Abstract
Since the last Apollo 17 mission in 1972, interplanetary human spaceflight has been on hold due to various political and budgetary reasons. Even at the time of Apollo, it was a struggle to justify the direct financial return on investment, and politicians were unable to sustain the lunar exploration missions. Nevertheless, the global impact of the Apollo missions has never been forgotten. Many questions are asked today in this connection: Why has humanity not returned to the Moon? Why has a permanent human outpost not been constructed on the Moon? How can NewSpace companies contribute to taking humans to the Moon? Why has humanity waited for so long to exploit resources on the Moon and on asteroids or other near-Earth objects (NEO)? More questions sprang up in connection with Mars research: Is a future human spaceflight to Mars feasible? How can private initiatives and existing commercial space transportation vehicles contribute to Moon and Mars settlement bases? What are the economic benefits from exploiting in situ space-based resources?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
ISRU operations will include activities like resources assessment, resources acquisition, resource processing, in situ manufacturing, in situ construction and in situ energy.
- 2.
On December 12, 2016, Mars One announced that it secured an investment of 6 million euros from a Hong Kong investment fund and is trading publicly its stocks at the Frankfurt stock exchange (MarsOne, Mars One now trades publicly and closes 6 million euros funding 2016b).
- 3.
Russia is planning to rebuild the Russian Lunar lander robotic capability and perform five lunar missions in which four lunar landers are included. The Russians are planning to launch the Luna-26 orbiter and Luna-27 rover to the lunar surface and in 2024 launch Luna-25 Lander.
- 4.
Japan is planning to launch by 2019 the SLIM mission and by 2022 the Selene-2 mission with an orbiter, lander and rover on landing on the surface of the Moon.
- 5.
The Chinese are working on a first robotic Moon lander that is supposed to be a precursor to a manned lunar module that would carry Chinese astronauts to the Moon around 2030. Certain authors report that the six Chang landers are being designed and built—two landers each with rovers, and as many as four other landers to complete two missions that would each bring back to Earth 2 kg of lunar rock and regolith (Covault, November 2013).
- 6.
India is planning to launch the Chandrayaan-2 mission with an orbiter, lander and rover.
- 7.
Lunokhod-1 landed on the Moon in 1970 and Lunokhod-2 in 1973.
- 8.
NASA NextStep programme is a programme considered by NASA as a public-private partnership for partnering with industry in the commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human spaceflight missions in the proving ground around and beyond cislunar space—the space near Earth that extends just beyond the moon (NASA, Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) BAA Synopsis 2016d).
- 9.
Foreign companies could be eligible partners under US-led consortium but must comply with the Guidelines for Foreign Participation which will require no exchange of funding.
- 10.
It has been reported that Roscosmos will spend 7.5 million $ on this study (Writers 2016).
- 11.
The programme will operate in a similar way as the NASA COTS programme.
- 12.
3D printing may be difficult on the Moon gravity.
- 13.
Data from LRO, LCROSS and Chandrayaan probes have demonstrated the availability of huge deposits of ice in the cold trap craters of the lunar poles.
- 14.
A zero-G printer was launched into orbit in 2014 and was a result of a joined partnership between NASA MSFC and the company Made in Space (Space 2015).
- 15.
The company became famous for its Kick starting campaign of “selfies” into space using their Arkyd telescopes, as part of their Ceres programme for the launch of ten Earth observation microsatellites with the objective to provide EO services in agriculture, fire and pollution monitoring. Sadly due to low interest from the business community, the Arkyd Kick starting campaign was cancelled, and the company will return the funding to the public.
References
Aerospace, B. (2015, July 31). Bigelow Aerospace and NASA Execute NextSTEP Contract to Study B330 Utilization. Retrieved January 4, 2017, from http://bigelowaerospace.com/nextstep-announcement
Aldrin, B. (2013). Homesteading to red planet. In B. Aldrin (Ed.), Mission to mars (p. 184).
Charles Miller, A. W. (2015). Economic assessment and systems analysis of an evolvable lunar architecture that leverages commercial space capabilities and public private partnerships. NextGen Space LLC.
Cluster, L. S. (2016, May 6). Luxembourg space cluster. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from Exploration and use of space resources: http://www.spacecluster.lu/News/Exploration-and-use-of-space-resources
Company, S. E. (2013). SEC FAQ March.
Covault, C. (2013, November). China’s bold lunar plan. Aerospace America, 51, 24–29.
Energy, S. (2016, May). We are going Back to the Moon to get Water. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from Schackleton Energy: http://www.shackletonenergy.com/overview#goingbacktothemoon
ESA. (2013a, January 31). Building a Lunar Base with 3D printing. Retrieved January 5, 2017, from http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Building_a_lunar_base_with_3D_printing
ESA. (2015, March 1). Call for ideas: Space exploration as a driver for growth and competitiveness: Opportunities for the private sector. Noordwjik: ESA.
