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
🇨🇳 #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.