According to a rocket scientist with the US space agency, NASA intends to start mining the Moon for resources within the next ten years. The pilot processing plant’s initial objectives will be oxygen and water as it looks into how to use the lunar surface to support human existence. As the business grows, iron and other rare earth might subsequently be targeted.
There are alleged “hundreds of billions of dollars worth of untapped resources” on the Moon, according to NASA, and numerous other nations are looking into mining methods. The mining expedition will start soon, according to Gerald Sanders of NASA, when a test drill rig is transported to the Moon, he stated on Wednesday during a mining conference in Brisbane.
For the first time ever, NASA scientists earlier this year successfully recovered oxygen from fictitious lunar soil in a vacuum environment
Any progress in mining the Moon’s resources is hoped to spur business interest and lead to further cost reductions. “We are trying to invest in the exploration phase, understand the resources… to [lower] risk such that external investment makes sense that could lead to development and production,” said Dr Sanders, who works at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre, according to Reuters. “We are literally just scratching the surface.”
By 2026, the Australian Space Agency intends to collaborate with NASA in its mining efforts by sending a semi-autonomous rover to collect samples of lunar soil rich in oxides. The ability to obtain oxygen gas from the Moon, which humans can use to breathe on the lunar surface, may depend on these oxides. “This is a key step towards establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon, as well as supporting future missions to Mars,” said Samuel Webster, an assistant director at the Australian Space Agency.
For the first time ever, NASA scientists earlier this year successfully recovered oxygen from fictitious lunar soil in a vacuum environment. A team at the Johnson Space Centre of the space agency in Houston, Texas, used a strong laser to start a process that may potentially generate large amounts of oxygen from the lunar surface. The harvesting technology was described by the researchers as “a big step for developing the architecture to build sustainable human bases on other planets”. Through the Artemis programme, NASA aims to send people back to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years, with the first crewed trips not beginning before 2024.