ilmenite, a compound containing iron, titanium and oxygen,” they said.
“Future miners living and working on the Moon could break down ilmenite to liberate these elements. (Moon Daily)
Aside from the obvious uses of titanium (i.e. planes, rockets, buildings, etc.), the strong light weight element is also the metal of choice for surgical implants (as titanium is able to remain harmlessly within the human body for decades).
Although titanium alone will not convince humanity for the need to settle the Moon, it’s presence (along with the discovery of water and the ability to extract oxygen from lunar soil) will probably add to the case of inhabiting Luna first before our species decides to conquer more ambitious objects (like Mars and Callisto).
(Image: Titanium Crystals, Credit: Heinrich Pniok)
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Moon First: X-Prize And Bigelow Aerospace Explain Why
When it comes to planetary destinations within our star system, the two loudest voices within the space community are the Moon first crowd and the Mars Direct group.
While both groups often lay out strong opinions as to why their white or red world should take priority, lunar lovers will rejoice in the fact that a notable billionaire is advocating Earth’s nearest neighbor first, along with another influential figure.
“The moon is the perfect ground to get our feet wet for Mars,” said space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Aerospace, which is aiming to put private space station modules in Earth orbit.
In fact, our chances of making it to Mars could ride on whether we go back to the moon first, proponents say.
“The moon is the only logical first destination,” said William Pomerantz, senior director of space prizes at the X Prize Foundation. “It only makes sense to use the moon as a testing ground and proving ground and staging ground for missions to Mars and other parts of the solar system.” (Space.com)
Other advocates mentioned the Moon as a priority due to not only its proximity (as it’s 3 days away via rockets vs 6 months for Mars), but also due to the enormous amount of rare earth metals within its soil (not to mention silver too), as well as the holy grail of space advocates, helium-3.
The Moon also boasts millions of gallons of ice water, making the cratered barren world livable for future settlers and industrial miners.
Excusing all of these arguments, perhaps the greatest reason for visiting the Moon before Mars can be summed up in one word: cost.
Although Mars is much more aesthetic to the eyes, visiting the red planet is currently beyond the budget of any terrestrial government, which might explain why most space faring nations like China are intent on visiting Earth little sister instead of the distant crimson world.
While humans will eventually visit and conquer the red planet in the future, unless someone has a few hundred billion dollars lying around, it looks like humanity will be greeting Luna first on their quest to conquer the cosmos.
Read MoreCanada Building Rover To Survive Lunar “Pot Holes?”
Despite being out shined by its rowdy neighbor to the south, Canada has its own plans of conquering the lunar frontier.
In an attempt to easily navigate upon the cratered surface of the Moon, a Canadian university is developing wheels for their upcoming rover that could enable to country to literally drive almost anywhere off world.
Mechanical Engineering Professor Peter Radziszewski is leading the team as part of an $11.5-million contract awarded by the Canadian Space Agency to Neptec Design Group.
“My students and I are thrilled to be on the Neptec Rover Team (NRT) as it will allow us to advance our earlier prototypes of lunar-friendly wheels and make a significant and innovative contribution to Canada’s space program,” said Radziszewski. [...]
Radziszewski and his team began working on developing wheel prototypes in 2009, one of which – dubbed iRing – is made of an external chainmail “fabric” filled with granular particulate matter; sort of like a metal bean-bag chair shaped like a wheel. This distinctive design provides both flexibility and sturdiness when travelling over extremely bumpy lunar terrain. (Physorg.com)
This wheel sounds even better than the Lunar Tweel being designed by Michelin, as it would enable colonists to quickly traverse across the barren landscape without experiencing massive amounts of whip lash (which isn’t exactly healthy for the neck).
Such technology could also be adapted for rovers upon other worlds (like Callisto and Mars), which would help encourage settlers to explore their new global homes with greater ease.
While it’s great to see Canada contributing to humanities quest to conquer our star system, hopefully the nation will also consider building a human rated rocket launcher of their own (as NASA may not exactly have the funds to ferry Americans and Canadians off world in the future).
