Returning to the Lunar Environment Page 2
Why return to the moon? "The moon is a harsh mistress" - it is literally the most dangerous space environment close to the Earth...what better place to learn from? Working and living in the moons environment and on the surface can at the very least:
Support a new platform for the detection/tracking/rendezvous/harvesting of co-orbital asteroids and Near Earth
Objects (NEOs) as well as possible mitigation of dangers posed by Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs);
Foster development of new technology for: Radiation protection and mitigation; mitigation of lunar regolith;
mitigation of electrostatic charging; extraction of gases such as Oxygen, Hydrogen, Helium-3; and more;
Be a more economical launch point for going deeper into space;
Explore other methodologies for the management of biologic and other waste.
I must make a very strong statement about landing on and mining any asteroid. A lot has been said about mining for materials (such as rare metals) for return to the Earths surface. Let me ask what real good is this ? Such material as diamonds, gold, platinum and others would certainly be more expensive just to cover all the costs in recovering them. Space mining should be for one purpose : its use in the space environment. I will also relate a warning about landing and mining an asteroid... Know it's orbital path and the gravitational impact it has on the objects it passes in its orbit. Failure to do this has potential for big disasters.
Harrison H. Schmitt a scientist-Astronaut of our last Apollo mission (Apollo 17) wrote Return to the Moon. In his discussion of Helium-3 it became clear that mining this resource for planet-wide use would benefit all. The winning argument of using a Helium-3 based reactor over water, coal-fired plants, and todays nuclear reactors is made in chapter 3, Energy: The Global Future . We have to be on the surface of the moon, be able to operate equipment for a specific amount of rigolith, transport it, process it and get it into a reactor test bed. Any entity capable of completing these tasks would make a fortune in just the technology.
I will credit the Obama administration (this one time) - "In December 2010 Public Law 111-314 enacted a restatement of existing law relating to national and commercial space programs as a new positive law title of the United States Code..." leading to November 25, 2010 Public Law 114-90 - U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act new subsections 51301-50303 opening the door to commercial water and mineral ownership of any "abiotic resource in situ in outer space". I call this a credit as Commercial Space entities seeing a future profit will continue to push space development, and it will be needed for mining things such as Hydrogen, Oxygen and Helium-3. Legal aspects of space resources utilization
...now you are ready to enter the shape of things to come...
