Mining to start on the Moon soon

Three years seems like a pretty tall order and I'm frankly still confused as to what they are going to mine on the moon for profit. I'd love to just see them do it but I'm still perplexed from a commercial point of view.
 
I gather that apart from mining for metal ores - they must obviously be thinking it would be cheaper to mine some ores on the Moon than on Earth - they are going to mine water/ice, which has been postulated as a basis for fuel for future spacecraft.
 
It is an entirely different matter if we are going to build a space fleet. It is incredibly expensive to take anything into Earth orbit, so mining ore on the Moon for a Moon-based dockyard then becomes an economic prospect.
 
Purely on the piece that Serendipity posted, it states explicitly that they will mine iron ore. (amongst other things)

How could this even be remotely viable as an economic venture??? (Given that Iron isn't that particularly rare on Earth!)

Edit: in fact I can't think of any metal or ore that would be economically viable to mine on the moon unless there was an abundance of it on the moon and a lack of it on the earth. I can't think of any at the mo'

I could accept the argument that such material would be used in interplanetary space or the moon...but there's not many foundries or things really to use it for at the moment.

Possibly this is just a 'proof of concept' set of missions.
 
Last edited:
Getting stuff into space is the main issue at present, if you can at least have raw building materials in space to start with that means you've cut a huge and heavy bulk of material that you have to transport up there down. Having and off-world manufacture base is, I think, a cornerstone requirement for a more extensive space program. Further if you can make it work on the Moon you can take that lesson and invest it into harvesting on other moons and asteroids.

That said 3 years sounds like a very tall order and I agree that this is likely more a proof of concept that an actual investment at this stage. That said a company (or collection of companies) forward thinking with the investment power to head off-world and get off-world raw material processing done first could very well be onto a future goldmine.
 
Most of the studies I've seen involve a Moon mine and a mass-driver on the Moon, together with a "construction shack" in some relatively stable place (maybe L4 or L5) to make use of the materials.

The point is that once it's all up there the energy is free or nearly so (maintenance and amortisation are costs!) and the material certainly is. Of course, wages for orbital construction workers and Moon miners would be quite high...

Better treat them well, too. A Lunar mass driver is a strategic weapon, as Heinlein pointed out over a century ago.
 
Harrison (Dr. Jack) Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut, is coming here on Saturday to give a lecture, and I bought his book (Return to the Moon, 2006) to take along and hopefully get it signed. It just came today, and I've just started it, but he's laying out the case for a threefold venture to mine the moon. He's the only actual scientist (geologist) to walk on the moon, and also spent six years as a US Senator.

"The financial, environmental, and national security carrot for a Return to the Moon consists of access to low-cost lunar helium-3 fusion power. ... Not available in other than research quantities on Earth, this light isotope of ordinary helium reaches the Moon as a component of the solar wind.... Embedded continuously in the lunar dust over almost 4 billion years, concentrations have reached levels that can legitimately be considered of economic interest."

Also of interest,
"By-products of lunar helium-3 production will add significantly to future economic returns as customers for these products develop in space. No such by-products are known that would warrant their return to Earth; however, locations in Earth orbit, on Mars, and elsewhere in deep space constitute potential markets. The earliest available by-products include hydrogen, water, and compounds of nitrogen and carbon. Oxygen can be produced from lunar water. Finally, metallic elements, such as iron, titanium, aluminum, and silicon, can be extracted from mineral and glass components in the lunar regolith (soil)."

But from the (admittedly cursory) article, it sounds like those guys are aiming to bring stuff back to Earth. Hmm. Well, I suppose things may have changed in ten years since the book was written -- and as I say, I'm only in the first chapter so far.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
Harrison (Dr. Jack) Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut, is coming here on Saturday to give a lecture, and I bought his book (Return to the Moon, 2006) to take along and hopefully get it signed. It just came today, and I've just started it, but he's laying out the case for a threefold venture to mine the moon. He's the only actual scientist (geologist) to walk on the moon, and also spent six years as a US Senator.

