After more than 50 years, NASA’s pending return to the Moon could encompass more than just leaving footprints on its surface, as it could entail efforts to mine the Moon for resources — an initiative that could start early next decade.
NASA wants to send a drill rig to the Moon next month and then establish large-scale lunar regolith mining by 2032, using a pilot processing plant to potentially extract resources such as water, iron, and rare metals, Reuters reported based on recent comments by a scientist from the space agency.
Speaking at the World Mining Congress being held this week in Brisbane, Gerald Sanders, a rocket scientist at NASA’s Johnston Space Centre, revealed NASA’s plans to explore the potential for lunar mining within the next 10 years, in an effort to “quantify potential resources,” according to Reuters.
Previous research has shown that the Moon contains natural resources that could be exploited from ice water reservoirs hidden in the shadowed regions (which could be used to make rocket fuel), and also valuable metals and minerals. In 2022, China’s Chang’e 5 mission returned a sample from the Moon containing a new type of mineral that it claims contains helium-3, which could be useful for nuclear fusion.
The idea is for NASA to harvest resources that astronauts could use on the Moon, such as water, while later expanding to rare elements that could serve commercial interests. This could aid in the development of a future lunar economy and supplement the space agency’s exploration of the lunar environment. Commercial rocket companies are expected to be the first customers, as they seek to tap into the Moon’s resources for the purpose of fuel or oxygen production. By quantifying the resources available on the Moon, NASA could attract commercial investment and advance commercial opportunities, Sanders said.
“We are trying to invest in the exploration phase, understand the resources…to (lower) risk such that external investment makes sense that could lead to development and production,” Sanders is quoted in Reuters as saying during the conference.
NASA’s Artemis program is set to send the first group of astronauts to the Moon no earlier than 2025. From there, the space agency wants to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon, sending a crew of astronauts to the lunar surface on a regular basis and establishing the Lunar Gateway as an orbiting outpost to support the ongoing missions. With these big plans ahead, the space agency could use some help by commercialising resources found on the Moon.
“We are literally just scratching the surface,” Sanders said.