Category Archives: Moon Colonization

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. It is now 48 years since Apollo 11's moon landing on July 20, 1969. That history-making first human touchdown on the lunar landscape was celebrated here last Saturday during an evening gala held near a massive Apollo Saturn V booster.

While primarily a reflection on decades past, the event also proved to be a look into the future, courtesy of remarks by Jeff Bezos, the retail mogul of Amazon.com fame and fortune and the head of Blue Origin, a company with big plans to pioneer the space frontier. [Photos: Glimpses of Secretive Blue Origin's Private Spaceships]

Jeff Bezos receives the first annual Buzz Aldrin Space Innovation Award from Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin at an Apollo 11 anniversary gala on July 15, 2017.

The gala was hosted by Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin. He was joined by Apollo veterans Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot; Walt Cunningham of 1968's Apollo 7 mission; and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt from Apollo 17, the last expedition to the moon, in December 1972.

The Apollo 11 gala event was the first part of a three-year fundraising campaign devised by the ShareSpace Foundation, which will culminate in the summer of 2019 with global activities coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the first moon landing.

Bezos was on hand to accept the first annual Buzz Aldrin Space Innovation Award. The unique glass award was produced by the Soneva Resorts' Glass Art Studio in the Maldives.

Taking part in the July 15, 2017, gala at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, left to right: Apollo 7's Walt Cunningham; Michael Collins of Apollo 11; Buzz Aldrin; and Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17.

"I pride myself on thinking out of the box of being innovative," Aldrin said, saluting those same characteristics in Bezos.

"Jeff Bezos told me on a recent visit to Blue Origin that he's been dreaming of space since the age of 5 years old. He watched Neil [Armstrong], Mike and me journey to the moon during Apollo 11 in 1969. Since then, he has charted his course through innovation, and he's been quietly breaking barriers with Blue Origin," Aldrin said.

Aldrin highlighted Blue Origin's New Shepard, a fully reusable, vertical-takeoff/vertical-landing system that will fly suborbital space tourism and research missions. He also detailed the company's reusable New Glenn orbital rocket, which is under development, as well as Blue Origin's powerful BE-3 and BE-4 engines.

"I don't think there's been anything quiet about rockets in the first place," Aldrin said, "but Blue Origin is primed to make the loudest noise yet." [Blue Origin's Giant New Glenn Rocket in Pictures]

Evening festivities at the Kennedy Space Center brought together astronauts and space industry pioneers, who were there to stress the need for education and inspiration for space exploration.

Bezos said the Apollo program was inspirational, helping to fuel his desire and passion to make a difference in space exploration.

"I have won this lottery," Bezos said. "It's a gigantic lottery, and it's called Amazon.com. And I'm using my lottery winnings to push us a little further into space."

Bezos said he is not in the camp of the "Plan B argument" for the colonization of space that one day Earth is going to be destroyed or uninhabitable, so we better have another place to live.

"I hate that idea I find it very unmotivating," Bezos said. "We have sent robotic probes now to every planet in this solar system, and believe me, this [Earth] is the best one."

Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin reflects on the first human landing on the moon, which occurred on July 20, 1969.

While we should and will colonize space (via the harnessing of solar energy and asteroid resources), Bezos said, there's also a need to avoid stagnation here on Earth by putting controls on population or energy usage per capita. That's sure to be a boring world, he said, and not compatible with freedom or liberty.

Bezos' visionary scenario is being held back by a central issue, he said.

"Space travel is just too darn expensive. And we know why it's too expensive. It's because we throw the rockets away," Bezos explained. "We're never going on to do these grand things and to expand into the solar system as long as we throw this hardware away. We need to build reusable rockets, and that is what Blue Origin is dedicated to taking my Amazon lottery winnings and dedicating to it's a passion, but it's also important."

Space pioneers reflect on the past and the future at the Kennedy Space Center gala, left to right: Buzz Aldrin, Jeff Bezos, Jack Schmitt, Michael Collins and Walt Cunningham.

Bezos also said at the gala that "it's time for America to go back to the moon, this time to stay."

"We should build a permanent settlement on one of the poles of the moon," he said. In that lunar locale, water in permanently shadowed regions, such as the bottoms of craters, can be accessed. And "peaks of eternal light" in polar regions mountaintops or crater rims that are always bathed in sunlight can provide solar power.