Image: The 8-inch iRings wheels demonstrating compliance using a rover testbed Credit: Brad Jones / Neptec Design Group
Read MoreSilver Discovered On The Moon?
Despite finding an abundance of water upon Earth’s nearest neighbor, NASA has unveiled that the Moon also contains trace amounts of silver as well.
Another intriguing result was the variety and amount of other substances inside Cabeus.
LCROSS and a sister probe, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), found evidence of all kinds of compounds, including elemental hydrogen, carbon monoxide, ammonia, methane, mercury, calcium, magnesium and silver. And these materials made up a surprisingly large chunk of the crater floor.
“Where we impacted, up to 20 percent was something other than dirt,” Colaprete said. “It was ices, volatiles, light metals. That was a surprise, that you had so much of this material in there.” (Space.com)
While Cabeus’s true wealth lies in the fact that the crater contains an abundance of water, the fact that silver exists on the lunar surface is good news as it gives future settlers a potential means to form their own monetary system apart from Earth.
Although it’s doubtful that we will see a “silver rush” to the Moon (as settling the off white world will cost billions), the valuable metal could aid lunar colonists in the electronics arena as silver is an excellent conductor of electricity.
(Image Credit: Wikipedia)
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Could Solar Wind Power Martian And Lunar Colonies?
When it comes to settling our nearest neighbors, both Mars and Luna (aka the Moon) present unique challenges as far as energy goes.
Although one could always import numerous mini-nuclear reactors upon each respective world from Earth (controversy aside), it may make more sense to rely upon the fiery breathe from our Sol star.
Instead of physically rotating a blade attached to a turbine, the proposed satellite would use a charged copper wire to capture electrons zooming away from the sun at several hundred kilometers per second.
According to the team’s calculations, 300 meters (984 feet) of copper wire, attached to a two-meter-wide (6.6-foot-wide) receiver and a 10-meter (32.8-foot) sail, would generate enough power for 1,000 homes.
A satellite with a 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) cable and a sail 8,400 kilometers (5,220 miles) across, placed at roughly the same orbit, would generate one billion billion gigawatts of power.
That’s approximately 100 billion times the power Earth currently uses. (Discovery News)
Although this idea is being proposed for usage upon our home world, it might be easier (not to mention wiser) to adapt it to power future colonies upon the Moon as well as for Mars.
Even though the first explorers of Mars and Luna will use solar power to help keep the lights on, using our Sun’s solar wind could allow us to power cities without having to rely upon nuclear fuel imports from Earth.
Perfecting this technology would allow Lunar settlements to operate during the 2 weeks of darkness while Martian outposts might be able to transform one of their asteroid moons (preferably Deimos) into a gigantic power station that could help power Martian cities every few days.
While it’s skeptical that something like this would be allowed near Earth (due to the environmental consciousness of our global governments), it would make more sense when used for off world colonies upon Luna, Mars and beyond.
(via MSNBC, Image Credit: NASA and the Journal of Geophysical Research – Space Physics)
Read MoreIndia Giving Lunar Data Away For Free?
After helping humanity rediscover over 600 million metric tons of lunar water, India has decided to “open source” its data by releasing it to the public.
“People will have free access to the huge data obtained from our first moon mission on a web portal that will be launched by this year-end,” a senior scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said here.
“The data has been split into two seasons, with the first dealing from November 2008 to February 2009 and the second from March to August 2009. The first season data will be archived by year-end and the second by mid-2011,” said ISRO’s space application centre director B Gopala Krishna. (Moon Daily)
This data will be invaluable to researchers, who will be able to not only pour over ISRO’s findings, but hopefully construct detailed maps of the lunar surface.
India’s generosity will hopefully encourage other nations (like China) to also share their data, which could help foster a spirit of cooperation (instead of competition) in our attempts to conquer the final frontier.
(Image Credit: ISRO)
Read MoreNASA Gives Us 600 Million Reasons To Revisit The Moon
Mini-SAR map of the Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) of the north pole of the Moon. Fresh, “normal” craters (red circles) show high values of CPR inside and outside their rims. This is consistent with the distribution of rocks and ejected blocks around fresh impact features, indicating that the high CPR here is surface scattering. The “anomalous” craters (green circles) have high CPR within, but not outside their rims.
