Economy – Luna 2076

Data Centers in Lava Tubes — an Economic Driver for the Moon?

May 26, 2022

Lonestar Data Holdings, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., is closing $5 million in seed funding toward its goal of creating the ultimate in data-storage disaster recovery — with server farms located in lava tubes on the Moon.

The company has signed contracts to launch prototype demonstrations of its capabilities aboard lunar landers by the end of 2022. Lonestar will run a software-only test, storing a small big of data on an Intuitive Machines lander under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The mission is expected to last one lunar day, or two Earth weeks.

A second launch scheduled for 2023 will send an Intuitive Machines lander to the Moon’s South Pole to drill for ice. Included in the package will be Lonestar’s first hardware prototype: a one-kilogram storage device, the size of a hardback novel, with 16 terabytes of storage, reports The Register. more “Data Centers in Lava Tubes — an Economic Driver for the Moon?”

Space-Based Solar Power Within Ten Years?

April 4, 2022

Illustration credit: Kevin Hand, Wall Street Journal

Some scientists and engineers say that solar energy could be captured in space and beamed to Earth as microwaves or laser beams within the next ten years, reports the Wall Street Journal in a special feature, “The Next Bets for Renewable Energy.”

“The basics are to put a large, very large platform in space, harvest sunlight, where the sun shines, essentially 99.95% of the time, and send it to markets on the ground, where, on average, the sun is shining only about 15% of the time,” says former NASA scientist John Mankins, president of Mankins Space Technology, a company working on developing a 1-mile-wide solar power satellite prototype that will use microwave beaming.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has already tested the feasibility of transferring energy using microwave transmission, sending 1.6 kilowatts a distance of more than 0.6 miles. Japanese engineers have sent a comparable amount of energy the length of a football field. Meanwhile, the California Institute of Technology plans to test prototypes that can transfer power by means of a steerable microwave beam by the end of 2022. more “Space-Based Solar Power Within Ten Years?”

Protecting Mankind’s Cultural Heritage in Space

April 3, 2022

The first human footprint left on the surface of the Moon

Astronaut Neil Armstrong made history when he left the first dusty footprint on the Moon. The Moon landing was one of humanity’s greatest technological achievements but the marker remains unprotected by international law, writes Mercury News.

“Once you blow away the footprint, that’s gone,” said space archeologist Beth O’Leary of New Mexico State University, who is among a growing chorus of experts pleading for formal protection of historic lunar sites and artifacts.

“We need to say: ‘Don’t touch. You can’t go there. Period,’ ” said Sacramento-based Wayne Donaldson of the California Preservation Foundation.

Other historic mementoes include six U.S. flags, rigged with wire so they look like they’re saving in the breeze, as well as stainless steel commemorative plaques about the size of dinner plates. China and Russia also have implanted markets on the Moon. There are two golf balls hit by Apollo 14’s Alan Shepard, a Bible left on a dashboard of ab abandoned buggy… and bags of human waste — an estimated 400,000 pounds of stuff in all. more “Protecting Mankind’s Cultural Heritage in Space”

Planning a Lunar Satellite Network

March 29, 2022

The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a call for ideas for creating a network of lunar telecommunications and navigation satellites. The Moonlight initiative would allow dozens of planned lunar missions to share the same infrastructure to communicate with Earth and find their way to the lunar surface, according to an ESA press release republished in GPS World.

Two consortia of companies have completed their concept reviews, which set out their business and technical analysis of a lunar network. The next step will defining a detailed system architecture and identifying the most suitable partnership models between private space companies and ESA.

One consortium headed by Telespazio includes private manufacturing and engineering companies, universities and research centers and startups.

A second consortium headed by Surry Satellite Technology Limited includes satellite manufacturer Airbus, a satellite network providers, a satellite navigation cmopanies, and the goonhilly Earth Station, a UK-based radio communication station..

Yes, Plants Can Grow in Lunar Regolith, But Not All Thrive

October 22, 2020

plants growing in lunar and Martian soil simulants. Photo credit: Wamelink et al, Open Agriculture, 2019.