"We didn't know back in the '60s and '70s, but we know now, that the poles of the moon are extremely interesting places, and we should go back, and we should stay," Bezos said. "If we have reusable rockets, we can do it so much more affordably than we have ever done it before. We have the tools. We have the young people with a passion to do it. We can get that done today."

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series "Mars." A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of this story was posted on Space.com.

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Jeff Bezos' Vision: 'A Trillion Humans in the Solar System' - Space.com

Humans could set up robot-constructed mining outposts at the moon's poles.

An outpost on the Earths moon has been a staple of science fiction since the 20th century. One of the earliest practical proposals was the U.S. Armys 1959 design for a nuclear powered fortress, built to establish a military presence on the moon before the Soviet Union could do the same.

A 1961 U.S. Air Force plan called for a 21-man underground lunar base, to be built by 1968.

Current arguments for establishing a lunar colony include these potential uses:

Resource mining (oxygen, rocket fuel, construction materials) Energy (solar power, helium 3 mining for nuclear fusion) Astronomical observations from the moon's far side Tourism

Sophisticated robots could prepare the landing site prior to the arrival of astronauts. 3D-printed structures could be formed from the lunar soil itself. [How to Build a Lunar Colony (Photos)]

A moon base must support its crew, either with supplies launched from Earth or by mining the resources ofthe moon itself.

On Earth, the daily life-support requirements for one person are:

Oxygen: 1.85 lbs (0.84 kg) Drinking water: 2.64 gallons (10 liters) Dried food: 3.9 lbs (1.77 kg) Water for food: 1.06 gallons (4 liters)

In space however, the water requirements are lower:

Oxygen: 1.85 lbs (0.84 kg) Drinking water: 0.43 gallons (1.6 liters) Dried food: 3.9 lbs (1.77 kg) Water for food: 0.21 gallons (0.8 liters)

The basic necessities for human life air and water could be derived from the lunar soil. Building materials, rocket fuel and other necessities could also be manufactured. These materials could be used by the astronauts on the moon or shot into space electromagnetically by a "mass driver."

Poll: Where Should Humans Build the 1st Space Colony?

A lunar mass driver is a miles-long electromagnetic rail gun. Packets would be accelerated to lunar escape velocity and catapulted to space colonies for capture and utilization.

One prime location for a moon base would be in the permanently shadowed deep craters near the moon's poles. These very cold locations harbor vast quantities of water ice, which could be harvested relatively easily.

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How Moon Bases and Lunar Colonies Work (Infographic)

Elon Musk (left) talks to NASA International Space Station (ISS) program manager Kirk Shireman on July 19, 2017, at the ISS Research and Development conference in Washington, D.C.

Elon Musk may be focused primarily on Mars, but he'd also like to see a human outpost on a world much closer to home.

"To really get the public real fired up, I think we've got to have a base on the moon," the billionaire founder and CEO of SpaceX said today (July 19) at the 2017 International Space Station Research and Development (ISSR&D) conference in Washington, D.C.

"Having some permanent presence on another heavenly body, which would be the kind of moon base, and then getting people to Mars and beyond that's the continuance of the dream of Apollo that I think people are really looking for," Musk told NASA ISS program manager Kirk Shireman, who interviewed him onstage at the conference. [Moon Base Visions: How to Build a Lunar Colony (Photos)]

Musk and SpaceX are working to make the latter part of that vision a reality within the next 50 years or so. Last September, at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) meeting in Mexico, the entrepreneur unveiled plans for a reusable rocket-spaceship combo called the Interplanetary Transport System. The ITS would help colonize Mars and, potentially, allow humanity to explore more distant worlds, such as the Jupiter moon Europa and the Saturn satellite Enceladus.

Musk has been relatively quiet about the ITS since then, but he said he plans to give an update about the architecture at the next IAC conference, which will be held this September in Adelaide, Australia. And he teased an ITS tweak that SpaceX has been working on.

Downsizing the ITS spaceship a bit the originally unveiled version would carry at least 100 people and using it for some profit-generating "Earth-orbit activity" could help make Mars colonization economically feasible, Musk said at the ISSR&D conference today.

"That's one of the key elements in the new architecture," Musk said. "It's similar to what was [unveiled] at IAC, but it's a little bit smaller still big. I think this one's got a shot at being real on the economic front. You know, that's the trick."