After discovering water on the Moon (thanks in part to India’s satellite), it looks like scientists have discovered large quantities of ice water in the lunar north pole.
Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon’s north pole. NASA’s Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it’s estimated there could be at least 1.3 trillion pounds (600 million metric tons) of water ice. [...]
Numerous craters near the poles of the Moon have interiors that are in permanent sun shadow. These areas are very cold and water ice is stable there essentially indefinitely. Fresh craters show high degrees of surface roughness (high CPR) both inside and outside the crater rim, caused by sharp rocks and block fields that are distributed over the entire crater area. However, Mini-SAR has found craters near the north pole that have high CPR inside, but not outside their rims. This relation suggests that the high CPR is not caused by roughness, but by some material that is restricted within the interiors of these craters. We interpret this relation as consistent with water ice present in these craters. The ice must be relatively pure and at least a couple of meters thick to give this signature. (NASA)
Although it was known for quite some time that the Moon did possess large quantities of water near the north pole, it was unclear as to how much until now.
The large amount of water ice should make it relatively easy for astronauts to establish outposts upon the lunar surface without heavily depending on Earth for water and supplies.
Future settlers can also use the water to make rocket fuel, which will help humanity in their quest to conquer our star system.
Despite the fact that Congress still debating over how we will get to the Moon (or rather whether partnering with the private sector is a good idea), it’s only a matter of time before humanity revisits and settles upon Earth’s nearest neighbor.
(via Universe Today)
Read More3 Different Flavors Of Lunar Water?
(Image Credit: Unknown)
Ever since we discovered water on the Moon, scientists have been trying to figure out how much water is upon the lunar surface, and whether or not there would be enough to sustain not only colonists but perhaps a few rockets as well.
Now it looks like there may be “3 different flavors” of lunar water, which could help decide where future moon bases are established.
(Physorg.com) ”If you converted those craters’ water into rocket fuel, you’d have enough fuel to launch the equivalent of one space shuttle per day for more than 2000 years. But our observations are just a part of an even more tantalizing story about what’s going on up on the Moon.” [...]
“So far we’ve found three types of moonwater,” says Spudis. “We have Mini-SAR’s thick lenses of nearly pure crater ice, LCROSS’s fluffy mix of ice crystals and dirt, and M-cube’s thin layer that comes and goes all across the surface of the Moon.”
Although this still means that most of Luna is still drier than a terrestrial desert, the fact that many craters contain vast amounts of water ice means that future lunar outposts will become a reality in the near future.
While these “oasis craters” may spark debate about lunar property rights and perhaps some tension amongst the first lunar powers, their presence may signal that humanities first home beyond the sky will be upon our celestial next door neighbor.
Read MoreVideo: Chinese View On Landing People On The Moon
Now that China is an official space power, some may wonder how the citizens of this great nation view their countries attempt to land a man (or a woman) on the moon.
Here is a brief video highlighting not only China’s accomplishments, but also views from its citizens (both young and old).
Only time will tell whether China lands a man (or woman) upon the Moon, but hopefully they will not repeat America’s mistake and consider inhabiting upon Earth’s little sister instead of merely visiting her.
(via Spaceports)
Read MoreLuna, Luna, Dripping Wet? (Moon Water)
(Image Credit: Image: ISRO / NASA / JHUAPL / LP)
Orbiting approximately 1 light second away from Earth, the Moon (also known as Luna) surprised scientists after water ice was discovered upon its surface.
Recently NASA discovered more ice water upon the Moon, painting a picture that Earth’s nearest neighbor is not as dry as we once thought.
(NASA) Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon’s north pole. NASA’s Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it’s estimated there could be at least 1.3 trillion pounds (600 million metric tons) of water ice.
“The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments on lunar missions indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon,” said Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. “The new discoveries show the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific, exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought.” [...]