Long-term colonization of the Moon will require settlers to grow much of their own food, and they won’t have any soil rich in organic matter to start with. Hydroponics is one alternative. Growing plans in mineral-rich lunar regolith is another.

Dutch researchers with Wageningen University & Research have been testing a variety of vegetables to see how well they fare in regolith — tomatoes, rye, watercress, leeks, quinoa, peas, radish, spinach, arugula and chives.

The researchers couldn’t use real lunar regolith, but they created a substitute with similar chemical composition from volcanic ash near Flagstaff, Arizona. (To simulate Martian material, they found ash from Hawaii.) Regolith has only a small amount of reactive nitrogen, a critical element for life, and it can store only 30% as much water as organic Earth soil can.

The researchers set up trays containing the lunar regolith, Martian regolith and Earth soil, watered them each day, and studied the results over five months. Their findings, according to Smithsonian magazine:

Radishes, cress and rye could be harvested and produce seeds.
Tomatoes and peas could be harvested.
Chives and leeks grew slower than normal.
Quinoa produced flowers but no seeds.

more “Yes, Plants Can Grow in Lunar Regolith, But Not All Thrive”

The Big Barrier to Low-Earth-Orbit Satellites: Ground Antenna

December 10, 2019

The near-term business model of SpaceX is to build a constellation of satellites to deliver cheap, space-based broadband service. The biggest obstacle may not be putting the 100-plus satellites into orbit, reports CNN. It may be connecting with the ground.

The big question is how customers will access the network. Customers of the Starlink service would need high-tech antennas they can stick on the roofs or yards to establish an Internet connection. The technology exists. But SpaceX needs to build terminals that are affordable, reliable and low maintenance.

The company is putting “a lot of engineering” resources into developing the terminals, said Gwynne Shotwell in a recent meeting with reporters. “Because if we don’t get it right, we’re in deep doo-doo.”

In the 1990s several well-funded ventures attempted to build satellite constellations to service roughly half the world’s population lacking access to traditional Wi-Fi and cell services. All of them changed plans, went bankrupt or liquidated after realizing it would be impractical. Antenna technology has come a long way since the 1990s, but observers predict it will be difficult for SpaceX to build terminals at price points needed to grow the market enough to turn a profit.

Telecom services like Dish Network rely upon satellites in geosynchronous orbit about 20,000 miles from Earth. The drawback is that traveling 20,000 miles and back creates frustrating delays for users. SpaceX would solve the latency issue by using satellites that orbit about 340 miles overhead. But that creates a new problem. The antennas on the ground have to maintain connections with the satellites as they streak across the sky.

Bill Milroy, chief technology officer at U.S.-based antenna maker ThinKom, thinks it could get the price of a terminal down to $1,000, about the price of an iPhone 11. But attracting customers in poor regions of the globe at that price would be difficult. SpaceX would need to get the price down to $150 a piece to make significant inroads.

China Envisions $10 Trillion Earth-Moon Economic Zone

November 1, 2019

A model of China’s robotic lunar probe Chang’e-4.

While Americans fixate on the Moon as a launchpad for scientific research and exploration, the Chinese have begun thinking of the orb as an integral part of an Earth-Moon economic zone. Bao Weimin, director of the Science and Technology Commission of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, shared his thoughts on the Moon’s economic potential at a seminar on space economy Wednesday.

Bao pledged to complete basic research and make a breakthrough on key technologies before 2030, and establish a transportation system by 2040, according to Global Times. The publication quote “insiders” as saying the zone could generate $10 billion a year in economic activity.

Writes Global Times:

“In May 2018, China launched a relay satellite to set up a communications link between the Earth and the then planned Chang’e-4 lunar probe, which accomplished the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon in January. Chinese scientists and engineers hope the Queqiao satellite will form a communications bridge between controllers on Earth and the far side of the moon.