Musk also said today that another one of his ventures, The Boring Company, could aid in Mars colonization as well. The Boring Company's main goal is to construct tunnel networks beneath (and, eventually, between) traffic-choked cities such as Los Angeles, enabling speedier travel.

But advanced tunneling technology will also be in high demand on Mars, Musk said, citing the likely need to mine large amounts of ice and other natural resources. And Red Planet colonists may want to live underground, at least part of the time, to shield themselves from the relatively high radiation fluxes encountered on the Martian surface, he added.

"You can build a tremendous amount underground with the right boring technology on Mars, so I do think there's some overlap in that technology-development arena," Musk said.

But Earth-optimized tunneling machines won't do the job on Mars, he stressed.

"The Earth ones are really heavy. Like, really heavy," Musk said. "You're not worried about weight for an Earth tunneling machine; actually, you want one that's nice and heavy. But a Mars one,you'd have to redesign it to be superlight that's a tricky one and then just take into account the different conditions on Mars and everything else."

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter@michaeldwallandGoogle+.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published onSpace.com.

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Elon Musk Calls for Moon Base - Space.com

At a celebration commemorating the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos argued for permanent settlements on the Moon and advocated colonization of the solar system as a means of making room for up to one trillion people.

Unlike other advocates for colonizing solar system worlds, Bezos does not base his position on the notion that humans need a new planet because Earth will someday be destroyed.

Instead, he sees it as a next step important to life on Earth.

We can harvest resources from asteroids, from Near-Earth Objects, and harvest solar energy from a much broader surface areaand continue to do amazing things. I want my grandchildrens grandchildren to be in a world of pioneering, exploration, and expansion throughout the solar system, he said.

Colonizing the solar system will free humanity from population concerns and open up resources capable of meeting up to one trillion peoples needs, Bezos emphasized.

Reusable rockets are the key to bringing down the expense of space travel and are a goal toward which Blue Origin is working, he noted.

An important step toward the larger goal of solar system colonization is returning to the Moon and establishing settlements on its poles to obtain water and gain access to solar power.

Its time for America to go back to the Moon, this time to stay. We know things about the Moon we didnt know back in the 1960s and 1970s, and with reusable rockets, we can do it affordably. We can get that done today, Bezos stated.

He also said he wants Blue Origin to operate a cargo service named Blue Moon, which would transport the supplies necessary for robots to build a human habitat on the Moon.

Blue Origin plans to take tourists to suborbital space with its New Shepard rocket but is also developing rockets capable of reaching orbit.

Bezos, who spoke on a stage at Cape Canaveral in front of the huge Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, was awarded the first annual Buzz Aldrin Innovation Award by Aldrins ShareSpace Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to inspiring and educating people about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.

Laurel Kornfeld is a freelance writer and amateur astronomer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science in astronomy from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program.

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Jeff Bezos outlines vision of colonizing the solar system - The Space Reporter

1. Damien Turchi is a graduate of Drexel University in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, founder and former president of the Icarus Interstellar Drexel University Student Chapter and lead coordinator of the first Interstellar Hackathon at Starship Congress 2015 at Drexel University, PA. He is currently a director of Icarus Interstellar.

On the Development of a Permanent Lunar Settlement: A Micro-Literature Review and Suggested Action

Since the 1960s, humanity seriously discusses the idea of a permanent lunar settlement. In both academic and professional literature, many designs for an initial settlement are proposed to varying fidelity. NASA published a comprehensive review of the most promising designs in the 1990s. Recent literature is not as detailed in its scope.

This study analyzes the designs NASA considered to be of significance in the 90s and discusses the benefits and cons of each. In addition, several recent works are assessed. From this review, the author concludes that an initial lunar settlement is possible through further development of existing design work, but that a superior option is neither immediate nor obvious.

Selecting a single framework (or a specific hybrid of several) is critical to best funnel capital into the most promising technologies. An action path is proposed that leverages consideration of permanence and significance as feedback to clearly characterize the best design choice for initial funding. Permanence seeks to answer, How can we ensure that the construction of the first lunar base is able to expand into the foreseeable future in both population and space?, while significance seeks to answer, How can we ensure that the consequences of operating the settlement are economically beneficial to society? There is not much literature to answer these questions, despite the importance of the answers.

