The
U.S. space agency plans to return Americans to the moon as part
of its Artemis mission, including the first woman and person of
colour by 2025, and to learn from the mission to facilitate a
trip to Mars.
A key part of the mission is advancing commercial opportunities
in space. The agency is looking to quantify potential resources,
including energy, water and lunar soil, as a goal to attract
commercial investment, said Gerald Sanders, a rocket scientist
at NASA's Johnston Space Centre for 35 years.
Developing access to resources on the moon will be key to
cutting costs and developing a circular economy, Sanders said.
"We are trying to invest in the exploration phase, understand
the resources... to (lower) risk such that external investment
makes sense that could lead to development and production," he
told a mining conference in Brisbane.
"We are literally just scratching the surface," he said. NASA
will at the end of the month send a test drill rig to the moon
and plans a larger-scale excavation of moon soil, or regolith,
and a pilot processing plant in 2032.
The first customers are expected to be commercial rocket
companies who could use the moon's resources for fuel or oxygen.
The Australian Space Agency is involved in developing a
semi-autonomous rover that will take regolith samples on a NASA
mission as early as 2026, said Samuel Webster, an assistant
director at the agency.
The rover will demonstrate the collection of lunar soil that
contains oxygen in the form of oxides.
Using separate equipment sent to the moon with the rover, NASA
will aim to extract that oxygen, he said.
"This ... is a key step towards establishing a sustainable human
presence on the moon, as well (as) supporting future missions to
Mars," he said at the conference.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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