“Aerospace fans predicted that the plan will accelerate many important projects, including the Long March-5 carrier rocket, China’s largest launch vehicle, which is expected to be used to send the Chang’e-5 probe in 2020 to bring moon samples back to Earth, and China’s heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Long March-9, which is expected to make its first flight around 2030 and will support manned lunar exploration, deep space exploration and construction of a space-based solar power plant.”

The article made no mention of what industries would be capable of generating $10 trillion of economic activity.

Cotton Plant Germinates on the Moon

January 19, 2019

The germinating cotton plant is barely visible in this image released by Chongqing University.

China may not have been the first nation to land a human on the Moon, but it was the first to land a plant on Earth’s satellite and prompt it to germinate. The Chang’e 4 lunar lander held a small tank containing plant seeds. And now, a Chinese scientific team has announced, a cotton seed has sprouted.

Scientists aboard the International Space Station regularly tend plants to study had microgravity effects growth. But the closest terrestrial vegetation has come to the Moon was in 1981 when Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Rosa carried hundreds of tree seeds to orbit the Moon with him. Many were planted back on Earth, becoming “Moon Trees,” reports Space.com.

The Chinese lander also contains seeds to grow potatoes and Arabidopsis, a common lab plant, but neither have sprouted so far. The Chang’e 4 lander, perched inside Von Karman Crater on the far side of the Moon, is accompanied by the Yutu 2 rover. Both robots are experiencing their first long, cold night on the Oon. Daytime and nighttime each last about two Earth weeks.

Tiny Nuclear Reactors Could Provide Energy on the Moon

May 18, 2018

Artist’s rendering of a nuclear power system on the Moon. Photo credit: NASA

NSA has successfully tested a design for a small nuclear-fission reactor, the Kilopower, that could provide a reliable source of power on the Moon.

Current space missions, reports Scientific American, use fuel cells, nuclear batteries or solar power, but each source has drawbacks. A a night on the Moon lasts two weeks, and the strength of sunlight on Mars is only 40% that of earth. “When we go to the moon and eventually on to Mars, we are likely going to need large power sources not dependent on the sun, especially if we want to live off the land,” says Jim Reuter, NASA’s acting associate administrator for space technology.

Kilopower is a small, lightweight fission reactor that can provide up to 10 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power three to eight typical American houses — and enough to power a human outpost on the Moon or Mars. more “Tiny Nuclear Reactors Could Provide Energy on the Moon”

Commercial Colony on Moon Could Cost $5-$10 Billion

March 10, 2016

Drawing upon insights from a group of thought leaders and venture capitalists, a paper published by “New Space” argue that a permanently inhabited lunar outpost could be established by the early 2020s at a cost $10 billion or less.

The paper, “Site Selection for Lunar Industrialization, Economic Development, and Settlement,” provides a preliminary treatment of the factors that would guide the optimum location for a commercially driven lunar settlement, which, in its initial phase, would house at least 10 people on extended tours.

Key parameters include: (1) power availability, (2) low-cost communications over wide areas,” (3) availability of water (or hydrogen-based molecules) and other resources, and (4) surface mobility.

The paper resides behind a paywall, but Popular Science provides a summary.

Power. The sun will be the primary source of power. The problem is that most lunar locations have 15-day nights, which creates a significant energy-storage problem. By the poles have nights lasting only four days or so. Therefore, the first lunar station will likely be located at one of the poles.

Communications. Communications will be easiest from the side of the Moon facing the Earth.But a relay station on the Moon or in orbit could remedy the problem.

Terrain. Although the lunar north and south poles receive similar amounts of light, the paper deemed the north pole a preferable location for a settlement because it has smoother terrain that’s easier to travel across. In particular, the paper singles out the rim of Peary crater as being the best spot to develop a low-cost solar station. The crater likely contains water and has a smooth floor, making it easier for robots to traverse as they extract resources.

Commercial potential. Export options include water as a rocket fuel, precious metals from asteroid impact sites, Helium-3 as a nuclear fusion fuel, and even tourism. A study made last year, adds Popular Science, found that a Moon base could pay for itself by generating $40 billion rocket propellant per year.

Category: Economy