The solutions will no doubt be a culturally diverse response, considering the needs of society as a whole to serve as a safeguard for the temporal success of a permanent lunar settlement.

2. Haym Benaroya is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rutgers University. His research interests are focused on the conceptualization and analysis of structures placed in challenging environments. These include offshore drilling structures and lunar surface structures for manned habitation. Often, the characterization of the environment is the primary challenge, as with problems of flow-induced vibration.

The Moon as the Site for Humanitys Expansion into the Solar System and Beyond

The Moon offers numerous advantages, providing a foothold for humanity as it struggles to escape Earths gravity well to become a spacefaring civilization. While the battle for most has been between the Moon and Mars, the vision of the Starship Congress is beyond those, even beyond the Solar System. Here, our goal is the next star system, with a sophisticated exploration of the technologies that are needed to send a precursor robotic ship many light years from Earth.

Even with such a long-‐term mission, the Moon remains the ideal spot to develop technologies, understand the low and microgravity space environment, assess the effects of radiation on our machines and structures, and learn how to build these so that they can self-‐repair and be reliable in this way for decades.

We will provide a background to current thinking and the engineering and other issues regarding the Moon as a viable place for humans to begin the long journey into space.

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Starship Congress presentations make the case for permanent moon colonization - Next Big Future

Titan, Saturn's largest Moon, has the potential to be an ideal location forhuman colonization and explorationwithin our Solar System, along withMars (though Mars' prospects have gotten less rosy lately). Some even arguethat,besidesEarth, it is theonly place suitable for human colonization in our celestial neighborhood. While it is unbelievably cold, distant, and strange, it is also home tolarge bodies of surface liquid, solid ground, a thick atmosphere, and more. And, to add to that list,scientists recently discoveredcalm hydrocarbon lakesthat could make landing future probes a piece of cake.

The highest that waves reach on the lakes of Titan is about one centimeter.These alien lakesare more tranquil than we might be able to picture, sitting remarkably still. And so, if and when we are able to send probes to that Moon, scientists think that these lakes would make a good landing point. According to lead author Cyril Grima, a research associate at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG): "There's a lot of interest in one day sending probes to the lakes, and when that's done, you want to have a safe landing, and you don't want a lot of wind...Our study shows that because the waves aren't very high, the winds are likely low."

Image Credit: NASA

So what does this mean? It might not sound that exciting at first glance, but it is a huge step forward in our never-ending cosmic exploration. Especially with the recent news that Mars' soilcould be toxic to any potential bacterial life, it is important to remember that the Red Planet isn't the only possible destination for future astronauts and probes. Titan could be the future location of a permanent human colony and the ability of a probe to successfully and smoothly land is crucial to missions going well. So, while we still have a long way to go (literally and more figuratively), this is one huge step in the right direction.

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Titan's Alien Lakes Might Be Perfect Landing Spots for Colonization ... - Outer Places

Whether its the proliferation of science-fiction movies that show man exploring the stars, or bold claims from the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking about imminent space colonization, theres a collective interest in space right now that doesnt look like itll die down anytime soon or at least not until weve set up camp on Mars.

But how much do you really know about the universe? Unless youre a serious astrophile, the chances are you do little else than look at cool photography, follow Nasa on Instagram (if you dont, you seriously should) and retweet nuggets of Elon Musks wisdom about taking us all to space.

A company called AstroReality wants to change all that, and deliver education about space thats more accessible, interactive and tech-enabled than ever before and there isnt a dull textbook in sight.

AstroReality has big, bold plans about space education. But the companys first creation is an extremely detailed version of the moon called the AstroReality Lunar. Although the model itself is extremely cool, and would look damn fine on your desk, theres a lot more to it than looks.

The company claims its not only the most precise model of the moon on this planet, its the only AR-enabled one thats this detailed. The team at AstroReality have mapped the most famous moon spots on the model, which you can explore with AR tech and a dedicated smartphone app.

It created the model using data from Nasa, state-of-the-art design tools and sophisticated 3D printing tech. Look closely and youll see the craters Copernicus and Petavius and 2001: A Space Odyssey fans will be happy to spot Clavius too (just be sure to put some ear muffs on before you head down into the crater).

