Spaceflight 🚀📆 2023 This #SBSP study by #Astrostrom for #ESA proposes a 29,339 m2 #solar ☀️ collector at the #Lagrange point, #SolarPanels from #Lunar 🌙 materials, transported by a #SpaceElevator 🚠 from the #Moon https://nebula.esa.int/sites/default/files/neb_study/2753/C4000136309ESR.pdf
A single liter costs a few thousand dollars. Because there is no magnetosphere around the #Moon 🌙, it's believed there are large quantities of #helium3 gas trapped in pockets of the #lunar regolith. #Interlune is working toward the launch of a demonstrator mission in 📆 2026 that will sample the lunar regolith, measure the helium-3 quantity, and then attempt to extract some of it. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/mining-helium-3-on-the-moon-has-been-talked-about-forever-now-a-company-will-try/
In 📆 2022, the #SpaceIndustry was estimated to be worth US$350 billion 💵 and is projected to grow 📈 to more than one trillion 💰 dollars over the next two decades. Actors such as #SpaceX already own a majority of the #LEO #satellites 🛰️ . In the absence of a concerted global 🌏 dialogue, individual countries are pushing ahead with their own laws. Usually, international arrangements tend to arise 🥱 when there is a real risk of #conflict. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00722-4
#UNOOSA International #SpaceLaw 👨⚖️ : United Nations Instruments https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/oosadoc/data/documents/2017/stspace/stspace61rev.2_0.html
🇨🇳 A 100kg #robot 🤖 will prepare a working area on the lunar 🌙 surface and transfer the parts from the lander and assemble them. All of #China’s planned #ChangE missions will be testing technologies to pave the way for Chinese #astronauts 👨🚀 to land on the #moon before 📆 2030 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3251854/china-calls-developers-change-8-mission-make-and-assemble-moon-bricks
#Reuters March 20, 2024 #China launches signal relay satellite : #Queqiao2 🛰️ will be used as a data transfer 📶 relay platform from the far side of the #moon, part of a constellation of relay #satellites serving as a communications bridge for crewed 👨🚀 #lunar missions and exploration on other planets like #Mars and #Venus. https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/china-launches-satellite-queqiao-2-upcoming-lunar-missions-2024-03-20/
Chinese astronauts to raise zebrafish in space
Michael Gemar@spaceflight On the one hand we really need relay and positioning satellites for the moon. On the other, the far side is currently a radio-free zone, and thus ideal for radio astronomy. It would be a shame to lose that opportunity.
Constellations of #satellites 🛰️ that provide #communications and #GPS on the #moon 🌙 could also wreck #astronomers’ plans by interfering with telescopes 📡, while heavy rovers and mining ⚒️ #robots could generate dust and vibrations https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/25/scientists-call-for-protection-of-moon-sites-astronomy-telescopes
#SpaceAgencies and private companies are planning bases, scientific experiments and mining ⚒️ operations on the #moon 🌙. Whatever the #ArtemisAccords decide, Russia 🇷🇺 and China 🇨🇳 are not about to sign up.