Foust, J. (2017). Lunar cause and effect. Retrieved from http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3189/1
Government, L. (2016, June). Space resources. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from Initiative: http://www.spaceresources.public.lu/en/index.html#initiative
Hall, M. (2016). A summary of the Economic Assessment and Systems Analysis of an Evolvable Lunar Architecture that leverages commercial space capabilities and Public-Private Partnerships. New Space, 4, 1–6.
Hufenbach, B. (2016). International missions to lunar vicinity and surface. In: 66 International Astronautical Congress, IAC.
Keravala, J. (2013, January-June). Interview with Jim Kerebala from the Shackleton Energy Company. International Journal of Space Technology Management and Innovation, 3(1), 68–71.
Lewis, J. (2009). Mining the sky: Energy for earth’s future (Presentation).
Liesebeth Beneder, R. W. (2016, December 5). Green European Journal. Retrieved December 6, 2016, from Cosmic Bonanza-Mining in Outer Space : http://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/cosmic-bonanza-mining-in-outer-space/
MarsOne. (2012, December). MarsOne Mission: Is it really possible? (S. Tkatchova, Interviewer). International Journal of Space Technology Management and Innovation, 2(2).
MarsOne. (2015, February 16). MarsOne. Retrieved June 23, 2016, from The Mars 100: Mars One Announces Round Three Astronaut Candidates: http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/the-mars-100-mars-one-announces-round-three-astronaut-candidates
MarsOne. (2016a). Retrieved from http://www.mars-one.com/mission/roadmap
MarsOne. (2016b, December 12). MarsOne now trades publicly and closes €6 million funding. Retrieved December 26, 2016, from Mars One now trades publicly and closes €6 million funding: http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-one-now-trades-publicly-and-closes-6-million-funding
Metals, P. R. (2016, January 7). Planetary resources & 3D systems reveal first ever 3D printed object from asteroid metals. Retrieved June 30, 2016, from Planetary Resources: http://www.planetaryresources.com/2016/01/planetary-resources-and-3d-systems-reveal-first-ever-3d-printed-object-from-asteroid-metals/
Museum, S. (2016). COSMONAUTS. Science Museum.
NASA. (2014a). 3D printing in space. NASA.
NASA. (2014b, April). Public-Private partnerships for space capability development.
NASA. (2016d, March 21). Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) BAA Synopsis. Retrieved January 4, 2017, from Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) BAA Synopsis: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=2350bb0e328e814dec4fa385b4dcb17e&tab=core&_cview=0
Rapp, D. (2006, September 5). The problems with lunar ISRU. Retrieved July 1, 2016, from The Space Review: http://thespacereview.com/article/697/1
Resources, P. (2016a). Harvesting water from Asteroids. Retrieved from Planetary Resources: http://www.planetaryresources.com/asteroids/#harvesting-water
Resources, P. (2016b, November 3). Planetary Resources. Retrieved May 20, 2017, from Planetary Resources and the Government of Luxembourg Announce €25 Million Investment and Cooperation Agreement: http://www.planetaryresources.com/2016/11/planetary-resources-and-the-government-of-luxembourg-announce-e25-million-investment-and-cooperation-agreement/
Sanders, J. (2016, November). L-8: In-Situ resource utilization capabilities. Johnson Space Center Engineering Directorate.
Space, M. i. (2015). Zero gravity 3D printer. Retrieved December 26, 2016, from Zero Gravity 3D Printer: http://www.madeinspace.us/projects/3dp/
Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015. (2015, June 6). Summary: H.R.1508—114th Congress (2015-2016).
Tkatchova, S. (2012). Interview: Mars One Mission: Is it really possible? Interview wih the Mars One Team. International Journal of Space Technology Management and Innovation, 2, 80–84.
Woerner, J. (2016, March 1). ESA Director General. Moon Village: Humans and Robots together on the Moon (ESA, Interviewer). ESA.
Writers, S. (2016, August 19). Moon Daily. Retrieved August 22, 2016, from Roscosmos to spend $7.5 M in studying issues of manned lunar missions: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Roscosmos_to_spend_7_5Mln_studying_issues_of_manned_lunar_missions_999.html
Young, A. (2015, April 27). Commercial Lunar Transportation Services: A speculation. The Space Review.
Zak, A. (2013). Chapter IV: Vision into the future. In A. Zak (Ed.), Russia in space (p. 190). Griffin Media.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tkatchova, S. (2018). Interplanetary Settlement and In Situ Exploration. In: Emerging Space Markets. Space Technology Library, vol 35. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-55669-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-55669-6_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-55667-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-55669-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)