2019-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS2019 Volume 6: Parameswaran Intl. Symp. / Sustainable Mining and Smelting
| Editors: | F. Kongoli, G. Baiden, D. Dzombak, L. Guo, L. Liu, M. Poulton, P. Somasundaran |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2019 |
| Pages: | 95 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-989820-05-6 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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Lunar Mining - Stretching Human Knowledge in Mining, Telecommunications, Energy, and Robotics
Greg Baiden1;1PENGUIN AUTOMATED SYSTEMS INC., Naughton, Canada;
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 172
Topic: 4
Abstract:
In 2009, NASA launched the LCROSS mission to the South Pole of the moon to perform a spectral analysis of the contents of the crater material remotely. The results of the mission were positive with strong indications of H2O and other materials from the analysed plume of material. This began worldwide speculation on returning to the moon with countries setting up programs to consider lunar prospecting and exploration to be followed by creating initial mining plans.
Finding H2O engaged the world in plans for emerging opportunities for new space based industries. Cheap abundant water allows consideration of potentially cheap fuel which is very available. Inexpensive off-earth propellant could be used for future satellite refueling, science missions within the solar system and beyond, and enables commercial missions for mining, hotels and industry.
The military in the USA created the first lunar mining plan in 1959. Since that time, many have been created with varying levels of credibility. In 2006, the Canadian Space Agency requested Dr. Baiden to devise a plan for lunar mining. This question resulted from the mining robotics research at his labs in Sudbury Ontario Canada. The plan was created over a two year timeframe and was presented to the AAIA in 2010. It was subsequently refined through work with Shackleton Energy and is now being further refined by a new start-up called MoonRise.
Lunar prospecting and exploration will require teleoperated control of exploration robots from earth. There is much work in the literature, showing successful teleoperation with time delays of 2-3 seconds. This type of lunar surface operation has already been performed by NASA and Russia. The data on the size and quality of the H2O will soon be validated by lunar surface missions in order to consider mining feasibility. Mining plans that have been performed from an aerospace perspective have little real mining work being considered by miners with industry experience.
From a miner's perspective there are four major issues that need to be dealt with if lunar mining is to become a reality. These are: gravity, temperature, radiation and the lack of atmosphere. In all terrestrial applications, miners use gravity to their advantage. In thinking about lunar gravity, one sixth gravity is a major consideration. On one side, gravity requires less work, but in actual fact, the same work for mining needs to be done as on Earth. In terms of temperature, H2O is located in the cold traps of these polar craters. If we mine in warmer areas, the H2O immediately vaporizes, so we must mine in the cold traps at -250°C or 25 kelvin. Current mining experience limits are digging tools in the oil sand at -70°C. Finding and creating robots and mining tools to work in these temperature environments is another major consideration. As a mining facility, operations can be teleoperated or made autonomous, however, maintenance is a different story. Replacement parts will need changes, so a minimum amount of personnel will be necessary on site. This ground truth means a local habitat will need to be created for operations to occur. And finally, solar radiation is the main constraint for personnel on site as it has a large potential to be the literal fatal flaw. The numbers show extreme danger for personnel without proper protection. Adaptation of terrestrial tunneling technology, however, could provide a simple solution to this dilemma by enabling underground access to get to a sufficient level of protection.
This paper presents current thinking from a miner's perspective. This mining plan has been presented and augmented by input from CSA, NASA, Shackleton Energy Co., and now MoonRise Inc.. It identifies the main "show stoppers" or risks for mining H2O from the moon. The next steps include a recent statement by a major US launch company (United Launch Alliance) of willingness to buy lunar propellant in space. Note this substantially reduces customer or business risk. NASA has also expressed interest in purchasing locally manufactured lunar propellant.