“After analyzing the data, our science team determined a strong indication of water ice, a finding which will give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit,” said Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF Program for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington.
(Image Credit: USGS / JPL / NASA)
Previously it was assumed that the Moon was extremly dry, and that any water discovered would be heavily mixed with dust, rocks and other chemicals.
Now it seems as if there might be an “abundance” of water upon Luna, which could translate into future colonies upon this barren world.
(NY Times Dr. Spudis, a scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, said he guessed the water ice in the north polar craters might be 90 percent pure. He said the team was currently analyzing data covering the south pole craters. [...]
In addition to the water near the poles, scientists also reported that a very thin layer of water covers much of the lunar surface. Water, it appears, not only exists, but is also moving around. “The moon is working in a way you didn’t expect,” Dr. Spudis said.
If scientists can locate more craters with large volumes of water ice, humanity may witness the first off world settlements being established within the next 20 years!
Whether those colonies are American (via the private sector) or Chinese has yet to be determined, but either way the Moon is establishing itself as the next stop for humanity (a thought that might not please a few Martian fans).
–Posted on my iPhone
Read MoreChina Launching Lunar Sattelite 2.0?
After launching a sattelite around Luna many moons ago (pun intended), it looks like the Chinese are about to send a second satellite in order to take a closer look at Earth nearest neighbor.
(Space.com) China is preparing its second moon orbiter for launch in October of this year. The Chang’e 2 probe will carry a high-resolution camera capable of spotting lunar surface features as small as 3 feet.
Chang’e 2 will map potential landing sites for follow-on robotic missions that will attempt to reach the moon’s surface, another first for the Chinese space program. China has not set a date for Chang’e 3′s lunar landing mission.
The second satellite will probable help China compete against Japan’s SELENE (which has been mapping Earth’s moon in high definition).
Hopefully in the not-so-distant future China will consider landing a few good men (and woman) upon the lunar surface, although for now we will settle for a government rover.
Read MoreNASA: Can The iPhone Keep The Vision Alive? Yes It Can!
This is probably the best move NASA has made since launching a web page to prove why the agency was still relevant.
While that last manuver obviously failed (as Obama is outsourcing the Moon to the private sector), their latest iPhone app may help show the public how fun (not to mention difficult) it is to roam upon the Moon without a nearby gas station.
NASA may want to consider creating more of these apps upon other worlds such as Mars, Titan or even Pluto (in order to help keep “the vision” alive), although hopefully they will consider porting this app over to Android (as I know plenty of space geeks who would enjoy a road trip on the Moon).
(Hat Tip: Mashable)
– Posted from my iPhone
Read MoreDear Space Geeks, Obama Is Right (NASA Woes)
After news broke out that President Obama is ending NASA’s dreams of establishing lunar bases, the reaction from the pro space community was rather “less than thrilling.”
(Lunar News Network) It’s all over. The U.S. is getting out of the manned space exploration business. The Obama Administration has decided not to fund the Constellation program. NASA will not return to the Moon and go on to Mars and beyond. The dream is dead.
(The Write Stuff) Administration officials and a former astronaut on Wednesday called President Barack Obama’s plans for NASA “exciting” and “bold”, saying that he was replacing a failed moon program with a new $6 billion project to develop commercial rockets capable of taking astronauts into orbit. [...]
But conspicuous by its absence was any mention of a commitment to develop a new government owned and operated “heavy-lift” rocket capable of taking humans beyond the low Earth Orbit.
While some see this move as killing America’s future among the heavens, this manuaver will actually force NASA to do something that they should have done from the very beginning–aggressively partner with the private sector (aka New Space).
In fact, this is actually what President Obama proposed when re-charting NASA’s course.
(New York Times) President Obama will end NASA’s return mission to the moon and turn to private companies to launch astronauts into space when he unveils his budget request to Congress next week, an administration official said Thursday.
The shift would “put NASA on a more sustainable and ambitious path to the future,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
While NASA has accomplished some extraordinary achievements during it’s life time (landing on the Moon being one of them), the price tag in doing so is not worth the extra deficits if the only result is more flag poles and foot prints.
