Category: Space Resources

Space exploration and development is essential to fighting climate change 8/16/2021

Space exploration and development is essential to fighting climate change

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how the recently released Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presents a worrying scientific consensus: climate change is happening, humans are causing it, even our best efforts cannot prevent negative effects, and reducing emissions now is essential to preventing catastrophic consequences. The Biden Administration recognizes the urgency of addressing this challenge. This prioritization rightly reflects the growing capabilities of the public and private space sectors to help our society understand, adapt, and mitigate climate change.  Perhaps most importantly, growing space activities can accelerate the clean energy transition to reduce emissions by catalyzing technological development of existing and new energy technologies.  With foresight and targeted intervention, emerging space capabilities and industry can improve our climate outcomes.  August 16, 2021.

Orbital Sustainment and Space Mobility Logistics 7/21/2021

Orbital Sustainment and Space Mobility Logistics

Mines Student Alexander Jehle and Payne Institute Faculty Fellow George Sowers write about how water is the “oil” of space. Water, H2O – two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, can be used as a steam or plasma propellant for spacecraft and space tugs and be split into hydrogen and oxygen as a chemical rocket propellant. Water is ubiquitous in the inner solar system and exists as ice on the Moon. Recent research indicates lunar water can be economically mined, processed, and exported into cislunar space. Refueling space vehicles using space-sourced propellant breaks the tyranny of the rocket equation, lowering the cost of missions beyond low Earth orbit. This paper describes cislunar propellant distribution architecture anchored by a logistics node at the first Earth-Moon Lagrange point.  July 21, 2021.  

Enhancing Military and Commercial Spacepower through Nuclear 7/20/2021

Enhancing Military and Commercial Spacepower through Nuclear

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how the strategic competition among great powers is increasing the importance of maintaining and increasing U.S. national power in outer space. The United States, Russia, and China are all pursuing space reactors and nuclear rockets but spacepower and associated theories have yet to fully consider how space nuclear technologies enable national space capabilities. Similarly, the role of space nuclear energy in the Department of Defense (DOD) – namely, the U.S. Space Force planning remains unclear. This article examines space nuclear energy’s contribution to U.S. national power. July 20, 2021.

NASA Space Lasers Map Meltwater Lakes in Antarctica With Striking Precision 7/7/2021

NASA Space Lasers Map Meltwater Lakes in Antarctica With Striking Precision

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Matthew Siegfried contributed to this article about how the Antarctic Ice Sheet might look like a calm, perpetual ice blanket that has covered Antarctica for millions of years. But the ice sheet can be thousands of meters deep at its thickest, and it hides hundreds of meltwater lakes where its base meets the continent’s bedrock. Deep below the surface, some of these lakes fill and drain continuously through a system of waterways that eventually drain into the ocean.  With the most advanced Earth-observing laser instrument NASA has ever flown in space, scientists have improved their maps of these hidden lake systems under the West Antarctic ice sheet—and discovered two more of these active subglacial lakes.  July 7, 2021.

Identifying Governance Challenges for Nuclear Energy on the Moon 5/17/2021

Identifying Governance Challenges for Nuclear Energy on the Moon

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how as countries and companies look to expand economic and scientific activities to the Moon and beyond, the performance advantages of nuclear energy underlie renewed interest in the technology, and iterative development of national and international law is needed to establish sustainable governance.  May 17, 2021. 

Mining in Space Is Coming 4/26/2021

Mining in Space is Coming

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how space exploration is back after decades of disappointment, a combination of better technology, falling costs and a rush of competitive energy from the private sector that has put space travel front and center. Indeed, many analysts (even some with their feet on the ground) believe that commercial developments in the space industry may be on the cusp of starting the largest resource rush in history: mining on the Moon, Mars and asteroids.  April 26, 2021.

SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER—IN TECHNOLOGY 3/15/2021

SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER—IN TECHNOLOGY

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Angel Abbud-Madrid on the Mines Conveyor podcast discussing how space is the edge, is the frontier in technology. And space being infinite, that means you have an infinite amount of opportunities in which to get involved with the most advanced technology with discoveries and with possibilities that, in his own opinion, no other field can match.  March 15, 2021.

U.S. space policy: Multilateral mining 11/27/2020

U.S. space policy: Multilateral mining

Payne Institute Fellows Alexander Gilbert, George Sowers, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the U.S. actions with regards to development of space resources are poised to help jumpstart a new age of space innovation that has the potential to bring scientific and economic benefits to the whole world.  November 27, 2020. 

Strategic Intelligence – Mining and Metals 9/23/2020

Strategic Intelligence – Mining and Metals

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Jordy Lee has documented the paradigm shift in the mining and metals industry, as it incorporates greater sustainability, absorbs technical innovation from other sectors, and seeks a way forward in the midst of a pandemic. By focussing on modernization, digitalization, and transparency, the industry can strengthen its foundational role in a rapidly evolving global economy. However, effectively managing related changes will require greater adaptability, transformative thinking, and building stronger relationships in a global context.  September 23, 2020.