We tested out the prototype for ourselves. All you have to do is let the app track the surface in front of you with a QR code and labels about sites around the moon pop up in front of you, with the features set to get more advanced over time.

There are three different versions of the AstroReality Lunar: the Mini at 3cm, the Regular at 8cm and the Pro, which comes with more feature, at 12cm.

Its a great way for people to, quite literally, get to grips with space, and its not hard to imagine who might benefit from an interactive, AR-enabled model like this, from those who are just interested in space to kids in an education setting.

But although the Lunar model is fascinating, its only the start for AstroReality. We spoke to James Li, founder of AstroReality, about what the future holds for his moon models, AR and learning about space.

The process of creating the Lunar was a painstaking one. We used [digital modeling tool] Zbrush to design the Lunar model integrating Nasas Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiters data early on in our process, Li explains.

Data is downloaded from NASA LROC the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, is a system of three cameras mounted on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that capture high-resolution black and white images and moderate-resolution multi-spectral images of the lunar surface. We leveraged the high-resolution Elevation Map and Global Map.

This promotional video shows the process

After creating a version of the moon thats modelled to 0.006 millimeters per pixel precision, it was time to pack it full of AR smarts. We created three tiers of AR experiences, Li told us. We used [game engine] Unity and [AR platform] Vuforia AR SDK for front-end and [cloud platform] Microsoft Azure for back-end data, specific for the three sizes we offer for Lunar in.

Right now if you get the Lunar model and the app you can see labels of the key craters and sites. But theres going to be much more to the AstroReality Lunar over the coming months.

The second stage will be to see and learn about landmarks that we know about but we have never visited before the dark side of the moon revealed, Li tells us. The third part is to simulate a mission to the moon, with the ability to land on all the Apollo landing stations 11 through to 17, and to travel through the moon listening, learning, watching and reading about the historic landmarks visited by the astronauts on the Apollo missions. This is where we tell the story and you can personalise your journey.

AstroReality founder James Li. When I painted Lunar, Copernicus is the one that I spent the most time on.

From there therell be more locations added, a game-like element introduced and way more interaction. And its not just the moon that AstroReality wants to help us understand better the company already has a mini solar system set, and plans to roll out an entire solar system of larger, more interactive models in the future.

Lunar will add another dimension to learning in the classroom, as its interactive using rich media and advanced AR technology, all of which have been proven to keep children engaged with their learning, Li says.

But its not just a toy the data and scale are so precise that its an excellent tool for professional scientists in laboratories and research centres to visualize the moon.

And Li and the team at AstroReality want this knowledge will come in handy much quicker than we all expert.

At the Breakthrough Starshot conference last month, Stephen Hawking set a deadline of 100 years for humans to start colonizing another planet for us to survive climate change, deadly diseases and other fatalities, Li explains.

AstroReality's moons are modeled to a precision of 0.006 millimeters per pixel

AstroReality models will educate everybody to help themunderstand space, be more familiar with it and make this statement less of a daunting one. As humans our imaginations have always run wild with space and astronomy; now AR allows us to experience it as closely as possible without being there.

Were not sure that AR tech will answer the big, logistical questions about how we get everyone up in space or colonise other planets. But were all for the idea of more and more people learning about space and the possibilities it might hold for the future.

Finally, we wanted to hear what Li thought about the future of AR and VR when it comes to learning. Its already happening, but I expect to see a surge of augmented reality and virtual reality combined in mixed reality experiences in education,he says.

This will be the case in classrooms to add more interactivity into education and at Astronaut training camps for those on their way to space. This is the closest people will get to going to the moon without actually getting on a rocket; it will fulfil so many lifelong dreams and prepare those on a space mission for the real thing.

But ultimately, AR VR and MR is the future of so many industries, astronomy and science included.

And after spending so much time researching, designing and engaging with the moon, we asked Li what his favourite bit of lunar geography is. Copernicus, he says. I can see Copernicus with my bare eyes from Earth every time I look at the moon its almost right in the middle. Its pattern is complex and goes in various directions. When I painted Lunar, Copernicus is the one that I spent the most time on.

AstroReality is currently seeking crowdfunding for Lunar on Indiegogo, with discounts on its models for backers.

