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Dec. 19, 2021
The development of the Earth is in full swing, and the hour is not far off when mankind will face a shortage of natural resources, primarily metals. By this time, it is necessary to develop and master technologies for the delivery of scarce and rare materials from our natural satellite. The potential of the Moon as a raw material base for the Earth is enormous, according to scientists.
One of the most important practical motives that prompted people to study celestial bodies was a completely everyday necessity - the measurement of time. The oldest written sources of many peoples testify that the Moon served to determine the time. And one of these documents directly says: "The moon was created to count the days." Later, when the era of great geographical discoveries began, Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci, discovering America, determined the geographical longitude of their location by the Moon.
Centuries have passed ... Nowadays, the Moon is increasingly considered as part of the Earth's space infrastructure, and in some future it may turn out to be a supplier of scarce natural resources for its heavenly patron.
Modern research has shown that about a quarter of all lunar craters contain fragmented fragments of fallen asteroids of the so-called M-class, containing nickel, cobalt, platinum group elements, rare and rare earth metals. These asteroids are probably the remnants of the metal cores of planetesimals (celestial bodies in orbit around a young star, formed as a result of the gradual increment of smaller objects - Ed.), Which were destroyed as a result of mutual collisions in the early stages of the formation of the solar system.
According to the calculations of specialists, a metal asteroid with a diameter of 1.5 km that fell on the moon may contain various elements worth up to 1.2 quadrillion rubles, according to modern market estimates. Even if as a result of a collision with the Moon, only one percent of the asteroid's mass remains, the cost of the remaining cargo will be approximately 12 trillion rubles.
It should be borne in mind that valuable raw materials lie on the surface already in a fragmented state and do not require mines and other mining methods of extraction. The regular transport of this wealth from the Moon to Earth could prove to be quite a lucrative commercial enterprise.
Deficit is around the corner
Take, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO), which is found on the moon. This transparent semiconductor is widely used in displays and touch screens. In the 2000s, due to the increased demand in the world market, prices for indium began to rise. Because of this, the cost of screens today reaches 40% of the price of the entire electronic device. Engineers have long been trying to find an adequate replacement for this material, but so far all alternatives, such as aluminum-zinc oxide, tin oxide doped with fluorine or antimony, are inferior in parameters. This is one example of a growing shortage in one rather narrow technological area. There are other, more global challenges as well.
Supply constraints could lead to a slowdown in the growth of high-tech industries. It is known that about 90% of the rare earth metals widely used in the aerospace and defense sectors come to the world market from China. According to some reports, Chinese mines are in the late stages of their life cycle. A number of experts believe that their depletion may occur in the next 15–20 years.
Obviously, other valuable resources on Earth will sooner or later come to an end. So a detailed study of the wealth of the moon has prospects not only from a scientific point of view, but also from the most, as they say, applied.
Resource Race
It is interesting that China, which has sharply intensified its activity in the lunar direction in recent years, places a serious emphasis on geological research. It is possible that this interest stems from the desire to retain its role as the leading supplier of rare earth metals.
Indeed, among the objectives of the mission of the automatic interplanetary station "Chang'e-1", which in 2007 became the first device from the Middle Kingdom, sent to the satellite, was the construction of maps of the occurrence of chemical elements such as titanium and iron, as well as the assessment of the possibility of industrial development of deposits. This was followed by other orbital and landing missions, including the still unrepeated landing of the lunar rover on the side of the moon invisible from Earth in 2019. The crowning achievement of the program today is the operation to deliver lunar soil samples to Earth, successfully carried out as part of the mission of the automatic station " Chang'e-5 "in 2020.
Already in the period 2030–2035. The PRC expects to start industrial mining on the earth's satellite of rare earth metals, including the platinum group. In the lunar program "Chang'e" (the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology), developed by the Chinese National Space Administration CNSA in 2004, it is noted that osmium, platinum and palladium on the moon are a thousand times more than available on Earth.
Image above: Left - an image of the Moon in the full moon phase, on the right - a map of the distribution of titanium dioxide TiO2 in marine-type territories of the visible hemisphere of the Moon (weight percentages in surface rocks are indicated), built according to the Chinese geostationary satellite Gaofen-4 (2020).
Other countries are also painstakingly working on lunar charts. As follows from the materials of the Chandrayaan program, India also expects to engage in industrial production of various resources on the celestial body closest to us.
The start of research, according to which it is planned to deliver a lunar rover to the surface of the satellite in 2024, was announced by the leadership of the United Arab Emirates. The device will be equipped with two high-resolution cameras, a thermal imager, a microscope camera and other scientific instruments for studying the properties and composition of the lunar regolith. The landing site will be chosen in an area not yet surveyed by the devices of other countries.
And the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has announced plans to start producing hydrogen fuel on the Moon by 2035. The plant is planned to be located in the area of the South Pole, where significant deposits of ice are supposedly located. Water, oxygen and hydrogen will be obtained from it. The last component can be used as fuel.
