There are many common materials in batteries like iron, those materials are sourced locally from where the batteries are made. Most of the world’s batteries are made in China. Therefore, most of the materials would be sourced in China. China also has quite a bit of lithium which is one of the primary more scarce …
There is an update on mini-asteroid and optical space mining at the NASA NIAC virtual meeting. Apis™ is a breakthrough mission and flight system architecture designed to revolutionize NASA’s human exploration of deep space and to enable massive space industrialization and human settlement. Apis™ is enabled by Public Private Partnership (PPP) and a series of …
SpaceX could use the electric skateboard of the Cybertruck to build all the of vehicles that they need for a lunar mining operation. About twenty-five to thirty cybertrucks could be delivered to the moon with every SpaceX Starship. A lunar base and mining operation would lower the cost for lunar operations by 70 times and …
The Lunar Polar Mining Outpost (LPMO) (see quad chart graphic) is a breakthrough mission architecture that promises to greatly reduce the cost of human exploration and industrialization of the Moon. LPMO is based on two patent pending inventions that together solve the problem of affordable lunar polar ice mining for propellant production. The first invention, …
Using Solar Power on 100 Meter Towers for 100X Lunar Polar Mining
The European Space Agency ESA and ArianeGroup, as prime contractor of a consortium of Arianegroup, Space Application Services and PTScientists, have signed a contract to study and prepare ESA’s planned ISRU mission. The European Space Agency (ESA) is hoping to start mining the Moon for water and oxygen by 2025. In space, in-situ resource use …
It was previously thought that small asteroids could be placed into a large bag and baked to get out water and other materials. Experiments performed by Transastra show that this would take too long and need too much energy. They have found what does work is optical mining. 16 kilowatt light sources focused onto small …
Honeybee Robotics has two projects for near-term lunar ISRU-focused missions. Project one is developing a sampling drill for volatile-rich lunar regolith as part of NASA’s Lunar Resource Prospector. There is technology development required to reach TRL 6, as well as the range of tests the system was subjected to. These tests include drilling in volatile-rich …
Kris Zacny, Mining Water on Mars. From the 21st Annual International Mars Society Convention, held at the Pasadena Convention Center in Southern California from Aug 23-26, 2018. You have to launch 226 kilograms from Earth for every 1 kilogram of material that you get onto Mars. You need to produce water and oxygen on Mars. …
Dennis Wingo sees metals mining, communication stations and telescopes on the moon. The combination of industries will make moon development viable. The moon is largely made up of metal oxides that could yield new supplies of platinum — perhaps enough to drive prices for the precious metal down to $300 from $1,400 an ounce today. …
The Planetary Resources Arkyd-6 spacecraft was launched and deployed in space. This 6U cubesat is packed with power including 17 computing elements. The Arkyd-6 spacecraft has successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre onboard PSLV-C40 and has entered into its target orbit. The Arkyd-6 will validate water detection technology and cost-saving design methodology. The …