Luna 2076 – Page 6 – The Geopolitics of Lunar Colonization

Italian Study Catalogs Lava Tubes on Earth, Moon and Mars

August 11, 2020

Potential lava tube entrance in Mare Tranquillitatus. Boulders can be seen on the floor of the 100-meter pit. Credit: NASA

Lava tubes are formed by lava flowing through a volcanic vent beneath a hardened surface. If the lava empties, it leaves behind a cave, typically in a long worm-like shape. These tubes have been spotted on Earth, on Mars and on the Moon. On Earth these structures range in diameter between 10 to 100 meters in diameter. Because there appears to be a strong correlation between gravity and tube-depth, Martian tubes are estimated to be 100 times wider, and lunar tubes 1,000 times wider.

In a new study, “Lava tubes on Earth, Moon and Mars: A review of their size and morphology revealed by comparative planetology,” a team of researchers from Italian universities has assembled a database of tubes and potential tubes. Typically, they leave long, sinuous channels that can be spotted on the surface. Sometimes, they leave cave openings.

“We measured the size and gathered the morphology of lunar and Martian collapse chains (collapsed lava tubes), using digital terrain models, which we obtained through satellite stereoscopic images and laser altimetry taken by interplanetary probes,” said Riccardo Pozzobon, as reported by Universe Today. “We then compared these data to topographic studies about similar collapse chains on the Earth’s surface and to laser scans of the inside of lava tubes in Lanzarote and the Galapagos. These data allowed us to establish a … relationship between collapse chains and subsurface cavities that are still intact.”

Many scientists have suggested that lava tubes on the Moon may make favorable spots for human habitation because they would be protected from cosmic and solar radiation and they would experience less temperature variability between long lunar days and nights. A major concern, however, is how stable the structures are. Many orbital photographs show collapsed tubes. The Italians believe they are most likely stable, thanks to low gravity on the Moon. Collapses are likely due to meteor impacts.

NASA is working on plans for robotic exploration of the tubes. The proposed “Moon Diver” mission would use a rover tethered to a lander to explore the tubes. Thelander would land near a skylight, then a tethered rover would climb its way down to the tube floor.

Cislunar Space as Engine of Economic and Military Power

August 1, 2020

Officials within the U.S. military increasingly regard Earth-Moon space as the “high ground” in military power.

A July 2020 report based on a virtual workshop involving more than 150 thought leaders from industry, government and academia, “State of the Space Industrial Base 2020,” identifies a need to control critical “choke points” in cislunar space.

By 2060 space will be a “significant engine of national political, economic, and military power” and the United States must commit to having “a military force structure that can defend this international space order and defend US space interests, to include US space settlements and commerce.”

Lunar-derived resources — especially hydrogen and oxygen — are key to access asteroid resources and Mars. “Today’s race to the moon has little to do with flags and footprints. Strategically, it is a race to the great wealth of lunar resources which will fuel the greater space economy and enable future exploration and settlement in the solar system.”

At present the U.S is the civil, commercial and national-security leader in space. The U.S. is the first nation to demonstrate commercial orbital delivery, commercial heavy lift, commercial first-stage reusability, deployment of space-based mega-constellations for overhead sensing and internet broadband. The U.S. military maintains the most capable military constellation including the unique X-37B spaceplane.

While the U.S. has first-mover advantages, the nation faces significant challenges. more “Cislunar Space as Engine of Economic and Military Power”

Mining for Water on the Moon

August 1, 2020

View of Shackleton Crater, measuring 2.5 miles deep, using color to depict elevation measurements. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter found possible evidence of ice deposits. Credit: NASA

Scientists are increasingly confident that there is a significant amount of water on the Moon, but there is still uncertainty as to how much. Moon-orbiting satellites that rely upon ultraviolet, visible of near-infrared light to identify ice deposits can sense only a slice of the lunar surface measurable in a few millimeters.

“You really don’t know if it’s just a very thin frost or if it extends deeper,” says Kevin Cannon, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Central Florida, who has written a paper for non-academics, “Ice Prospecting: Your Guide to Getting Rich on the Moon.” Orbiting instruments that potentially could detect ice deposits beneath the surface — such as radar and neutron spectroscopy — have much much lower spatial resolutions.”

