Luna 2076 – Page 4 – The Geopolitics of Lunar Colonization

Metalysis Announces Breakthrough in Extracting Oxygen from Lunar Rock

November 10, 2020

Metalysis, a Sheffield, England-based manufacturer of metal and alloy powders, has won a European Space Agency contract to develop a process to turn Moon dust into oxygen along with aluminum, iron and other metal powders that lunar colonists can use for construction, reports The Guardian.

Oxygen makes up about 45% of the molecular weight of rocks brought back from the Moon. The rest is mainly iron, aluminum and silicon. Earlier this year scientists at Metalysis and the University of Glasgow announced they could extract 95% of the oxygen from simulated lunar soil, leaving useful metal alloy powders behind.

The ESA contract will fund Metalysis for nine months to perfect an electrochemical process that extracts oxygen from dust and rocks by sending an electrical current through the material. The process is already in use in Earth, but oxygen is an unneeded byproduct. The story is quite different on the Moon, where oxygen is a major constituent of two extremely scarce commodities: breathable air and rocket fuel.

“Oxygen is useful not only for astronauts to breathe, but also as an oxidiser in rocket propulsion systems,” said Mark Symes, with the University of Glasgow. “There is no free oxygen on the moon, so astronauts would have to take all their own oxygen with them to the moon, for life support and to enable their return journey, and this adds considerably to the weight and hence expense of rocket launches bound for the moon.”

Bacon’s bottom line: The industrial-scale manufacture of oxygen and metals on the Moon will transform lunar economics by creating a virtually unlimited supply of the critical element. While this breakthrough will facilitate travel between the Moon and back, it is not enough by itself to support large-scale colonization there. Pure oxygen is poisonous to humans and must be diluted with other elements — most notably nitrogen in Earth’s atmosphere — to be breathable. Also, oxygen requires a supply of hydrogen with which to interact to function as a rocket fuel. Scientists and engineers will need to identify abundant sources of these elements in order to free the Moon from the immense expense of lifting materials out of Earth’s gravity well.

Will the Outer Space Treaty Hinder Settlement on the Moon?

November 6, 2020

The Outer Space Treaty , signed in 1967, contains language that could thwart colonization on the Moon, writes Maya Cohen, an associate at Balestriere Fariello with a background in international law, in the Above the Law blog. Article II states that “outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”

The language is not not entirely clear. Writes Cohen:

What does “national appropriation” in the context of the moon mean? Does national appropriation apply to individuals and companies occupying parts of the moon or only to a nation claiming territory in space? Does appropriation by a company or an individual moving to the moon constitute national appropriation?

Based on commercial space industry practice, she suggests, the answer is no. It can be argued that private companies have been claiming territory in space for commercial satellites, with no objection from the international community. The legal question may not be settled definitively, however, until someone attempts to live or build on the Moon.

Luna Legal Lacuna: Property Rights

November 6, 2020

Taking note of the unexpected abundance of water on the Moon, some Americans have begun contemplating the idea of leaving planet Earth and moving to the Moon. Setting aside the economic and technological questions of whether that’s even possible, Maya Cohen asks if colonization would be legal.

The main treaty governing the space is the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. The relevant provision of the treaty is Article II, which states, “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” It has been impossible in the past half century, she writes in Above the Law, to generate an international consensus to create new laws on the commercialization and private property in space and on the Moon.

What, asks Cohen, does “national appropriation” in the context of the Moon even mean?

Does national appropriation apply to individuals and companies occupying parts of the moon or only to a nation claiming territory in space? Does appropriation by a company or an individual moving to the moon constitute national appropriation? Based on commercial space industry practice, the answer is simply, no. Private companies have been arguably claiming territory in space for commercial purposes for decades through satellites, without any objection from the international community.

more “Luna Legal Lacuna: Property Rights”

Satellite Constellations, the Kessler Effect, and Military Superiority

November 6, 2020

A satellite constellation — DARPA illustration

As the United States military machine becomes increasingly dependent upon constellations of satellites for its command, control and communications, potential adversaries such as China and Russia have become experimenting with methods to destroy or disable the satellites. Now U.S. strategists are sounding the alarm about anti-satellite weapons, or ASATs, reports GeekWire.

“We built [the command and control satellites] as if we were in a benign domain.” said Lt. Gen. John Shaw, commander of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Operations Command. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that space is becoming “a contested domain.”

Adding complexity to the strategic thinking about space is a potential phenomenon sometimes referred to as the Kessler syndrome. Donald J. Kessler wrote in 1979 how the density of objects in Low EarthOrbit could get high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade — creating debris that struck other objects, thus creating more debris. The movie “Gravity” was based on a scenario in which the Russians shot down a defunct satellite, creating a cloud of debris moving at 20,000 to 50,000 miles per hour. Apparently, military thinkers give such a scenario credence. more “Satellite Constellations, the Kessler Effect, and Military Superiority”

Coming Soon: the Cislunar Highway Patrol System

November 5, 2020

An important duty assumed by the embryonic U.S. Space Force will be tracking objects in cislunar space (the area between the Earth and Moon). The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate is now investigating technologies to undertake the task, reports Space News.

