Lunar Pantheon Habitat with circular 50 meter wide growing area. Credits: Nick Woolf and Roger Angel / Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
A novel concept for a lunar polar settlement built like the ancient Roman Pantheon has just been published in the Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society A. The stone structure, making full use of local in situ resources, would harness focused solar energy for construction, food production and atmospheric revitalization. The habitat would provide life support for at least 40 people with a greenhouse as large as 2000 square meters with crops illuminated by focused sunlight through a top circular oculus.
Space is Open for Business by Robert Jacobson is a must-read for all potential “astropreneurs” (entrepreneurs involved the NewSpace economy), space advocates, investors or anyone who wants to keep current on space commerce and its impact on the future of humanity. This book is a refreshingly positive view of our future in space, a welcome alternative outlook in stark contrast to many dystopian and negative predictions of where we’re headed in today’s media.
Jacobson covers all aspects of the nascent space economy which has already begun to grow in leaps and bounds, and is headed for explosive growth in the near future. No stone is left unturned by his deep research of all aspects of space commerce, with scores of interviews of executives from both established and small startup space companies.
I especially liked the Sci-Fi and Society chapter in which Jacobson talks about science fiction “illuminating the possibility of the space frontier”. Much of what is now happening in space was predicted in science fiction in the last century. Many CEOs and executives of NewSpace companies were inspired to pursue careers in science or engineering through science fiction books, televisions shows and movies.
Eventually, humanity will evolve to migrate off Earth and establish space settlements throughout the solar system and eventually among the stars. Development of the technologies and commercial activities for space settlement have the potential to create vast wealth, bring billions of people out of poverty and preserve Earth’s natural environment. Jacobson has provided a hopeful glimpse of how the space businesses supporting this effort will manifest this destiny.
The Caelus Foundation, a nonprofit who’s mission is to advocate for broad participation in the space domain and to engage and empower people around the world to build a space-centric community through their decisions and actions, has just published a research paper providing an understanding of common terms important for achieving positive benefits from commercial space activities, and in establishing supportive and appropriate regulatory frameworks.
The authors summarize their findings with this conclusion: “This research has revealed that there are significant challenges with communicating the value of space enterprises, given the common terminology used today. This is largely due to the root word for the industry, ‘space,’ being a term that does not naturally convey any specific type of value. Terms such as ‘commercial space’ and ‘newspace’ attempt to compensate for this issue. Yet, as our interviews showed, the lack of clear and universal understanding of these words creates new challenges, while not fully addressing the obstacle of communicating the idea of space as a domain of economic and strategic value.”
On September 19th, Caelus participated in the Sino-US Space Commercialization Perspectives Workshop co-hosted by the Secure World Foundation and the Chinese Society of Astronautics. The purpose of the workshop was to create a dialogue “… to share and understand perspectives from both US and Chinese stakeholders on how space commercialization is happening in both countries, and what can be done to increase transparency between both commercial contexts.” A full debrief is being prepared in partnership with Secure World and will be made available to the public when completed in the near future.
Rob Ronci, Caelus Executive Director and co-author of the research paper appeared on The Space Show November 22 hosted by Dr. David Livingston on which I called in and discussed the above topics with him. You can listen to the show by downloading the recording on the The Space Show website.
Artist’s rendering of greenhouses inside a StarLab Outpost. Credits: Nanoracks / Mack Crawford
Nanoracks, a Houston based space logistics company along with Pure Harvest Smart Farms and FreshToHome, have been selected by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to collaborate on cutting-edge projects to boost the UAE’s agriculture technology (AgTech) infrastructure “across land, sea and space”. Nanoracks is initiating a commercial AgTech space research program in its Abu Dhabi based StarLab Space Farming Center. Starlab will be a commercial space research facility focused on advancing technology for food produced in space and in extreme climates on Earth. The space-based technology will have duel-use applications to not only advance desert agriculture addressing urgent food security challenges, but also be focused on long-term human space exploration and eventual settlement.
Nanoracks plans to leverage it’s “Outposts“, space stations created from salvaged upper stages of spent launch vehicles, to house the company’s greenhouses in low Earth orbit. Next year the company plans to launch a groundbreaking first in-space demonstration mission that will test robotic cutting of a second stage representative tank material. To successfully repurpose upper stages Nanoracks will need to be able to cut metal without producing any orbital debris.
Update 1 September 2021: Nanoracks announces the launch of a new Space AgTech company, StarLab Oasis.
Solar Power Satellite delivering wireless power to the UK during daylight hours. (NOTE: power would be delivered 24/7). Credits: Frazer-Nash Consultancy
The United Kingdom’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is commissioning a study by the engineering consultancy Frazer-Nash on the feasibility of space-based solar power for delivery of clean, emission free energy to the country’s electrical power grid 24 hours a day. The study, announced on the Frazer-Nash website, will provide an impartial assessment for the government of the engineering viability, budget and economic benefits of space-based solar power for the UK. Frazer-Nash will partner with Oxford Economics, a global forecasting and quantitative analysis company.
Some key challenges expected from the investigation include: a realistic analysis of the scale of the engineering undertaking to build a satellite of such magnitude in space; can the economics justify the effort to be competitive with other sources of power generation; and finally, what are the international regulatory implications of radio frequency spectrum allocation?