"The financial, environmental, and national security carrot for a Return to the Moon consists of access to low-cost lunar helium-3 fusion power. ... Not available in other than research quantities on Earth, this light isotope of ordinary helium reaches the Moon as a component of the solar wind.... Embedded continuously in the lunar dust over almost 4 billion years, concentrations have reached levels that can legitimately be considered of economic interest."

Also of interest,
"By-products of lunar helium-3 production will add significantly to future economic returns as customers for these products develop in space. No such by-products are known that would warrant their return to Earth; however, locations in Earth orbit, on Mars, and elsewhere in deep space constitute potential markets. The earliest available by-products include hydrogen, water, and compounds of nitrogen and carbon. Oxygen can be produced from lunar water. Finally, metallic elements, such as iron, titanium, aluminum, and silicon, can be extracted from mineral and glass components in the lunar regolith (soil)."

But from the (admittedly cursory) article, it sounds like those guys are aiming to bring stuff back to Earth. Hmm. Well, I suppose things may have changed in ten years since the book was written -- and as I say, I'm only in the first chapter so far.
Click to expand...

In the old game Moonbase, Helium 3 was the primary bread and butter of the space colony.
 
Cathbad said:
So we aren't even finished raping earth, and we're gonna start in on the moon?
Click to expand...
Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him. Drive him back into his jungle liar, for he is the harbinger of death.
Click to expand...
 
TheDustyZebra said:
Harrison (Dr. Jack) Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut, is coming here on Saturday to give a lecture, and I bought his book (Return to the Moon, 2006) to take along and hopefully get it signed. It just came today, and I've just started it, but he's laying out the case for a threefold venture to mine the moon. He's the only actual scientist (geologist) to walk on the moon, and also spent six years as a US Senator.

"The financial, environmental, and national security carrot for a Return to the Moon consists of access to low-cost lunar helium-3 fusion power. ... Not available in other than research quantities on Earth, this light isotope of ordinary helium reaches the Moon as a component of the solar wind.... Embedded continuously in the lunar dust over almost 4 billion years, concentrations have reached levels that can legitimately be considered of economic interest."

Also of interest,
"By-products of lunar helium-3 production will add significantly to future economic returns as customers for these products develop in space. No such by-products are known that would warrant their return to Earth; however, locations in Earth orbit, on Mars, and elsewhere in deep space constitute potential markets. The earliest available by-products include hydrogen, water, and compounds of nitrogen and carbon. Oxygen can be produced from lunar water. Finally, metallic elements, such as iron, titanium, aluminum, and silicon, can be extracted from mineral and glass components in the lunar regolith (soil)."

But from the (admittedly cursory) article, it sounds like those guys are aiming to bring stuff back to Earth. Hmm. Well, I suppose things may have changed in ten years since the book was written -- and as I say, I'm only in the first chapter so far.
Click to expand...
Interesting; in New Moon Ian McDonald posited Helium-3 as the most financially viable product to mine on the Moon. Maybe there is something to that and I should reserve judgement on the viability of mining the moon for resources to be used on Earth.
Cathbad said:
So we aren't even finished raping earth, and we're gonna start in on the moon?
Click to expand...
I think I can live with that as the moon does not support any life. Better that than trashing a life sustaining biosphere.
 
Vertigo said:
Interesting; in New Moon Ian McDonald posited Helium-3 as the most financially viable product to mine on the Moon. Maybe there is something to that and I should reserve judgement on the viability of mining the moon for resources to be used on Earth.

I think I can live with that as the moon does not support any life. Better that than trashing a life sustaining biosphere.
Click to expand...

Too late!
 
Vertigo said:
Interesting; in New Moon Ian McDonald posited Helium-3 as the most financially viable product to mine on the Moon. Maybe there is something to that and I should reserve judgement on the viability of mining the moon for resources to be used on Earth.
Click to expand...

That's if they can get fusion to actually work :p:whistle:

Otherwise it's chewing through vast amounts of lunar rock for nothing!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
J World tips over because of oil mining Book Search 4
LordOfWizards Can we share the resources from Asteroid mining peacefully? Science & Nature 1
M Lithium mining in Cornwall Science & Nature 1
M Examining whether humans are unique, how to define humanity, and when humanity evolved. Science & Nature 25
AlexanderSen Space Mining Vehicles Art 15

Similar threads


Back
Top