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We took an AR trip to the moon | TechRadar - TechRadar

Titan, Saturn's largest Moon, has the potential to be an ideal location forhuman colonization and explorationwithin our Solar System, along withMars (though Mars' prospects have gotten less rosy lately). Some even arguethat,besidesEarth, it is theonly place suitable for human colonization in our celestial neighborhood. While it is unbelievably cold, distant, and strange, it is also home tolarge bodies of surface liquid, solid ground, a thick atmosphere, and more. And, to add to that list,scientists recently discoveredcalm hydrocarbon lakesthat could make landing future probes a piece of cake.

The highest that waves reach on the lakes of Titan is about one centimeter.These alien lakesare more tranquil than we might be able to picture, sitting remarkably still. And so, if and when we are able to send probes to that Moon, scientists think that these lakes would make a good landing point. According to lead author Cyril Grima, a research associate at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG): "There's a lot of interest in one day sending probes to the lakes, and when that's done, you want to have a safe landing, and you don't want a lot of wind...Our study shows that because the waves aren't very high, the winds are likely low."

Image Credit: NASA

So what does this mean? It might not sound that exciting at first glance, but it is a huge step forward in our never-ending cosmic exploration. Especially with the recent news that Mars' soilcould be toxic to any potential bacterial life, it is important to remember that the Red Planet isn't the only possible destination for future astronauts and probes. Titan could be the future location of a permanent human colony and the ability of a probe to successfully and smoothly land is crucial to missions going well. So, while we still have a long way to go (literally and more figuratively), this is one huge step in the right direction.

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Titan's Alien Lakes Might Be Perfect Landing Spots for Colonization Probes - Outer Places

The Moon is Earths 8th continent; a new frontier for humanity with precious resources that can bring enormous benefits to life on Earth and our future in space. Expanding Earths economic and social sphere to the Moon is our first step in securing our future. Not long from now, a new generation will look up and see lights on the Moon, and know that they are part of a multi-world species.

Moon Express is working closely with the U.S. government to assure our freedom of enterprise in space with deference to international treaties.

The Space Resource and Utilization Act of 2015 was the first step in the process, recognizing U.S. private sector rights to seek, obtain and utilize space resources.

On July 20, 2016, Moon Express became the first company to receive U.S. government approval to send a robotic spacecraft beyond traditional Earth orbit and to the Moon. This was the first time in history that any government signatory to the Outer Space Treaty exercised its rights and obligations to formally authorize and supervise a commercial entity to fly a mission beyond Earth orbit. This historic ruling is a breakthrough U.S. policy decision supporting our commercial lunar exploration and discovery and heralding a new era of expanding space enterprise.

Our maiden Mission Approval establishes an important precedent for the private sector to engage in peaceful space exploration, bringing with it monumental implications for the advancement of technology, science, research, and development, as well as commercial ventures that expand Earths economic sphere.

On October 1, 2015, we announced a multi-mission launch contract with Rocket Lab USA for up to five launches starting in 2017. Moon Express is the first company in history to contract multiple launches for space exploration missions.

Our MX family of robotic explorers are configurable to a wide variety of available and emerging launch systems, all designed to collapse the cost of deep space access beyond Earth orbit.

MX-1E robotic explorer aboard the Rocket Lab USA Electron rocket

Moon Express occupies Launch Complexes 17 & 18 at Cape Canaveral, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center on Floridas Space Coast, where many of the robots that explored new worlds and unlocked the secrets of our solar system began their journeys. We are now honored to be able to re-purpose these historic sites into a vibrant new commercial spaceport, ~70 acres of facilities and range, supporting Moon Express spacecraft development and test, and incubating fresh new dreams of extraordinary adventures into the space frontier.

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Moon Express

Two Apollo EVA spacesuits, covered in dark gray lunar dust. The short times spent on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts meant that the long-term issues associated with dust could be ignored during those missions.

A recent study has shown that the red dust on the surface of Mars, in combination with surface conditions of intense solar ultraviolet and cosmic radiation, is probably one of the most sterilizing environments imaginable. These new results cast some very cold water on the fervent hopes of some planetary scientists for indigenous martian life. Some have extended the list of potential worries for future explorers to problems these conditions might pose for martian agriculture. But none seem to be particularly concerned about the toxic effect Mars red dust might pose for the occasional visitor, let alone settlers.

