There are several U.S. space companies and countries besides NASA interested in mining the moon. Your question is why and at what cost? The moon has several rich elements our planet doesn’t have. The goal is to prospect, excavate, and extract these critical resources back to Earth. What started this interest was the previous Apollo moon missions and two moon satellites mapping the moon’s surface in the 1990s indicating high amounts of helium3, plus hydrogen and oxygen from the moon’s water.
Helium3 is a great energy source that doesn’t emit carbon, like oil and gas does. The moon absorbs lots of Helium3 from our sun, which our planet unfortunately filters out from our protective atmospheric shielding. Helium3 would be used for supplying electricity, thus replacing coal, gas, and nuclear fission without the toxic carbon side effects.
Unfortunately, our carbon footprint is increasing annually, which isn’t good for our planet! On the flip side, carbon can be converted into new products replacing some metals as a higher strength and lighter weight material. There is a carbon absorbing like tree to help reduce our carbon footprint.
Two other critical elements are hydrogen and oxygen, which is converted from the moon’s dust and water sources. Even though the Earth has these elements, it’s also needed on the moon to operate facilities and provide water for personnel to live on. It would also be used for refueling rockets on the return trip back to Earth.
What is the cost of transporting these elements back to Earth? Twenty years ago, it was cost prohibitive. Today, NASA and others claim they have the technology to mine these elements and convert them either for sustaining life or transporting them back to Earth very efficiently. Thus, the reason for mining the moon seems very logical!
~ Bob Larson is a technologist and Marketing Director for 50 Plus.