In our industry “exploration” usually refers to finding oil and gas through a variety of sensing methods (or with the drill bit). But in a larger sense it means stepping outside one’s comfort zone to discover new things. Or, to put it in the words of the world’s most famous split infinitive, “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
At the recent American Association of Petroleum Geologists annual meeting, one technical session focused not on earth sciences, but on “moon sciences.” Titled “Return to the Moon: Research, resources, and rewards,” the session comprised several presentations relating to the proposed return to the Moon in 2018 and what will need to be different this time.
One featured organization, the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), is focusing on learning from the past to make future endeavors successful. LEAG is responsible for analyzing scientific, technical, commercial, and operational issues associated with lunar exploration at the behest of NASA. It serves as a community-based, interdisciplinary forum for future exploration and provides analysis in support of lunar exploration objectives and their implications for planning and activity prioritization.
In his abstract, Clive Neal of the University of Notre Dame and the chair of LEAG wrote, “The proposed return to the Moon in 2018 will occur approximately 45 years after the last human walked on the lunar surface during the Apollo program. Looking back, it is evident that the Apollo program (which visited different locations, took everything needed to survive on each mission, and was funded through a single government) was not sustainable. In this new era of lunar exploration, we must learn from history in order to establish a sustainable, long-term space exploration program.”
In short, this means living on the Moon. Neal writes that placing a lunar outpost at one location will enable a long-term exploration effort. But sustaining it “will require international cooperation, in situ resources utilization, and the involvement of the commercial sector, which in turn allows fascinating scientific investigations to be conducted.”
The concept of a sustainable lunar outpost intrigued me, so I did some more digging. Turns out another of the presenters in this session, Harrison K. Schmitt from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, devoted his presentation to “Lunar Resource Mining, Processing, and Refining.” His abstract discusses the possibilities but also the limitations of mining on the Moon.
“Production of lunar resources, particularly investor-funded extraction of helium-3 fusion fuel, will require a permanent base of operations with a high degree of automation of various mining, processing, and refining activities,” Schmitt’s abstract states. “A broad foundation of technical and operational experience in space already exists. Relevant experience on Earth includes geographically isolated resource production and supplying remote settlements and stations.”
To make this work, we’ll have to do a few things differently from the ways we’ve done either of them on the Moon or on the Earth. On the Moon, lower cost and higher reliability will be key, as will protection from dust and radiation, an indefinite life for facilities and equipment, increased payload, reliable robotic systems, system diagnostics, minimal need for Earth-based supervision, and a permanent settlement.
The primary differences between mining on the Moon and mining here at home are the need for an increased integration of human and robotic functions and lightweight, highly reliable equipment that can operate continuously and indefinitely.
Finally, I wondered what resources, if any, actually exist on the Moon to provide that in situ resource usage. Neal explained that the basic resources are oxygen and water. Oxygen can be made by the reduction of ilmenite, a substance commonly found in the lunar regolith. The oxygen liberated from this reduction can be combined with hydrogen deposited by solar wind in the regolith and in particular the ilmenite.
Additionally, he said, various minerals can be used to make construction materials, and nitrogen and carbon, also deposited by solar wind, can be used for growing crops.
I think the first high-rise condominiums are still a few decades away. But the move to expand our reach beyond our own little planet will certainly be interesting to watch.
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