If humanity is to ever conquer the final frontier, then they need to learn how to not only live off world, but thrive there too–both literally and fiscally.
Giving New Space the American reigns may not bring comfort to many people (as the chance of failure is potentially large).
But to simply fund NASA attempts at making space accessable to all (while skyrocketing the costs) and expecting different results is–whether you like it or not–the definition of insanity.
– Posted from my iPhone
Read MoreIn The Future, Your Kids May Be Lunar Cavemen (And Women)
Forget inflatable space bases or mobile lunar outposts embracing the way of the nomad.
Future lunar settlers may end up settling within lunar caves starting with this one discovered by Japan’s lunar satellite SELENE (video courtesy of Spacevidcast, via Space Transport News).
Since radiation will be a major factor for future lunar colonists, establishing outposts within these caves may be the wisest course of action (at least until artificial magnetic fields are perfected).
Read MoreThe 7 (Future) Wonders Of The Solar System
Two hundred years after the first man and woman graced the plains of Mars, humanity is still isolated to just one star system.
Despite an intense campaign by the Alpha Centauri Society, humans overall have little desire to travel between stars due to cost and technology.
Although this rowdy species has yet to claim their interstellar inheritence, they have transformed their solar playground around them, producing seven wonders that will go down in galactic history.
The Silver Stripes of Mercury
Originally conceived as a penal colony, industrial corporations decended upon Mecury after discovering large deposits of minerals and metals upon its surface.
While its close proximety to the Sun has made Mercury famous for its Magsail races, it’s the billions of solar panels that encircle the planet on the surface (in “neat” rows varying between 1-10 km wide) that make this world an engineering wonder.
The planets 100,000 residents use the energy produced during the Mecurian day to power the ores and cities on the dark side of the planet when it’s safe to work above ground (due to the Sol Star’s radiation).
The Bio Gardens of Luna Maria
(Image Credit: Daein Ballard)
Officially designated Luna Maria after the failed Lunar revolution (condemned by government and religious leaders on Earth), Luna Maria has transformed its appearence from a white barren wasteland into a “second Eden,” which now boasts 60 million residents.
After generating enormous wealth from exporting oxygen throughout the Sol System, Luna Maria has erected hundreds of thousands of enormous, interconnected biospheres upon 87% of its surface, giving Luna Maria the appearence of a miniture Earth from space.
Luna Maria’s artificial planetary magnetic field (the only one in existance due to cost) has allowed the moon to use bees instead of ants to pollinate its crops, producing gardens unrivaled throughout the star system (due to it’s 16.7% Earth norm gravity).
The Phobian Skyhook (Or Martian Space Elevator)
(Image Credit: Steve Bowers)
After failed attempts to construct a space elevator on Earth (due to infrequent yet devestating global wars), humanity was finally able to construct a skyhook on the Martian moon of Phobos.
This engineering feat has enabled Mars to inexpensively export its vast supply of water throughout the asteroid belt and inner Sol System, bringing mixed prosperity to the 8 million residents of Mars.
While the red planet’s globacanes prevent a space elevator touching the ground from ever being built, the Phobian Skyhook is an impressive site to see when orbiting this crimson world.
The Jovian Jewel Callisto
(Image Credit: Thomas Guilpain)
Originally established as a way station world during the Helium-3 rush (in which thousands sought to harvest the isotope for profit), Jupiter’s moon Callisto attracted millions of residents after being declared the safest radiation world after Earth.
Using its brother moon Ganymede as an agricultural world (due to it’s natural magnetic field), Callisto developed the means to feed its enormous population of 750 million, who built cities covering 96% of the entire surface.
Using robots to harvest radioactive materials from both Io and Europa to power its cities (as they are too dangerous to be visited by humans), Callisto brilliantly shimmers in the dark whenever it falls underneath Jupiter’s shadow.
The Beacon Towers Of Titan
Often declared as “an astronomer’s hell” due to it’s cloudy covering, Saturn’s moon Titan is considered a musicians heaven due to the richer sound that’s a result of it’s atmospheric presure and composition.