“It’s a brave new world for the [Department of Defense] to embark on,” said Capt. David Buehler, manager of the AFRL experiment named CHPS, for Cislunar Highway Patrol System. Said he:

“If we’re going to protect and defend, the Space Force is going to need to understand the environment, have space domain awareness capabilities to be able to know where everything is out there.”

Tracking objects in cislunar space presents significant technical challenges. One is estimating the trajectory objects that are subject to the gravity of both Earth and the Moon. Said Buehler: “As you go further and further beyond GEO, you start to have these weird, non-closed trajectories, they no longer look like orbits, they’re more open-ended trajectories.”

The distances are vaster than tracking objects in Earth orbit, and the brightness of the Moon creates problems for sensors. more “Coming Soon: the Cislunar Highway Patrol System”

Challenges of Building a Lunar Telecommunications Infrastructure

November 2, 2020

Building a wireless communications infrastructure on the Moon will face challenges not found on Earth, but the end result could be superior communications.

In addition to power and shelter, a lunar base station will need a way to communicate with Earth, with astronauts outside the habitat, and with lunar rovers. Anticipating that need, NASA has awarded Nokia Bell Labs and 13 other companies, including SpaceX and Lockheed-Martin, five-year contracts totaling more than $370 million to demonstrate key infrastructure technologies on the lunar surface, reports IEEE Spectrum.

The antennas and base stations will need to be ruggedized for the harsh, radiation-intensive environment, plus a lunar day-light cycle in which temperatures swing more than 250ºC between light and shadow. Because every piece of hardware in the network must be transported from Earth, equipment needs to be hardened for stresses such as vibration, shock and acceleration from launch and landing.

Designers also want to avoid polluting the lunar surface with radio signals that might interfere with radio astronomy. Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) “can be mitigated at the source with appropriate shielding and precision in the emission of signals,” writes Emma Alexander, a physicist writing for The Conversation. “Astronomers are constantly developing strategies to cut RFI from their data. But this increasingly relies on the goodwill of private companies.”

The good news is that the lack of an atmosphere and absence of terrestrial obstructions such as trees and buildings likely will mean better signal propagation.

Moon May Contain Billions of Tons of Buried Ice

October 26, 2020

Left: Cumulative ejecta deposited outside of craters. Right: Ejecta deposited inside these craters after they formed.

Scientists who have modeled 4 billion years of the Moon’s meteor-impact history have concluded that the Moon holds more water than previously believed. Much of it is buried, as much as 10 meters deep.

“We looked at the entire time history of ice deposition on the Moon,” said Keven Cannon, a planetary scientist at the Colorado School of Mines and lead author of the study in Geophysical Research Letters. “If the coldest regions have been stable and accumulating ice for billions of years, then some could have very substantial deposits, but they might be buried up to 10 meters deep or more.” more “Moon May Contain Billions of Tons of Buried Ice”

Molecular Water Found in Clavius Crater

October 26, 2020

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has detected evidence of molecular water in the regolith of Clavius Crater, a large crater visible from Earth in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. The airborne SOFIA observatory, a partnership between NASA and the German Aerospace Center, flies in a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft above the atmospheric water that blocks ground observation.

Satellites have had detected “hydrates” in the lunar regolith but could not distinguish between OH (hydroxyl) and H20 (molecular water). SOFIA was able to measure the precise being vibration of the H-O-H molecular bond at 6.1 µm in the infrared.

SOFIA targeted high lunar latitudes near the South Pole where low temperatures could allow migrating water to transiently remain on the surface and high hydroxyl abundances could create and trap water when impacted by small meteorites. Although Clavius has a relatively high concentration of water by lunar standards, says NASA, it is roughly one-hundredth of the water found in the Sahara desert. more “Molecular Water Found in Clavius Crater”

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”

LunaNet: An Internet for the Moon

October 20, 2020

Artist’s conception of LunaNet being used by astronauts Credit: NASA/Reese Patillo

NASA has issued a Request for Information to help it flresh out plans for LunaNet, a communications and navigation architecture for the Moon.

While communications at present are limited to portions of the Moon facing the Earth, LunaNet would allow robotic landers, rovers, scientific devices and astronauts to transit data to Earth through Moon-orbiting satellites or space stations from the far side or poles of the Moon.

According to GCN, LunaNet is expected to include three categories of services:

Networking services capable of moving data between nodes that adhere to confidentiality, integrity and availability requirements.
Position, navigation and timing services for orientation and velocity determination, as well as time synchronization and dissemination. These services could be used for search and rescue, surface navigation and location tracking
Science services providing situational alerts and scientific measurements that could support predictions of major solar eruptions that affect space weather.