Inspenet, June 29, 2023.
NASA has a new goal: the exploration and development of resources on the Moon, beginning with obtaining oxygen and water and potentially expanding to include iron in the future. According to a scientist, the agency has already started preparations to excavate lunar soil in the year 2032 .
Similarly, NASA plans to return Americans to the Moon as part of its Artemis mission, including the first woman and a person of color in 2025, and use that mission to gain knowledge and facilitate future trips to Mars.
NASA’s Artemis mission: Key to the conquest of Mars
The Artemis mission is considered by NASA as an important step towards the conquest of Mars. In addition, the lunar project seeks to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon with the aim of taking advantage of its mineral resources.
A fundamental aspect of the mission is to foster commercial opportunities in space. The agency seeks to accurately assess potential lunar resources such as energy, water and land in order to attract investment from the business sector, said Gerald Sanders, a space scientist with 35 years of experience at the Johnston Space Center in New York. The NASA.
Likewise, Sanders stressed that the development of access to lunar resources will be crucial to reduce costs and establish a circular economy. “In this sense, work is being done to invest in the exploration and understanding phase of these resources, with the aim of minimizing risks and generating a favorable environment for foreign investment that can boost development and production,” he said during a mining conference held in Brisbane.
However, the primary focus of the lunar mission will be on oxygen, which is vital to making NASA’s other plans viable. The first interested entities are anticipated to be commercial rocket companies that could tap lunar resources for fuel and oxygen. In addition, the Australian Space Agency is collaborating on the development of a semi-autonomous ROVER that will collect regolith samples during a joint mission with NASA, scheduled for 2026, according to Samuel Webster, deputy director of the agency.
Through the ROVER, the exhibition of the collection of lunar soil that contains oxygen oxides will be carried out. NASA intends to use autonomous equipment sent to the Moon along with the ROVER to try to extract said oxygen. This is seen as a critical step in establishing a lasting human presence on the Moon and supporting future missions to Mars, he stated during the conference.
Source and photo: https://www.worldenergytrade.com/innovacion/ciencia-espacial/nasa-mineria-luna-19050
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