While Titan eventually became wealthy by exporting methane and ethane to the Sol System, the cloudy moon was extremly difficult to navigate as its crust rested upon a methane/ethane mix, causing it to “slightly drift” and rotate due to the worlds strong winds.
Since traditional forms of GPS were utterly useless, numerous 1.5 kilometer tall Beacon towers (beaming out intense radio waves) were constructed thoughout the moon, giving its 4 million residents a faux GPS system (making travel and commerce throughout the world a lot easier for all).
The Floating Cities Of Uranus
(Image Credit: Star Wars, original artist unknown)
Originally built by various Terrian corporations to harvest methane and helium-3 within the clouds of this ice giant, these floating cities soon became tourist attractions for the more affluent seeking to escape the low gravity life of lunar worlds orbiting gas giants.
These giant orbital space stations boast near Earth gravity, and mimic the daylight cycle on Earth by floating around the enormous ice giant which its residents call home.
While estimates put the total population between 80,000 wealthy souls, these floating cities are known to have hundreds of thousands of visitors pass through their space ports each standard year, many of them heading towards the Neptunian Lagrange asteroid fields.
The Plutonian Ice Bridge (aka Solar Bridge of Pluto And Charon)
Boasting no more than 50,000 brave souls, this world was originally settled upon by government scientists from various Terrian, Martian and Callistian nations seeking to conduct experiments considered too hazardous (and/or controversial) on their respective home worlds.
While the world and its smaller moon hold little value (both visually and economically), one interesting feature of this binary system is the solar bridge connecting both Pluto and Charon together.
This engineering feat was originally built to reduce the cost of travel between both worlds via rockets although conspiracy theorists have their own conclusions for its existence (none of which will be cited here).
What about Earth?
Although the human race has made great strides in establishing colonies throughout the Sol System, most of its 20 billion individuals reside on the birth planet Earth.
While Earth is still home to some of the greatest scientific discoveries known to man (and women), there are no great engineering wonders to speak of, aside from the beautiful beaches, mountains and vast blue oceans that distinguish our home world from every other sphere that orbits our star.
Update (11/24): Corrected grammatical errors. Thanks!
Read MoreWater Is Wet–And So Is The Moon?
Update: Image selected from Digital Fortress, original artist (thus far) unknown.
Despite it’s dry appearance, it looks as if Earth’s little brother has some water after all.
After NASA “bombed” the moon (or rather smashed two objects into the surface), the American space agency can now confirm that some parts of Luna are wetter than the Sahara Desert.
(NASA) Preliminary data from NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater. The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. [...]
Scientists long have speculated about the source of significant quantities of hydrogen that have been observed at the lunar poles. The LCROSS findings are shedding new light on the question with the discovery of water, which could be more widespread and in greater quantity than previously suspected. [...]
“We are ecstatic,” said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water.”
This is great news for Lunar fans, as it means that we may actually see a lunar colony within our life time.
While NASA had yet to figure out how to efficiently extract and filter Moon water, it’s presence means that NASA will not have to seed Luna with hydrogen tanks (in order to ensure that future colonists had plenty to drink).
– Posted from my iPhone
Read MoreAlmost Star Trek: EBF3 Tech Could Help "Replicate" Tools For Lunar Settlers
Even though Star Trek replicators are still a few centuries away, it looks like a device called the Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication (or EBF3 for short) could help future lunar colonists create the tools they need on site without having to radio Earth for supplies.
(NASA) Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) is an emerging cross-cutting technology for producing structural metal parts that has been developed by researchers at Langley over the past four years. The EBF3 process uses a focused electron beam in a vacuum environment to create a molten pool on a metallic substrate. The beam is translated with respect to the surface of the substrate while metal wire is fed into the pool. A part is thus built directly from a computer file in a layer-additive fashion. This process has gained interest in the Exploration community for the astronauts to fabricate structural spare parts and new tools during long duration human exploration missions. DARPA has also expressed interest in EBF3 as a manufacturing process that could be used for building large space structures on-orbit.