To get better data, NASA has begun planning a mission to send a rover to the Moon with mining instruments, hopefully by late 2023. The golf cart-sized rover will survey and map ice deposits in the lunar south pole. One of the instruments is a one-meter drill called TRIDENT (The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain), reports Air & Space. Building a drill capable of penetrating the Moon’s surface in subzero temperatures is fraught with challenges. Lunar regolith, highly impacted over billions of years of bombardments, is dense. Add ice, and the soil could be harder than concrete. more “Mining for Water on the Moon”

Moon Dust Allergies

July 18, 2020

The last man to walk on the Moon, astronaut Harrison Schmitt, suffered from an allergic reaction to Moon dust. Speaking at the Starmus Festival in Zurich Switzerland, he described his experience as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The dust stuck to Schmitt’s suits, boots and tools, and was transported back to the lunar module, reports Newsweek. When he took his helmet off, he became congested. Describing his experience of inhaling the dust, he said, “First time I smelled the dust I had an allergic reaction, the inside of my nose became swollen, you could hear it in my voice. But that gradually went away for me, and by the fourth time I inhaled lunar dust I didn’t notice that.”

When the crew splashed down, a flight surgeon taking the suits out of the Apollo 17 command value “had such a reaction that he had to stop what he was doing.”

Schmitt sees controlling the finely pulverized mineral as mainly an engineering problem. However, speaking in a 2005 interview he said, “Dust is the No. 1 environmental problem on the Moon. We need to understand what the [biological] effects are because there’s always the possibility that engineering might fail.”

Writing in GeoHealth, scientists studying Moon dust found that long-term exposure to the minerals can cause cell death and DNA damage to lung cells. Stated the article:

Clearly, avoidance of lunar dust inhalation will be important for future explorers, but with increased human activity on the Moon it is likely that adventitious exposure will occur, particularly for individuals spending long periods of time on that body. A detailed understanding of the health effects of lunar dust exposure is thus important, and further defining the cellular and biological impact of materials from various parts of the lunar surface is warranted.

Air Force Cadets Ponder the Future of the Military in Space

July 15, 2020

Image credit: Department of the Air Force

Nearly 90 of this year’s roughly 1,000 Air Force Academy graduates will become commissioned officers in the newly created Space Force. Some are members of an academy group, the Institute for Applied Space Policy and Strategy (IASPS), which features weekly speakers and formal research projects. The group, according to Science, is dedicated to gaming out the policies and philosophies that could guide military space activity.

One big question cadets ask is if the Space Force might someday have a military presence on the Moon. Such a thought might conflict with the pacifist worldview of many scientists, who regard cislunar space as a place for commerce and scientific inquiry, but in a world driven by geopolitical competition, someone needs to be thinking about it. In an interview with Science, IASPS President J.P. Byrne, who will graduate in 2021, offered a number of insights in the realm of “astropolitics.”

How can the United States, he asks, best mitigate the problem of space debris through space situational awareness and space traffic management.

Will mining be realistic, and if so when?

Will deterrence in space reflect deterrence on Earth? If something happens to a satellite in space, does that warrant a space response or an Earth response?

Will it be necessary, or even possible, for the military to sustain a presence on the Moon?

“The group was really interested in finding out what future role Space Force might have on the military-on-the-Moon concept 20 years or so down the line,” says Byrne. “Intergovernmental agency cooperation is paramount to having some future lunar base. Maybe [in this scenario], Space Force would select astronaut candidates who would complete training through NASA.”

NASA Seeks Small Business Solutions for Water Mining on Moon

July 14, 2020

This NASA image shows distribution of surface ice at the Moon’s north south and north poles.

Looking for creative approaches to tap lunar resources to meet the needs of astronauts on the Moon, NASA has reached out to small businesses and nonprofit research institutes for ideas. Working through its small business programs, the agency has winnowed down 409 proposals for Phase 1 development.

Consistent with NASA’s goals for Project Artemis, the proposals are focused on extraction and processing of water ice from lunar regolith to create oxygen, drinking water and rocket fuel, according to Universe Today.

Projects to receive funding under the Small Business Innovation Research Program include: more “NASA Seeks Small Business Solutions for Water Mining on Moon”

Lunapolitics — the Geopolitics of Cislunar Space

July 10, 2020

An artist’s concept of Canadarm3, Canada’s smart robotic system in orbit around the Moon. (Credits: Canadian Space Agency, NASA)

John B. Sheldon has coined the term “lunapolitics” to describe the extension of geopolitics, or the competition between national powers, into cislunar space. The U.S., China and other powers aspire to establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon to exploit lunar resources for economic benefit. Lunapolitics, he writes, will keep diplomats, executives, and strategists busy for decades to come.

In a SpaceNews.com op-ed, Sheldon offers 10 principles to to consider as Earth leaders create the political and economic framework for mankind’s future on the Moon.

