Transcript The Moon Backwards

The Moon
“Backwards”
Peter A. Garretson
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 missions as early as 2015, with the goal of living and
working there for increasingly extended periods."
--President Bush Statement on New Space Initiative
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 longterm, "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
Competition!
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"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.
Location: The moon is close
Just 60-70 hours away (3 days)
238,712 mi (384,400 km)
Location
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
Location:
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The moon is a
fueling station and
safe harbor, not
unlike Hawaii in
the age of coal
Location:
 The
moon is a stable platform from which
to view the earth and stars
Land:
 More
surface area than all of Africa
Surface Area - 14,657,449 mi sq. (37,958,621 km sq.) 9.4 billion acres
Resources:
 The
moon is rich, and you don’t have to
carry its wealth up the gravity well
Resources: Iron
Resources: Titanium
Resources: Rare Earths
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
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Energy Security:
 The
moon has virtually unlimited
materials for Solar Power Station
Construction
Facts:
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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.)
22 times less energy!

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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
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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
A Logos Study said:
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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

Dennis Wingo Says
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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
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)
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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
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?
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.
Queens and Workers
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Workers feed Queen
Queen makes Workers
(Diggers)
Operational Phases
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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
Phase 0: Design

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Digger & Queen Replication with
maximum use of Lunar materials and
minimum “vitamins” from Earth
Keep Total Mass Small
A lesson from nature

Specialization
Screen Manufacturing
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Extrude Screen to make multiple objects
Foil, or inflatables may also be appropriate
Sheet Metal Working
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Simple, well-known techniques
Create a variety of complex shapes
Vapor Deposition Process
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Successive deposition of layers (Iron,
Titanium, Silicon) over mesh to create
Solid Complex shapes, structural
members, IC’s and pressure volumes
Phase 1: Send the Team
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One Queen and two
Diggers
Phase 2: Digger Replication

Diggers bring the raw materials to the
queen, which the queen processes
Digger Replication
Phase 3: Colony Split
Phase 4: Base Construction

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Create Pressure Vessels
Fill them with Lunar Oxygen
Phase 4: Base Construction
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Pave Landing Zones
Pave Solar Cells
Burry Pressure Vessels
Phase 5: Spaceship Construction
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Even rocket engines can be
made
Launch is simplified:
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No Atmosphere; no Shrouds
No volume, aero constraints
Phase 6: Ferry to Lunar Orbit
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Launch both
pressure vessels
and propellant
Use precious
metals (PGMs) as
the pressure
vessels
Phase 7: Ferry to Earth Orbit
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Roomy vessels only need to be furnished
Arrive in LEO ready for pick-up
People only need to get to LEO
Phase 8: Stable Ops
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First visitors
arrive to a
spacious facility
Stable Ops
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Living Quarters for Industry
Living Quarters for Tourism
Living Quarters for Exploration
Future Growth
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Mass Driver
Lunar Elevator
Future Growth
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Lunar Observation
Lunar “GPS”
 LIDAR / EO/ IR / SAR
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Lunar Com Relay
Cell-Phone
 Internet
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Future Growth
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Earth Staring Telescopes
Sky Survey
Future Growth
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Manufacture:
IC’s, Satellites, Turbine Blades,
Pharmaceuticals, Jewelry,
 Nanoparticles (aluminum)
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Future Growth

Near Earth Asteroid &
dead comet
exploitation
Mining for metals
 Mining for carbon
 Mining for ice
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Future Growth
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“Dredge the Harbor”
Planetary Defense
Future Growth
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Space Solar Power
Lunar Solar Power
Future Growth
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A new
population
Center
An insurance
policy for
humanity
Future Growth
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Fusion?
Helium 3?
Power for Earth
Power for Exploration
Energy Resources
World Trends
 Demand
Doubles, CO2 Skyrockets
Temperatures Rise
We’re gonna need it!
The Old View of Space
 Orbital
 State-owned
 Com
/ Nav
 The “High
Ground”
The New View of Space
CIS-Lunar
 Commercial
 The Ocean
 New roles and
missions
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Energy
Security
Coast Guard
Planetary
Defense
LOC &
investment
protection
Questions?
Solar Power Satellites

"because of large scale operation of the system, delivered power costs are predicted
to be competitive with coal or nuclear power plants. For example, if a $12.5 billion
($2,500 per kilowatt in 1981 dollars) system capable of 5,000 megawatt output were
purchased, it might cost around $78 billion over 40 years to own and operate it ($12
billion in depreciation plus $21 billion interest at 12 percent, $33 billion earnings at 18
percent, plus $12 billion in operating expenses, taxes, and other costs). The station
would deliver. Hence, the average cost of the power delivered is under five cents per
kilowatt hour. A comprehensive assessment of a 1.6 trillion kilowatt hours of power
over 40 years representative space based energy system was conducted by the
Department of Energy from 1977 to 1981. Their evaluation did not reveal any
technological barriers....Finally, demonstration of cost attainability for key system
elements would be required prior to seeking funds for full scale
implementation. (High Frontier, pg. 34)