Why mine for metals on the Moon? The upkeep on equipment is very high.?

Question

....I saw a show on T.V. where groups tried to design mining equipment for the Moon or Mars

Answer 1

There are a number of reasons that mining on the moon (or in space) is a good idea.

First, there are many minerals on the moon that aren't very common or easy to extract on the earth. Some minerals that are rare on earth are common on the moon or in asteroids, and in high concentrations.

Second, it's very expensive to mine minerals on earth and then move heavy objects into space. It takes a lot of energy to even move one pound into orbit, and future space stations or bases will need building materials. The costs of mining those materials in space could more then offset the cost of launching those materials into space.

Third, you don't need to really worry about destroying the environment on the moon. You aren't killing wildlife or polluting lakes and streams with toxic materials. You don't need to worry about exhaust causing global warming, or really even worry about (say, nuclear powered machines) melting down.

Finally, although the costs of building the machines might be higher, once they are in space many of the problems on earth aren't a big deal. On the moon, metal won't really rust. It doesn't get rained on or snowed on. There are different engineering challenges, but in space it can be much easier to maintain equipment then on earth.

Answer 2

Because it costs upwards to $20,000 a pound to send stuff into space.

Can you imagine how much it costs to send ONE STEEL BEAM to Mars to make a building.

How many STEEL BEAMS does it take to make a building?

Plus, what IF we found GOLD on the Moon or Mars.

GOLD is what made California so popular once upon a time.

Imagine if we find Gold, Silver, Platinum on Mars or the Moon.

It won't cost a lot to ship back 2,000 gold chains for jewlery, but each chain wholesales for $20. That's what, $40,000 for less than a pound of gold. That's carry on luggage in a space shuttle.

Now we're talking profitability.

A ring setting is about an ounce of Gold. It wholsales for $500. You send back a hundred or so at a time.

That'll buy you some food and air to stay on Mars.

Now, if you can produce ALL the raw materials to make a Satilite or PRobe NASA will OUTSOURCE the work to the MOON where it costs 1/6th as much to put it into space as it costs from the Earth.

If you can do it for HALF the cost of what it costs to have Boeing do it you are ahead of the game.

Especially if your mark up is high, say 60% or so.

NASA awards you a 10 million dollar contract and you keep 6,000,000 as profit and put their probe out for 4,000,000 and NASA is still saving 10 million if they did it on Earth.

How MUCH would you pay for an IPOD that says

MADE ON THE MOON

Think about that

You have two choices

MADE IN CHINA or MADE ON THE MOON

You have something made from EXTRA TERRETRIAL materials.

Of course the QUALITY would be HIGHER, because they would want to impress people in the start up process!

Answer 3

The most valuable resource to be mined on the Moon is 3He, an isotope of Helium that is found almost nowhere on Earth but plentiful in the Moon's regolith. It's the ideal fusion power fuel, and there's enough 3He on the Moon to power all of Earth's energy needs for thousands of years. A single space-shuttle sized cargo of 3He is worth billions of dollars, so the economics of mining on the Moon is very good. You don't believe me? Both China and Russia have already announced plans to land men and equipment on the moon for exactly the purpose of mining 3He. And meanwhile, most Americans are absolutely ignorant of this development.

Answer 4

In order to be able to have a self-sustaining space base / colony .

Upkeep might be high (though not any higher than on earth, surely), but *resupplying* costs would be phenomenal. Much cheaper to make things on-site.

Answer 5

This is for future when earth runs out of metals. And some metals may be more abundant on moon and mars.

Answer 6

Because they are afraid to put the monies into the school systems here. If they do that then what would they do with all of the properly educated children running around??