The Moon “Backwards”

1. The Moon “Backwards” Peter A. Garretson

3. Our leadership says we will be there. America will return to the Moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020 and use it for a stepping stone for more ambitious missions. A series of robotic missions to the Moon...will explore the lunar surface beginning no later than 2008 to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, humans will conduct extended lunar missionsas early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods." --President Bush Statement on New Space Initiative

4. Competition! The Dragon in Space • 2003 saw launch to and return from Space of the first astronaut by China. • China's GNP now exceeds where we were when we began the Apollo Program. If reports of a manned landing by 2010 are exaggerated, Ouyang Ziyuan was willing to say that he could foresee manned outposts on the Moon in the long-term, "perhaps by 2020 or 2030". The Moon could serve as a new and tremendous supplier of energy and resources for human beings," he said. "This is crucial to sustainable development of human beings on Earth." "Whoever first conquers the Moon will benefit first," Mr Ouyang added. "As for China, it needs to adopt a strategy based on its concrete economic power and technology level. "We are also looking further out into the Solar System - to Mars." --Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China's Moon exploration programme

5. Competition! • "We are planning to build a permanent base on the moon by 2015 and by 2020 we can begin the industrial-scale delivery ... of the rare isotope Helium-3," Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of the Energia space corporation, was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying at an academic conference.

6. Location: The moon is close Just 60-70 hours away (3 days) 238,712 mi (384,400 km)

7. Location

8. Location: • The moon is a strategic position, everyone must pass by it to go anywhere else LOC Control: The equivalent of the Rock of Gibraltar

9. Location: • The moon is a fueling station and safe harbor, not unlike Hawaii in the age of coal

10. Location: • The moon is a stable platform from which to view the earth and stars

11. Land: • More surface area than all of Africa Surface Area - 14,657,449 mi sq. (37,958,621 km sq.) 9.4 billion acres

12. Resources: • The moon is rich, and you don’t have to carry its wealth up the gravity well

13. Resources: Iron

14. Resources: Titanium

15. Resources: Rare Earths

16. Energy Security: • The moon has virtually unlimited He3 • About 1 million tons of helium 3 on the moon, enough to power the world for thousands of years • He3 costs about $6B/ton on earth • He3 can be burned for propulsion now

17. Energy Security: • The moon has virtually unlimited materials for Solar Power Station Construction

18. Facts: • It takes less energy, and is technically less complex (no atmosphere or aerodynamics) to get materials from the Moon to LEO than to get the materials from the Earth to LEO. • There are adequate materials on the Moon (aluminum, titanium, iron, oxygen, silicon) to construct many objects of interest (Rocket Motors, Fuel Tanks, Shelters, etc.)

19. 22 times less energy! • 1/6th Earth’s Gravity (0.1622 gee) but • It takes more than 21.7 times the energy to get the same payload off the Earth! • lunar escape velocity of 2.4 km/s • Earth Escape velocity 11.2 km/s • A Lot Less Propellant! • A Lot Higher Payload Mass Fraction! • And no Air Resistance or Drag • Allows expansion of CIS-Lunar Mass by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude

20. A Logos Study said: • Payload Mass Fraction Earth to LEO: 1.5% • Payload Mass Fraction, Lunar Surface to Low Lunar Orbit (LLO): 50% Escape: 35% • To put 2,400 tons into CIS-Lunar space (L2) would take: • 35 launches in the first 5 years (Titan IVB) to put 3T on the Moon, or… • 810 launches over 15 years

21. Dennis Wingo Says • 3 Billion Metric Tons of impact metal having 62 million Kilos of Platinum Group Metals • A Single “Diablo Canyon” size impactor would have left between 450 million to 1.77 billion tons of economically recoverable nickel/iron/cobalt/PGM material, worth around $20 Trillion

22. But Lee Morin says: • $100,000/lb—anything you can make from lunar materials has an intrinsic value add of $100,000/lb • We can only get 10% of the mass we can get to LEO to the Lunar Surface (one way) • Surveyor was 408 kg or 900 lbs • Apollo was 6,900 kg or 15,211 lbs • Actual Deliverable with COTS: 1000 kg • Compound Interest: If a 1000 kg “seed” can replicate 114 grams an hour, it doubles every year

23. Wouldn’t it be nice? • How nice it would be if the first new visitors to the Moon could be picked up in Earth orbit, and be taken to a fully outfitted base. Would it not be nice if the first guests to the Moon could be paying guests as they are on the first flight of an Airliner? How could we make this happen?

24. Here is the basic idea: • Don’t lift fuel and spaceships from the Earth to get to the Moon in order to then build a colony there. Rather, build the colony and space-ships on the Moon where the gravity well is small, and send the fuel and spaceships.

25. Queens and Workers • Workers feed Queen • Queen makes Workers (Diggers)

26. Operational Phases • Phase 0: Design • Phase 1: Send the Team • Phase 2: Digger Replication • Phase 3: Colony Split • Phase 4: Base Construction • Phase 5: Spaceship Construction • Phase 6: Ferry to Lunar Orbit • Phase 7: Ferry to Earth Orbit • Phase 8: Stable Ops

27. Phase 0: Design • Digger & Queen Replication with maximum use of Lunar materials and minimum “vitamins” from Earth • Keep Total Mass Small

28. A lesson from nature • Specialization

29. Screen Manufacturing • Extrude Screen to make multiple objects • Foil, or inflatables may also be appropriate

30. Sheet Metal Working • Simple, well-known techniques • Create a variety of complex shapes

31. Vapor Deposition Process • Successive deposition of layers (Iron, Titanium, Silicon) over mesh to create • Solid Complex shapes, structural members, IC’s and pressure volumes

32. Phase 1: Send the Team • One Queen and two Diggers

33. Phase 2: Digger Replication • Diggers bring the raw materials to the queen, which the queen processes

34. Digger Replication

35. Phase 3: Colony Split

36. Phase 4: Base Construction • Create Pressure Vessels • Fill them with Lunar Oxygen

37. Phase 4: Base Construction • Pave Landing Zones • Pave Solar Cells • Burry Pressure Vessels

38. Phase 5: Spaceship Construction • Even rocket engines can be made • Launch is simplified: • No Atmosphere; no Shrouds • No volume, aero constraints

39. Phase 6: Ferry to Lunar Orbit • Launch both pressure vessels and propellant • Use precious metals (PGMs) as the pressure vessels

40. Phase 7: Ferry to Earth Orbit • Roomy vessels only need to be furnished • Arrive in LEO ready for pick-up • People only need to get to LEO

41. Phase 8: Stable Ops • First visitors arrive to a spacious facility

42. Stable Ops • Living Quarters for Industry • Living Quarters for Tourism • Living Quarters for Exploration

43. Future Growth • Mass Driver • Lunar Elevator

44. Future Growth • Lunar Observation • Lunar “GPS” • LIDAR / EO/ IR / SAR • Lunar Com Relay • Cell-Phone • Internet

45. Future Growth • Earth Staring Telescopes • Sky Survey

46. Future Growth • Manufacture: • IC’s, Satellites, Turbine Blades, Pharmaceuticals, Jewelry, • Nanoparticles (aluminum)

47. Future Growth • Near Earth Asteroid & dead comet exploitation • Mining for metals • Mining for carbon • Mining for ice

48. Future Growth • “Dredge the Harbor” • Planetary Defense

49. Future Growth • Space Solar Power • Lunar Solar Power

50. Future Growth • A new population Center • An insurance policy for humanity