A second effort at lunar governance is emerging at #Copuos*. Its new working group is mulling rules on the extraction of natural resources from celestial bodies https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/25/bases-experiments-mining-the-race-to-protect-the-surface-of-the-moon
The #excavator will be in continuous operation and process 100 tons ⛰️ in one hour ⏱️ https://www.heise.de/en/news/Interlune-presents-excavator-for-helium-3-mining-on-the-moon-10398297.html
🇨🇳 #ChangE8 📆 2028 : “Through data sharing and task delegation, the #robots 🤖 will work together like a team, achieving objectives that would be impossible for independent robots to complete” https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3296324/change-8-moon-mission-first-get-robotic-boost-chinas-private-sector
🌙 #Lunar #ISPP (in situ #propellant ⛽ production) : 3 billion metric tons of water ice 🧊 are estimated at each pole*. Delivery from the #Moon could be done by #electromagnetic launcher (#EML)** for in-space refueling https://www.factoriesinspace.com/propellant-refilling
*https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094576500000783
**https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094576523001066
The parameters of the #NASA lunar 🌙 initiative have yet to be defined precisely. What is the basic purpose ? How many round trips by crew 👩🚀 per year ? How many cargo 📦 landings? Will the cargo delivery spacecraft be reusable ? Will descent and ascent vehicles be one and the same ? What are masses of ascent and descent vehicles ? How many landing sites will be used ? What activities are planned for the crew on the surface? What is the ROI of #ISPP ? https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/space.0188
"As a rule of thumb, rockets launched from Earth must burn ~25 kg of propellant to transport one kg of payload, whereas rockets launched from the Moon would burn only ~4 kg of propellant to transport one kg of payload." https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/turning-the-moon-into-a-fuel-depot-will-take-a-lot-of-power
#ISRU : 99 percent of the weight of the materials required to produce #SolarCells on the #Moon 🌙 no longer need to be transported there. “These solar cells require ultrathin absorber layers of 500 to 800 nanometers only, allowing the fabrication of 400 square meter solar cells with just one kilogram of perovskite raw material brought from Earth” https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2025-04-03-solarzellen-auf-mondglas-photovoltaik-koennte-die-energie-fuer-eine-zukuenftige-basis-au
It is not clear what the #NuclearReactor will power. A reactor would be useful for long-term stays on the #moon, but #NASA’s plans do not specify when a base might be built https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/science/nasa-moon-nuclear-reactor.html
Extracting lunar water ice 🧊 profitably requires deploying at least 20 tons of mining equipment to the surface. Even with #SpaceX’s #Starship potentially dropping costs to $10 million per ton, you’re looking at $200 million just for equipment delivery.
The future of lunar mining ⚒️ : remote operators control trucks, #AI optimizes drill patterns. #Robotic systems handle materials in environments humans rarely enter https://spacenews.com/the-lunar-mining-gold-rush-is-coming-and-success-requires-bridging-two-worlds
Ema@spaceflight Very good if transport of the equipment to the Moon doesn't need propellant.
International Astro ArtistsWell, unless you can generate fuel locally cheaply and with light equipment, that propellant for lunar launches will be sent from Earth, for a total of 29 kg.
The #European 🇪🇺 Commission is expected to propose the world's first comprehensive #SpaceLaw after Easter https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-wants-make-space-safe-law-label-boring/
While the #OuterSpaceTreaty offers broad principles to guide the activities of nations, it does not offer detailed “rules of the road.” Essentially, the treaty assures freedom of exploration and use of space to all humankind. There are just two caveats to this, and multiple gaps immediately present themselves. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/03/world/space-law-united-nations-partner-scn/index.html
There are multiple potential futures 🔮 that could arise from a lack of collaboration in #SpaceGovernance. Without further cooperation and agreement among the major and minor #SpacePowers, multiple, competing governance systems may end up being established, further increasing the potential for #conflict 💣 https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2022/11/governance-in-space-mining-the-moon-and-beyond.html
#SpaceForce officials don’t have to obtain a permit or permission from the #California Coastal Commission for rocket launches; they only need to reach an agreement to mitigate the effects.
But commissioners in recent months have questioned whether #SpaceX launches, which carry private #Starlink equipment on up to 87% of their flights, should be considered private activity. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-10-11/la-me-spacex-coastal-commission
#SpaceX has sued a #California commission in federal court, accusing panel members of #political bias in blocking the space venture company from increasing 📈 the number of rockets it launches from a U.S. air base in the state. The commission on Wednesday declined to comment. https://www.reuters.com/legal/musks-spacex-sues-california-panel-alleges-political-bias-over-rocket-launches-2024-10-16/
#Newsom indicated he broadly agreed with the lawsuit and that the independent agency should have confined its debate to the merits of the permit rather than engage in a discussion of #Musk’s political activities. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/18/elon-newsom-musk-california-spacex-00184408
⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️@spaceflight "first"? The actual Outer Space Treaty not count for some reason?
comprehensive adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com
Definition of comprehensive adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
@falken "the Outer Space Treaty offers limited and ambiguous regulations to newer space activities" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty#Applicability_in_the_21st_century
@falken "There are very few globally recognized rules for space" https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-wants-make-space-safe-law-label-boring/
Last updated: 2025-01-12. Entries: 194 https://www.factoriesinspace.com/in-space-manufacturing
🇨🇳 Once complete, the constellation 🛰️ would support 1.00 peta operations per second. By comparison, the world’s most powerful #supercomputer last year achieves 1.72 peta operations.
