Cutting-edge technology enabling settlement of the solar system and beyond – Art by Rick Guidice / NASA
cislunar infrastructure
The Trump Administration is working with international partners to create a regulatory framework for administration of “safety zones” around future lunar mining installations to prevent damage or interference from competing entities operating nearby.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing a CubeSat that will utilize near-infrared lasers and an onboard spectrometer to prospect for ice in the permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s south pole. The suitcase size spacecraft will inform future Artemis missions on where to begin in-situ resource utilization of this valuable commodity for space settlement
SpaceWatch.Global examines arguments in support and against the EO. Christopher Johnson of Secure World Foundation states in the position in favor:
“The US would like to [be] the leading nation in the use of space resources. It’s worth noting that other States are also interested in space resources, such as Luxembourg, and others.”
On the side arguing against the EO, Dimitra Stefoudi of the University of Leiden says:
“Applied to outer space, the concept of global commons could be interpreted as prohibiting rights over resources found in that area, particularly for commercial purposes, and would be contrary to the US policy of promoting such rights for commercial actors.”
Joel Sercel of Trans Astronautica Corporation was recently awarded a Phase II NIAC grant for a Lunar Polar Mining Outpost (LPMO) that promises to greatly reduce the cost of commercializing propellant production on the Moon. The system utilizes two patented innovative concepts for generating power and processing regolith. The first invention is a several meters tall solar reflector tower called a Sun Flower™ to gather sunlight at the permanently illuminated areas near the poles and reflect it down to megawatt level solar arrays near the outpost. The second concept called Radiant Gas Dynamic (RGD) mining combines microwave and infrared radiation to sublimate ice out from the regolith for storage in cryotraps on electric powered rovers. The outpost elements are designed to be delivered to the lunar surface using Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket and Blue Moon lander.
Sercel states that “…LGMO promises to vastly reduce the cost of establishing and maintaining a sizable lunar polar outpost that can serve first as a field station for NASA astronauts exploring the Moon, and then as the beachhead for American lunar industrialization, starting with fulfilling commercial plans for a lunar hotel for tourists”
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has just published a white paper on recommendations for advocacy and policy to accelerate growth of a space-based economy
Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida (UCF) has just been awarded a Phase I NIAC grant to investigate an innovative water harvesting process that will be cheaper then conventional methods.
“This simple architecture requires the minimum number of in-space elements, and notably does not require an in-space propellant depot, so it provides the lowest cost and lowest risk startup for a commercial operation. The study will also test the innovative Aqua Factorem process through laboratory experiments, and this will produce basic insights into the handling of lunar resources”
Revised 6 May 2020: UCF/Today has an update on this story.
The CLPS program participant has selected a landing site for their Nova-C lander to be launched 2021
NASA today announced that the Mojave, CA company was chosen for a sortie in 2022 to suss out the Moon’s South Pole utilizing its XL-1 lander. The mission will analyze the composition of the lunar surface, test precision landing techniques and investigate the radiation environment. The contract includes end-to-end services for delivery of eight payloads and operation for at least 12 days.
The document states that “Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law. Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global commons. Accordingly, it shall be the policy of the United States to encourage international support for the public and private recovery and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law”
The agency has just published a plan for a permanent return to the Moon as a proving ground for pushing on to Mars and beyond