Despite appearing on MSNBC, this NASA seems to have released info regarding this technology last May, although it seems to have received very little attention.
What makes this significant is that lunar settlers can use the technology to help create spare parts for their vehicles and off world habitats (since the moon dirt is rich in minerals and metals).
Read MoreMoon: Oxygen, Oxygen Everywhere, But We’ll Need Hydrogen To Drink
The discovery of water within the lunar soil earlier set off a buzz amongst the space geek community.
While Luna’s revelation inspired dreams of interplanetary conquest, the fact is that the Moon’s soil is far too dry for us to use as a fountain, let alone for watering crop.
Instead of digging through 10 million tons of soil in order to get 10,000 liters of water, it might be easier (and cheaper) to simply ship tanks of hydrogen instead.
Unmanned space craft could help open up the lunar frontier by steadily seeding Luna with thousands upon thousands of hydrogen tanks upon it’s surface.
Since about 40% of the lunar soil is composed of oxygen, future explorers could extract it from the Moon dirt, and then mix it with hydrogen dropped off by previous unmanned rockets.
(Image Credit: Crystal Links- Lunar Mining)
Water can then be heavily filtered and recycled, allowing humanitiy to establish independent lunar outposts without the need of frequent supplies.
As a bonus, future settlers could use the spare hydrogen and oxygen to also create rocket fuel, which could help reduce the cost of missions elsewhere (whether it’s Mars, Ceres or even the moons of Jupiter).
Read MoreThe Moon: Water, Water Everywhere, But None For NASA To Drink
After discovering water upon the Lunar surface, the space community went a buzz with the possibilities.
(Space.com) The discovery of water on the moon announced this week could make our celestial neighbor a more attractive candidate for a future manned mission. [...]
“This makes the moon a more attractive destination to go to,” said University of Colorado astrophysicist Jack Burns, chair of the science committee for the NASA Advisory Council. “It’s a game-changer in the sense of future human exploration to the moon, in that now there is the potential of resources of water that future astronauts could tap so that we don’t have to bring this water from Earth.”
While the discovery of water does make Luna a lot more attractive than what we previously thought, it may not be enough for a lunar colony to become self sustaining (water wise).
(Universe Today) But the message the scientists wanted everyone to take away from today’s press conference is that a combination of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) that resides in upper millimeter of the lunar surface doesn’t actually amount to much. The average amount of water, if extracted, is about a quart (1 liter) of water per ton of surface soil, or about 16 ounces (.5 liters) of water might be present for every 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of surface soil near the moon’s poles. For soil near the equator, only about two tablespoons of water is believed to be present in every 1,000 pounds (450 kg).
Even though it would be in NASA’s interest to scoop up large volumes of lunar soil for in order to create oxygen, it may not be practical to do something similar for water.
If the human body needs approximately 64 ounces of water a day, astronauts would need to dig up four football fields (hat tip: Discovery Magazine) worth of lunar soil in order for one person to adequately survive for one day!
Unless NASA can discover larger supplies of water ice beneath the surface or near the polar regions, then future colonies will probably be importing large volumes of water from our earthen cradle.
Read MoreFact Or Fiction? (Water On The Moon)
It looks like news of the possibility of water on Earth’s little sister Luna is creating a lot of excitement amongst the space geeks community.
NASA is scheduled to release the findings this Thursday, which should either boost the cause for lunar exploration at its most dismal period, or cause a collective yawn throughout the media.
Previous attempts at scanning the Moon for water have revealed the white sphere to be extremely dry and water free.
However it seems as if India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar satellite (which died a sad death) was able to detect traces of water (or at least hydroxl radicals) which could help future explorers survive on the surface without depending too heavily upon the home world.
If water does exist on the Moon in abundance, it is likely buried many meters beneath its surface, or (in small amounts) within the shadows of craters.
So is there water on the Moon? As far as the public knows, no–but that all may change come Thursday.
Read MoreEstablish First Contact (& Subscribe)
Love of Lunar
Martian Delights
Interplanetary Essays
