If you were transported to the Moon this very instant, you would surely and rapidly die. That’s because there’s no atmosphere, the surface temperature varies from a roasting 130 degrees Celsius to a bone-chilling minus 170 C. If the lack of air or heat or cold doesn’t kill you then solar radiation will.
Yet if human beings are to explore the Moon and, potentially, live there one day, we’ll need to learn how to deal with these challenging environmental conditions. We’ll need habitats, air, food, and energy, as well as fuel to power rockets back to Earth and possibly other destinations. That means we’ll need resources to meet these requirements.We can either bring them with us from Earth – an expensive proposition – or we’ll need to take advantage of resources on the Moon itself. And that’s where the idea of “in-situ resource utilization,” or ISRU, comes in.
RELATED: WHY MINE THE MOON?
HOW DID ITS ALL STARTED?
- On Dec. 13, 1972, sample 75501, A sample soil from the rim of camelot crater began its trip to earth with the crew of Apollo 17.
- The collected sample underwent many tests for years to find traces of any source of energy or new metal.
- In 1985, young engineers at the University of Wisconsin discovered that lunar soil on heating to 1400°F released a remarkable form of helium i.e. Helium-3.
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 HOW COULD IT WORK?
At this stage, it's still guesswork.
SpaceX is trying to solve problem with use of reusable rockets- so a hypothetical lunar colony will consist of :
3D Printer
Moon mining requires infrastructure even before it begins: one solution is to manufacture material on the moon using 3D printer
A Lunar Base:
Given the presence of water on the moon, this opens the potential for long term human presence. Printed bases remove the problem of logistics.
Helium-3 Storage Facility:
Transporting large amounts of lunar soil to the earth is impractical.Gas will be generated on the moon and captured in storage containers. Robotic Miner:To make operation cost effective and also it is vital that minimal human oversight take place.University of Wisconsin maidicen has given an idea how will moon mining will take place with robots
ISSUES ON MOON MINING
Low concentrations of Helium-3 in lunar soil :-
-Helium-3
concentrations in lunar soil are at least 13 parts per billion (ppb) by weight. Levels may range from 20 to 30 ppb in undisturbed soils.
-220 pounds of
helium-3 can be found by digging a patch of lunar surface roughly 2.2 km to a
depth of about 9 ft.
-220 pounds of
helium-3 will be enough to power big cities of todays world for at least a
year.
Commercialization :-– "Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources,"The new executive order makes things even more official, stressing that the United States does not view space as a "global commons" and sees a clear path to off-Earth mining, without the need for further international treaty-level agreements.
Initially some big
organisations and private companies should put in combined efforts to invest in
the moon mining project and see its growth for a couple of years. If the
results are positive then the resources can be divided equally amongst all nations
without providing any sort of Monopoly to any Nation or Private firm.
Waste Disposal :-
We can look for some
nearby asteroids as a waste dumping ground or can dump the waste on moon
itself. More over we can keep some samples and test them for radioactivity. If
found safe to use then they can be used for back filling operations on earth as
well as many other uses might turn up as we study the properties of the waste
generated.
Affect the Gravitation:- (Infographic)
The biggest concern is about Environmental change and the ethical consequences of moon mining.
Conclusion:
According to Ian Crawford, a professor of planetary science
& astrobiology at BrikBeck College, London
“It's hard to identify any single lunar resource that will be sufficiently valuable to drive a lunar resource extraction industry on its own. The moon does possess abundant raw materials that are of potential economic interest but we need to have proper plans for exploiting the resources.”
Once the idea of moon traffic becomes more commonplace and less abstract, world powers will have to grapple with space policy again, because any group will eventually need to make rules together and decide what to do with people who violate the rules. Indeed, when it comes to the law of space, this is just the beginning.
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I am technologist who is passionately dedicated to bring a single platform of knowledge to a mining and geology enthusiast to transform him to a tomorrow's Global leader. This blog provide you with online study material to clear your concepts in various mining technologies and all news/notification related to Earthscience industries.
1 comments:
Click here for commentsVery useful information thank you 🙌
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