@planet4589 said “Orbital data centres can use #SolarPower and radiate their heat to space, reducing the energy needs and #carbon footprint” https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3310506/china-launches-satellites-start-building-worlds-first-supercomputer-orbit
Tetra@spaceflight @planet4589 I'm not convinced about the real utility of this kind of projects.
- The launch emit a lot of carbon (directly and indirectly)
- The systems is hard to maintain (ergol, collision risk...) and upgrade
- Hard to protect against rival country
- Costly compared to a land based supercomputer
I don't know the real competitive advantage of this architecture.
@tetora_san you should ask #China instead, as the (main) question is "Is the primary problem with free #markets moral, economic or both?" https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/04/19/capitalism-critics-john-cassidy-review
@tetora_san the global CO2 output of #rockets was 0.0000059% of all #CO2 emissions https://everydayastronaut.com/rocket-pollution/
How much do rockets pollute?
Some might find it ironic that an organization like NASA, who studies our atmosphere, is ok with rockets polluting it so much. Or isn’t it weird that Elon Musk, the same person who is pushing sustainable energy with Tesla also has a rocket company that runs on fossil fuels? So today we are going to do a deep dive into this. We are going to see just how much of what rockets emit, go over how much different fuels and engine types pollute, then we will compare their emissions against other forms of transportation and other global polluters.
@spaceflight I know a lot of folks are upset at SpaceX putting up so many satellites, but they’re just the first, with Amazon’s Kuiper, the Chinese, Europe, and the US military all wanting to build constellations. It’s hard to see there being an international agreement on limits to how many satellites can be put where, at least not before all these other actors implement their own constellations.
@michaelgemar I'd call that "a real risk of conflict" which is imminent (Bezos' and Chinas 🛰️ ). Moon- and asteroid mining might be a couple of years later
@spaceflight I agree it’s a real risk, but there’s no chance that China will agree to limits on its satellites, and I’d imagine Amazon, US defense, and Europe would feel the same. SpaceX has set the precedent.
@michaelgemar that would be their job ? https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/index.html
@spaceflight I’m dubious that their policy suggestions would be taken seriously by those it would limit.
"If all goes to plan, we’ll have our first commercial product by 📆 2029. Offering 30 MW of power ☀️🔋, it could be launched by a single #Starship rocket, and scale to gigawatt systems from there" https://physicsworld.com/a/space-based-solar-power-we-have-nothing-to-lose-and-everything-to-gain
56 #space-based #SolarPower companies : https://www.factoriesinspace.com/space-solar-power
How can #SBSP be competitive with terrestrial renewables (e.g., #solar, #wind), when the cost of renewables is falling rapidly and given the typically high costs of #launch and space hardware ?
SBSP could serve a complementary role to terrestrial #intermittent renewables, helping to provide #stability and #reliability to the grid. The remaining #energy received at Earth could still be sufficient to make it a worthwhile and economically viable proposition. https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/SOLARIS/FAQ_Frequently_Asked_Questions_on_Space-Based_Solar_Power
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions on Space-Based Solar Power
ESA PROGRAMMATIC What is SOLARIS?SOLARIS is proposed as a preparatory technology development and maturation programme to advance key aspects of the concept of Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) plants. It is an exploratory step, that involves feasibility studies and technology R&D activities as well as market research and regulatory aspects of Space-Based Solar Power. The results will enable ESA and its partners to make an informed decision as to whether SBSP is technologically and economically viable, and whether it could make a meaningful contribution to Europe’s energy needs and Net Zero goals. Only if, and when, these conclusions are reached would a proposal potentially be made to progress to an SBSP development project.
