All Questions
28 questions
-3votes
2answers
191views
Tradeoffs between mining asteroids vs the Moon
At the moment, it seems like popular sentiment is saying Lunar Mining is significantly better than Near-Earth Asteroid mining. This seems illogical to me: Near-Earth Asteroids have near zero gravity, ...
- 345
2votes
1answer
67views
How much is the estimated amount of ilmenite present on Lunar surface?
I wanted to gauge estimated amount of ilmenite that can be extracted from Lunar regolith. From that, ultimately I want to derive the amount of oxygen that can be extracted out of it. Any estimate or ...
- 117
1vote
3answers
569views
Could we by ordinary mining activities, affect the Lunar orbit?
In The Time Machine (Guy Pearce version), they manage to literally break up the Earth's moon with obviously disastrous results and I believe they were just building underground structures. I am ...
- 337
3votes
2answers
224views
Sub Lunar Mining
What mineable Lunar mineral deposits are valuable enough to offset mission costs. I have read perhaps cobalt, titanium, lithium, helium and maybe obsidian?
- 31
1vote
7answers
3kviews
Are people actually serious about mining the Moon?
I see a lot of enthusiasm about the possibility of mining the Moon. But worryingly, I don't see much said about the potential horrific effects of this. I mean, guys: the Moon is actually pretty damn ...
- 255
2votes
2answers
178views
Full lunar mineralization/ore map
This is really quick I'm searching for a full complete ore map of the moon, I found this: But, as you can see, is impossible read.
- 1,633
4votes
5answers
642views
Will mining water on Bennu for travelling to Mars not be more economical than mining it at the lunar south pole?
Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid that is currently accompanied by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that will take samples from it to return to Earth. Its diameter is 490 m. and it is slightly denser than ...
- 7,591
4votes
3answers
423views
How is it proposed to extract oxygen from lunar regolith?
Futurism's news item NASA Pumps Funding into Startup That Says It Can Harvest Oxygen From Lunar Regolith says: NASA just awarded substantial funding to Pioneer Astronautics, a company that claims it ...
- 153k
8votes
1answer
1kviews
Mining Helium-3 on the Moon and sending it to Earth?
It would be best to mine and process material on the moon to obtain helium-3, but my question is, what if we did an unmanned mission? A small robot 1 meter long, powered by solar energy, that takes ...
- 1,633
5votes
1answer
338views
When the moon rock heats up to 600°C, does only Helium comes out?
When lunar rock is heated to 600 °C to extract Helium-3, are gases expelled other than helium? Inductance process would be used in heating the rock.
- 1,633
1vote
0answers
41views
How can 3He be mined on the moon? [duplicate]
Now I know how it is detected, but what would the mining process be like? given that there is a lot on the moon but not concentrated, so you have to process large amounts of surface to extract a ...
- 1,633
8votes
2answers
693views
How could the presence of 3He be detected on the lunar surface?
I have been investigating this isotope of helium for a while, which is extremely abundant on the moon (and in general in the entire solar system except on planets with atmosphere). It is believed that ...
- 1,633
1vote
1answer
225views
Would mass drivers be able to transport base material on the moon more efficiently than drones?
I am a hobbyist working on a climate change adaptation idea that is a variation of orbital sun shades. It would project soil/material from the moon to provide targeted shading for whatever part of ...
- 101
5votes
2answers
464views
How long does it take to refresh helium-3 on the moon?
I was reading a science-fiction novel, Limit, by Frank Shätzing. It depicts a near-future with useful helium-3 fusion, and the Americans and Chinese are bumping elbows mining helium-3 on the moon, ...
- 4,287
2votes
1answer
484views
Can anyone find a more recent NASA paid for study on lunar tunnel-boring machine?
The one that I found is from May 5,1988 by Professor Stan Lowy Department of Aerospace Engineering Texas A M University https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19890008382.pdf https://...