Political and economic competition for the Moon is a positive. But competition needs rules of the road undergirded by widely accepted space law. “The alternative risks a zero-sum, overtly militarized scramble for the Moon that benefits no one over the long term. lunapolitics is essentially the management of this competition.”
Currently, the United States is the prime mover of lunapolitics. America is the only space power today capable of mustering the technology, financial resources and diplomatic will to establish the foundation for a lunapolitical framework. But it will be isolated if it disregards the interests of China, Russia, Europe, and other space-faring powers.
Lunapolitical power is predicated on geopolitical power. The conditions favoring countries to become space powers include space launch facilities that provide routine access to cislunar space, an educated workforce, a vibrant and developed business climate, and an advanced industrial/technological base. The United States and China likely will be the leading lunapolitical powers.
Lunapolitics have an economic dimension. A lunaeconomic agenda will require a deep understanding of the evolving political economy and business dynamics on the Moon. Narrow business interests should not dictate the strategic interests of lunar powers.
Freedom of passage is a core principle for a lunar economy. A lunapolitical architecture should ensure freedom of passage and navigation between the Earth and the Moon for any country or company capable of doing so.
Protect the lunar environment. Humanity’s poor environmental legacy on Earth should not be replicated on the Moon, the Solar System, or beyond.
Lunapolitical alliances will constantly evolve. Lunapolitical alliances will be transient, shifting with political and economic interests. A durable lunapolitical architecture should be able to withstand shifting interests and alliances.
Avoid excessive militarization of space. A lunapolitical architecture should advance a predominantly civil and economic agenda. Overt militarization by any country will undermine legitimacy and provoke adverse international reaction. The proper role of the military should be to ensure freedom of passage and navigation, search and rescue, and enforcing internationally accepted standards of conduct.
Lunapolitics is normal; lunapolitik is not. Unbounded, rapacious, zero-sum and overtly militarized “lunapolitik” is antithetical to other goals.
Lunapoalitics is a long game, not an election-cycle issue. Lunapolitics requires long-term, strategic thinking based on prudence and enlightened self-interest.

“The future is shapeable,” concludes Sheldon, “and it is our collective choice whether lunapolitics opens up new economic opportunities and scientific possibilities, or whether our future in space ends before it could even begin.”

Sheldon’s website can be found at lunapolitics.com.

Protecting the Moon from Earth Germs

July 9, 2020

NASA has published new directives to protect the Moon and Mars from contamination by Earth germs carried by human voyagers. The purpose is to protect the planetary bodies from biological contamination from Earth — and to protect Earth from organisms originating on Mars.

“We’re trying to balance the interests of the science community, the interest of the human exploration community and the interest of the commercial community,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced during a “Moon Dialogs” webinar. NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection, housed within the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, is tasked with ensuring will that the directives are complied with.

Bridenstine said it is important the future missions leave behind a “pristine environment” so humans know that what they discover in the future was not left there by other humans, as reported by Space.com. “We have to make sure that we are inventorying every kind of biological substance and even nonbiological substance — organics for example — that could leave something behind on the moon that could be problematic for future research.” more “Protecting the Moon from Earth Germs”

China Probe Discovers New Moon Substance

July 7, 2020

Nothing to see here, move along now! Image captured by China’s Yutu 2 moon rover.

A team with China’s Chang’e 4 mission to the far side of the Moon has discovered a curious substance, which it describes (translated) as “gel-like.” They describe the material as dark greenish and glistening impact melt breccia, measuring 20 inches by six inches — signs of possible presence of glasses resulting from meteor impact melts or volcanic eruptions.

According to a report by Our Space, a Chinese-language science-outreach publication (and reported on by Space.com), the breccia — broken fragments of minerals cemented together — was formed by impact-generated welding, cementing and agglutinating of lunar regolith and breccia.

The paper also looks at the surrounding area, writes Space.com. The authors suggest that the lunar regolith consists of a mixture from multiple sources, including ejecta from the impact that created the nearby Finsen crater and possible contributions from Alder crater. more “China Probe Discovers New Moon Substance”

Solar Shock Waves Can Affect Shape of Earth’s Magnetosphere

July 3, 2020

This image from a simulation by Q.Q. Shi, Shandong University, shows how the Earth’s magnetosphere has a long tail under the pressure of solar wind just before a radiative shock wave (the orange mass at right) approaches at 1.7 million miles per hour.

The Earth’s magnetosphere protects the plant from bursts of solar wind — high-speed particles emanating from the sun — and the Moon as well, at least during the 25% of the time when the Earth stands between it and the sun. However, NASA scientists have discovered that solar wind can cause the tail of Earth’s protective magnetic bubble to flap like a windsock in a high breeze, pulling the tail so far out of line that the Moon loses its shelter.

The finding is significant because solar radiation may be the greatest hazard facing explorers and settlers on the Moon, and their equipment, making the ability to predict bursts of radiation a critical necessity.

Summarizing new research in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight writes in SciTechDaily says that the findings came from compiling data measured by spacecraft at multiple locations in cislunar space and on the Moon. States the article: more “Solar Shock Waves Can Affect Shape of Earth’s Magnetosphere”