Space resources must be used to support life on the Moon and exploration of
Mars. Just as the pioneers applied the tools they brought with them to resources
they found along the way rather than trying to haul all their needs over a long
supply line, so too must space travelers apply their high technology tools to
local resources.
The pioneers refilled their water barrels at each river they forded; moonbase
inhabitants may use chemical reactors to combine hydrogen brought from Earth
with oxygen found in lunar soil to make their water. The pioneers sought temporary
shelter under trees or in the lee of a cliff and built sod houses as their first
homes on the new land; settlers of the Moon may seek out lava tubes for their
shelter or cover space station modules with lunar regolith for radiation protection.
The pioneers moved further west from their first settlements, using wagons they
had built from local wood and pack animals they had raised; space explorers
may use propellant made at a lunar bass to take them on to Mars.
The concept for this report was developed at a NASA-sponsored summer study in
1984. The program was held on the Scripps campus of the University of California
at San Diego (UCSD), under the auspices of the American Society for Engineering
Education (ASEE). It was jointly managed by the California Space Institute and
the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, under the direction of the Office of Aeronautics
and Space Technology (OAST) at NASA Headquarters. The study participants (listed
in the addendum) included a group of 18 university teachers and researchers
(faculty fellows) who were present for the entire 10-week period and a larger
group of attendees from universities, Government, and industry who came for
a series of four 1 - week workshops.
The organization of this report follows that of the summer study. Space Resources
consists of a brief overview and four detailed technical volumes: (1) Scenarios;
(2) Energy, Power, and Transport; (3) Materials; (4) Social Concerns. Although
many of the included papers got their impetus from workshop discussions, most
have been written since then, thus allowing the authors to base new applications
on established information and tested technology. All these papers have been
updated to include the authors' current work.
This volume-Materials-covers a number of technical and policy issues regarding
the materials in space (mainly lunar and asteroidal) which can be used to support
space operations. The first of the three parts of this volume discusses the
nature and locationof these materials, exploaration strategy, evaluation criteria,
and the technical means to collect or mine these materials. A baseline lunar
mine and the basics of asteroid mining are presented and critiqued. The second
part discusses the beneficiation of ores and the extraction of such materials
as oxygen, metals, and the makings of concrete. The final part of the volume
discusses the manufacturing and fabrication of nonterrestrial procucts. Considered
are the economic tradeoffs between bringing needed products from Earth and making
these products on location in space.
This is certainly not the first report to urge the utilization of space resources
in the development of space activities. In fact, Space Resources may
be seen as the third of a trilogy of NASA Special Publications reporting such
ideas arising from similar studies. It has been preceded by Space Settlements:
A Design Study (NASA SP-413) and Space Resources and Space Settlements
(NASA SP-428).
And other contemporaneous reports have responded to the same themes. The National
Commission on Space, led by Thomas Paine in Pioneering the Space Frontier,
and the NASA task force led by astronaut Sally Ride, in Leadership and America's
Future in Space, also emphasize expansion of the space infrastructure; more
detailed exploration of the Moon, Mars and astreroids: an early start on the
development of the technology necessary for using space resources; and systematic
development of the skills necessary for long-term human presence in space.
Our report does not represent any Government-authorized view or official NASA
policy. NASA's official response to these challenging opportunities must be
found in the reports of its Office of Exploration, which was established in
1987. That office's report, released in November of 1989, of a 90-day study
of possible plans for human exploration of the Moon and Mars is NASA's response
to the new initiative proposed by President Bush on July 20, 1989, the 20th
anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. "First for the coming decade,
for the 1990's Space Station Freedom, our critical next step in all of
our space endeavors. And next, for the new century, back to the Moon, back to
the future, and this time, back to stay. And then a journey into tomorrow, a
journey to another planet, a manned mission to Mars." This report Space Resources,
offers substantiation for NASA's bid to carry out that new initiative.