The martian dust contains significant amounts of perchloratea chemical compound made up of one chlorine and four oxygen atoms. Perchlorate is found naturally in various salts; on Mars, it is probably joined with magnesium and sodium. This substance is highly reactivealuminum perchlorate is one of the compounds in solid rocket propellant. The high reactivity of perchlorate means that interactions with other chemical substances are almost certain, which in turn means that perchlorate in martian soil is a chemical hazard to living organismsnot only for microbial life and plants, but to humans as well.

Experience gained during the Apollo program taught us that dust can be a problem for the unprepared. Lunar dust is the smallest grain size fraction of the lunar regolithparticles smaller than 40 microns, finer than talcum powder but with much greater hardness. Extremely abrasive, this dust can make most moving equipment parts immobile. During the short duration of the Apollo missions (the longest stay on the surface was three days), the crew simply put up with the inconvenience of coping with fine, abrasive dust, but longer stays will require that steps be taken to mitigate its negative effects.

Although lunar dust is physically abrasive, it is largely inert chemically. Testing done on the first lunar samples at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory exposed seeds and germinating plants to lunar regolith. As expected from the chemical composition of the regolith, the plants continued to thrive despite repeated and prolonged exposure to lunar dust. While actual growth experiments were not conducted (largely because lunar material was allocated in extremely small amounts, to maintain sample integrity), we have no reason to suppose that the fine lunar regolith cannot support vigorous plant growth, provided that some key nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen (naturally present in extremely low quantity on the Moon) are added to the soil.

The situation on Mars, however, appears to be different. The soil of Mars is composed predominantly of clay mineralsweathering products of igneous rocks created in the presence of liquid water, resulting in dust grains that are fine and relatively soft. Thus, martian soil is probably not physically abrasive like the lunar regolith (although care will still need to be taken to keep moving parts as clean as possible). The problem lies with the highly reactive (and probably toxic) chemistry of the smallest particles in martian soil.

One aspect of the lunar experience relevant to the issue of future Mars surface exploration is the ubiquity of dust and how it coats, covers and invades all pieces of equipment, up to and including the human body. On the Moon, these phenomena did not result in any long-term ill effects. A broken fender on the lunar rover during the Apollo 17 mission sprayed lunar dust over the crew and their suits, stressing the heat rejection properties of the suits and equipment on the lunar rover. Fine dust coated the fittings of air hoses in the suit, impairing the crews ability to get good seals to prevent leaks. Although the astronauts inhaled minute amounts of lunar dust when they re-pressurized the LM cabin (they said that it smelled like gunpowder), there were no ill effects to crew breathing and health. Although silicosis (similar to black lung disease) might result from long-term exposure to the fine lunar dust, in terrestrial settings such effects (without mitigating efforts) would require years of exposure to develop.

This may not be the case on Mars. The highly reactive chemistry of perchlorates in the soil could make martian dust not simply an annoyance, but a dangerous hazard. Corrosive chemicals within dust grains suspended in air can be inhaled and could seriously and permanently damage lung and esophageal tissue. It may be possible to mitigate contamination through dust management and clever engineering. For example, weve found that most of the Moons dust grains are magnetica result of the deposition of vapor-phase metallic iron coatings, which allows for the removal of virtually all of the dust using strong magnetic cleaning. This technique will probably not be possible for the martian dust, which formed from chemical weathering on Mars and does not possess the vapor-deposited iron of the lunar dust grains.

The new results about martian soil strongly suggest that the Red Planet may not be the welcoming second Eden for humanity that is commonly portrayed. Even if we are able to somehow mitigate the toxic effects of the soil (for example, through chemical treatment), such an approach may not be easy enough to warrant the effort. Certainly, the scenario in the book and film The Martian, in which one simply plants pieces of seed potato, adds excrement and water, then harvests a locally grown food source, just isnt plausible. The toxic effects of martian soil might be dealt with for short visits by exploring crews, but long-term human habitation and colonization of Mars is an entirely different proposition.

To successfully journey beyond Low Earth Orbit, we must provision ourselves using the vast resources of spaceextracting resources beyond Earth will present many challenges as we master the skills necessary to work in new environments. This journey begins on the Moonthe staging ground, supply station and classroom for our coming voyage into the universe.

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Excerpt from:
Nothing to Sneeze At - Air & Space Magazine