The_SunKeep dreaming
rood@spaceflight you could make a smaller more ubiquitous system to keep electric jets on sky for longer. It gives an immediate example of the technology, and helps an industry that can't otherwise find a solution sooner.
Kind of solves everyone's issues all in once sweeping change.
@rood so you believe electric jets are "everyone's issues" ? 🤔
LordPhantom (Mathew)@spaceflight Sounds like the author is keen for government funding. If it works so great why isn't he doing it? It's because he needs a rocket that doesn't yet exist and a launch price that is orders of magnitude cheaper than currently available.
The #UK 🇬🇧, #US 🇺🇸, #Japan 🇯🇵 and #China 🇨🇳 are now investing in #space based solar ☀️ power. The #atmosphere reflects around 30% of the #energy that reaches our planet while it absorbs around a quarter before it even reaches the Earth's surface. Space-based 🌌 solar panels can avoid this effect, but can remain in near-constant sunlight https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251029-the-beam-dream-should-we-build-solar-farms-in-space
Based on the cost 💶 assumption of #SBSP, the projected value-adjusted levelised cost could even reach 69 EUR/MWh for the first system. Applying a learning curve metric already shows cost reduction potential in the setup of the first 10 SPS station deployments, leading to an estimated VALCoE of 49 EUR/MWh. This means that SBSP has the potential to even become a cost-competitive renewable technology https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Insights/Publications/Space-based-solar-power.html
📊 2025 : The simulations show that if the swarm design can deliver #electricity at six to nine times the projected 2050 cost of ground PV, system #costs fall by 7%–15% 📉. At that price, #space -based #solar ☀️ can displace up to 80% of wind-plus-solar capacity and cut #battery needs by more than 70% https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435125002557
The primary obstacle has always been #LaunchCost, but the advent of #reusable ♻️ rockets is rapidly changing the economics of space access, making the financial case for #SBSP increasingly attractive https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/10/space-based-solar-power-energy-transition/
Growing efficiencies of near-infrared #lasers make them preferable over #microwaves, allowing the transmission antenna on the spacecraft to be scaled down from hundreds of meters across to about half a meter 📏. #OverviewEnergy successfully tested a system that transmitted “multiple thousands of watts” of power using a near-infrared laser from an aircraft flying at an altitude of 5,000 meters to a receiver on the ground https://spacenews.com/overview-energy-demonstrates-technologies-for-space-solar-power/
#Silicon is relatively heavy and inflexible. In contrast, organic #SolarCells ☀️ can be #flexible and are much lighter. Organic solar cells made with small molecules showed no damage after three years worth of #radiation ☢️ https://news.umich.edu/light-flexible-and-radiation-resistant-organic-solar-cells-for-space/
Space-based #solar ☀️ power : #ScienceFiction author Isaac #Asimov popularised the idea in 📆 1941. Advances in #robotics, wireless power transmission and sharply falling #LaunchCost are narrowing the gap between concept and reality https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3347692/why-chinas-space-based-solar-power-next-frontier-green-energy
Michael Gemar@spaceflight I'm extremely dubious that space-based solar can beat the literally cheapest energy on the planet with terrestrial solar (and wind). It's not like land is super-expensive in most places. (Money for space-based solar would be better spent on something like enhanced geothermal and/or storage if we want 24-hour power.)
@michaelgemar depends on the timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-based_solar_power#In_the_21st_century
Lats (314 ppm)@spaceflight sci-fi has been on to this for at least 30 if not 40 years. The one I like is where the panels are lightweight and potentially flexible reducing the infrastructure to a minimum. That’s probably 2nd or 3rd generation after engineering catches up.🤭
@Lats such as those ? 🤔 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll_Out_Solar_Array#iROSA_2A/3B
@spaceflight sounds similar to what I was thinking. To be useful they will need to be much bigger etc but that’s engineering and good people will work it out.