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Scientists aiming to make space mining a reality in the next 10 years

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posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 11:15 AM
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The moon could be mined for resources as soon as 2016 according to scientists meeting in Sydney for the 'Off Earth Mining Forum'.




Space and mining researchers from around the world are gathering at the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney for the inaugural Off Earth Mining Forum. They are looking at developing machines that can harvest materials from lunar soil while being remotely controlled from earth. Experts in space exploration, engineering, robotics, drilling and a space lawyer shared ideas about how existing technologies can be applied to develop remote-controlled mining in space. At present, large-scale space mining is the stuff of science fiction movies. But Gordon Roesler, Senior Project Engineer at ACSER, insists it is not only safe, but could have positive environmental consequences for life on earth.


2016 isnt that far away I wonder will they be all set up in time.

Here is link to the site.

Also here is an interesting video from Nasa about a new mining robot being developed for the Moon and Mars :-)




posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 11:38 AM
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Reply to post by Lady_Tuatha
 


It could really helpful for earth but as you pointed out "if its possible in such short time or at all". Nice find.


 
Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com
 



posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 12:38 PM
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I currently can't really be asked reading the article, I apologize for this, but what exactly are they mining for? I'm just going to assume it's on of those Hydrogen variants that are lying on the moon's surface, or atleast that's what the movie Moon thaught me?



posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 01:17 PM
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reply to post by Rendier
 


I loved that movie
Sam Rockwell is brilliant.

I think the goal is to build huge space solar power plants, then beaming the energy they create down to earth via microwaves, they say they can do that once they get the construction materials out in space, its cheaper to do that than to launch the materials up from Earth. It is a project of continuous innovation. Sounds good to me.



posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 01:40 PM
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Op,

The real questions of whether this is worthy of being a viable economic adventure for our species as whole is whether the value of the extracted minerals from the moon is greater than the total cost of the extraction operation/transport of moon minerals. This isn't exactly making an exploratory probe into the deep arctic for oil. What I'm most curious about is how they plan to bring in large amounts of material back into the atmosphere without it burning up. And what vehicle do they imagine will contain these Moon materials at quantities large enough to add meaningful contributions to our current economy. These are very steep and costly engineering questions.
edit on 2-3-2013 by ForwardDrift because: (no reason given)

edit on 2-3-2013 by ForwardDrift because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 02:08 PM
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reply to post by ForwardDrift
 


Well at the minute they seem to be talking about beaming energy down from solar power plants via microwaves ( i dont know the indepth process I just know what was said in the interview in the link i posted). I think that will be something that could pay for itself over time, agreed the initial cost would be high to build such power plants in space but instead of bleeding this planet dry and wrecking havoc on the environment whilst doing so i think this could be a viable alternative.



posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 02:45 PM
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Originally posted by Lady_Tuatha
reply to post by ForwardDrift
 


Well at the minute they seem to be talking about beaming energy down from solar power plants via microwaves ( i dont know the indepth process I just know what was said in the interview in the link i posted). I think that will be something that could pay for itself over time, agreed the initial cost would be high to build such power plants in space but instead of bleeding this planet dry and wrecking havoc on the environment whilst doing so i think this could be a viable alternative.


Lady_Tuatha,

Hmmm, yeah that is a possibility, but the logistical, technical and energy investment costs of such an adventure are almost, if not more, imposing than a moon-resource adventure. There are a lot of engineering and physical factors to consider, such as cost of transporting construction material into space (which isn't cheap), the return on the actual energy investment (which surprisingly isn't as high as you might expect), panel maintenance costs (due to space-based hazard), and the loss of captured energy due to atmospheric diffraction and geosynchronous logistical issues. The summation of all these costs make the actual energy return on investment diminishing.

This guy provides a a much more detailed and technical analysis of what I'm describing.

Source: physics.ucsd.edu...

I realize I must sound like a stick-in-the-mud at this point, but I often think that reporters do the public a disservice when they make articles like this while glossing over the huge hurtles of such a project.


edit on 2-3-2013 by ForwardDrift because: (no reason given)

edit on 2-3-2013 by ForwardDrift because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 03:43 PM
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reply to post by Rendier
 





I currently can't really be asked reading the article, I apologize for this, but what exactly are they mining for? I'm just going to assume it's on of those Hydrogen variants that are lying on the moon's surface, or atleast that's what the movie Moon thaught me?


I assume that they will be mining for H3 (Heluim Three) which is used for nuculear Fusion (110% Safer) than Nuculear Fission, this is not new news but an attempt that was made back in the early 1980 prior to the shuttle blowing up.

Resource for this is my Cousin who works for the DOE and Madison University.

About time its a lot cheaper and safer way to provide us with electricity.



posted on Mar, 2 2013 @ 04:10 PM
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Originally posted by 19KTankCommander
reply to post by Rendier
 





I currently can't really be asked reading the article, I apologize for this, but what exactly are they mining for? I'm just going to assume it's on of those Hydrogen variants that are lying on the moon's surface, or atleast that's what the movie Moon thaught me?


I assume that they will be mining for H3 (Heluim Three) which is used for nuculear Fusion (110% Safer) than Nuculear Fission, this is not new news but an attempt that was made back in the early 1980 prior to the shuttle blowing up.

Resource for this is my Cousin who works for the DOE and Madison University.

About time its a lot cheaper and safer way to provide us with electricity.


That is interesting. I didn't even know fusion power had really become viable enough for commercial use, yet. I guess they're planning ahead. Anyway, I can't wait to see what practically comes of these plans, if anything.




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