Solar Power Satellite delivering wireless power to the UK at night. (NOTE: power would be delivered 24/7). Credits: Frazer-Nash Consultancy
From the Executive Summary: “Evolved lunar surface exploration and ultilisation scenarios reflect plans for a near-term series of robotic missions followed by humans returning to the Moon in this decade. Rather than looking at individual missions, the scenario depicts a stepwise development of an increasingly capable lunar transportation system to the lunar surface, traversing systems on the lunar surface, and infrastructure supporting them that will enable cooperative science and human exploration efforts leading toward a sustained presence on the lunar poles and incorporating lunar surface activities as analogues in preparation for human missions to Mars.”
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano loads microbes into the Kubik centrifuge facility on the International Space Station. Credits: ESA
A research team at the University of Edinburgh in the UK has just published an analysis of data from an experiment on the International Space Station that could lead to “biomining” on Mars or an asteroid. Published in Nature Communications on November 10, Cockell, C.S., Santomartino, R., Finster, K. et al.* present experimental results demonstrating microbiological leaching of rare Earth elements from basalt rock, an analogue for much of the regolith material on the Moon and Mars. Called BioRock, the ESA sponsored experiment examined three species of microorganisms under variable gravity conditions in the Kubik centrifuge facility located in Europe’s Columbus module on the ISS.
This technology is a significant breakthrough for in situ resource utilization. By “living off the land” on the Moon, Mars or an asteroid, space settlers could have an available source of valuable materials used in electronic devices and many other high-technology applications. These rare Earth elements and the traditional heavy mining equipment needed to extract them would not have to be launched from Earth, significantly reducing transportation and processing costs. Positive results were found under Earth gravity, Mars gravity and microgravity conditions. The authors conclude that the experiment “…shows the efficacy of microbe–mineral interactions for advancing the establishment of a self-sustaining permanent human presence beyond the Earth and the technical means to do that.”
Artist’s concept of a rectenna, a ground site that receives the microwave power transmission from a solar power satellite and converts it into electricity for a utility grid or other users. Credits: James A. Vedda and Karen L. Jones, The Aerospace Corporation
Space enthusiasts have been dreaming of the promise of space-based solar power ever since Peter Glaser first conceived of the idea in the 1960s and Gerald K. O’Neill leveraged the concept to popularize space settlements in his ground breaking book The High Frontier. But the costs have been preventatively high for many years and the technology has been stubbornly out of reach. Recent events and scientific advances have begun to change this situation. For example, launch providers are becoming more widely available and costs are coming down. Photovoltaic cell efficiency has dramatically improved since solar power satellites (SPS) were first conceived. On orbit robotic assembly, additive manufacturing and mass production is within reach. Finally, ISRU on the moon could provide access to materials outside the Earth’s gravity well dramatically reducing the cost of materials needed to build SPSs in space.
In a position paper released last month by The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy, recommendations are made for policy decisions by the U.S. government to make strategic investments in development of this space infrastructure, lest other countries beat us to the punch.
The authors of the paper, James A. Vedda and Karen L. Jones, say that “U.S. decisionmakers will have an opportunity during the next presidential term to establish the role of the United States in this potentially disruptive technology. If SPS can develop into a major component of orbital infrastructure, and someday contribute an additional source of renewable energy to users on Earth, the United States will want to be at the forefront of high-capacity power beaming in all its applications rather than become dependent on others for the technology and services they provide.”
Diagram depicting NASA’s Lunar Water ISRU Measurement Study (LWIMS). Credits: NASA
NASA just published a Technical Memorandum on its Lunar Water ISRU Measurement Study (LWIMS). The TM describes the establishment of a measurement plan for identification and characterization of a water reserve on the Moon. This program would support the Artemis program to achieve a sustainable lunar presence by 2028.
Three primary data inputs feed information into the system. First, predictive modeling provides a ‘water favorability’ index to map out locations on the Moon with water ice potential. This algorithm is fed data by orbital measurements providing information on a regional scale. It is critical that this orbital data is interpreted properly for water-favorable sites on the Moon. To ensure accuracy, lunar landers will take surface measurements in a series of three phases: mobile reconnaissance for validation of the predictive model, focused exploratory missions to verify water’s presence and final reserve mapping to inform an ISRU ice mining plant by 2028.
Diagram depicting ESA’s program for space resource utilization such as harvesting lunar water and oxygen for rocket propellant and space manufacturing. Credits: Angeliki Kapoglou, ESA
A proposal submitted by ESA’s Angeliki Kapoglou, has been posted on the ESA website that defines a process for evaluating maturing technologies by the European space agency in cooperation with companies in the region. Called ESA Space Resources Utilisation Program, the proposal identifies the potential for a commercial market for water, oxygen and other products sourced from the Moon within the next decade as multiple space agencies plan for humans to return to the lunar surface. The program will position European countries and businesses to be major players in economic activities such as off-Earth propellant production, on-orbit refueling, autonomous in-space manufacturing using resources harvested from space, and robust construction on the lunar surface to support a sustained human presence.
The mission statement of the program is:
“Enable Europe through ESA to be well placed to benefit from the identification, acquisition, and development of space resources with important benefits for society on Earth. SRU will also provide an important reduction on the cost of other space missions…
We propose a series of small and rapid mission activities, to build capability and demonstrate key technologies for the utilisation of space resources. This will ensure that Europe is positioned for the Solar System gold rush that is coming and which will likely kick start with a cislunar economy with benefits for Earth. This constitutes a timely response to a rapidly evolving scenario for space resources.”
The program is expected to cost 100 million € and deliver key findings before the end of 2022.