It is well known from the documents and statements of the US leadership that NASA plans to develop certain territories of the Moon with the prospect of extracting and using natural resources. In March 2018, the agency approved the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to send small robotic landing devices and all-terrain vehicles to the moon's south pole. At the first stage, it is planned to deliver at least 10 kg of lunar soil to the Earth, at the second - from 500 kg to 1000 kg.
Thus, the industrial exploration of the Moon is highlighted among the priority tasks of space research of the solar system, conducted in the economically developed world powers.
Rich in titanium
Images of the lunar surface taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have revealed extremely titanium-rich regions. An analysis of the images obtained at the University of Hawaii (USA) showed that the concentration of titanium in certain areas of the lunar surface of the marine type reaches 18%, which is 3% higher than in the richest in titanium ore earth deposits.
It should be noted that the mineral ilmenite is the most enriched in titanium on the Moon. Therefore, the regions of the lunar seas with the distribution of ilmenite rocks may be of interest for the production of titanium on an industrial scale. This metal can be used to build lunar bases.
Treasure from space
In terms of origin, lunar natural resources can be divided into three main categories. The first includes those that were formed in the lunar depths in the process of evolution. The second includes those escaping to the surface during volcanic activity. The third is the resources brought in from the outside as a result of the fallout of meteoroid matter, comets and large asteroids.
The main elements that make up the rocks of the lunar surface and are of interest to earthlings: iron, titanium, magnesium, aluminum, calcium and silicon. These elements play an essential role in understanding the origin and evolution of the Moon, and their combination can serve as an indication of the deposits of certain mineral resources.
Fig. 1
The most wide range of mineral resources on the lunar surface are the places where asteroids fall. The greater the speed of collision of the asteroid with the Moon, the more of its substance rises above the surface and disappears into the surrounding space (Fig. 1). Modern scientific data show that during "slow" collisions, the material of asteroids to a large extent (up to 50% of the mass) remains on the lunar surface. There are about a quarter of such "slow" collisions (with a speed of less than 12 km /s).
High-resolution images of the lunar surface in recent years have shown real-life examples of such cases. Figure 2 shows a fragment of a crater formed by the fall of a "slow" asteroid.
How much is an asteroid?
According to modern data, 90% of the total number of asteroids are rock, and only a few percent are metallic (iron-nickel) objects. But even in a small (with a diameter of about 1 km and a mass of 2 billion tons) stone asteroid, the metal fraction is about 200 million tons. The main part of this fraction is iron. Small components in this case are nickel - 30 million tons, cobalt - 1.5 million tons, as well as silver, gold and platinum (total 7500 tons). The market value of this small part of the asteroid alone could be over $ 150bn.
Particular attention should be paid to the cobalt content. On Earth, this metal is used mainly for the production of special alloys with high heat resistance, superhardness, corrosion resistance, etc. The industrial content of cobalt in terrestrial ores ranges from fractions of a percent to 4%. World reserves of cobalt today are estimated at about 3 million tons. Consequently, only one stone asteroid with a kilometer diameter contains half of all the resources of this metal on Earth.
Metallic is more expensive
The development of metallic asteroids may turn out to be even more promising.
On the example of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite (fell on the territory of the Primorsky Territory in the USSR in 1947), which was a 60-ton fragment of a metal asteroid, one can judge the natural resources of this type of body. The meteorite consisted of 94% iron with minor impurities: nickel - 5.4% and cobalt - 0.38%.
If a metal asteroid has a diameter of 1 km, then its resources will be: iron - 7 billion tons, nickel - 1 billion tons, cobalt - 500 million tons.
At the current level of ore mining and nickel production, the mass of this metal contained in one relatively small asteroid meets the needs of all mankind for 2000 years.
The same is true for cobalt. While maintaining the current level of its production (about 50,000 tons per year), the natural reserves of cobalt will be depleted in the next 60 years. At the same time, the content of cobalt in one relatively small kilometer-long metallic asteroid will provide all the earth's needs for this metal for 10,000 years.
Moonstone - a lot of useful things!
The most illustrative example of rare and rare-earth metals falling on the Moon as a result of the fallout of asteroid matter are the results of the study of sample No. 12013, brought to Earth in 1969 by the Apollo-12 crew. Figure 3 shows this fragment after laboratory tests.
This stone is best interpreted as a complex rock of angular fragments of meteorites of two different groups (a mixture of two polymictic breccias), sintered together. One fraction is black-homogeneous without visible crystals, the other is variegated, gray-white.
As a result of the analysis of the chemical composition of the black fragment, it was found that, in addition to the elements typical of the lunar substance, rare-earth components were found in this sample: barium - up to 2% by weight, niobium - up to 2% by weight, zirconium - up to 0.22%, chromium - up to 0.23% , germanium - up to 0.05%. The presence of such inclusions is unambiguous evidence of the introduction of asteroid components into the lunar soil.
Particular attention should be paid to the relatively high content of niobium. It is widely used for the manufacture of superconducting magnets and high heat-resistant alloys for jet aircraft and rocket technology, as well as in the manufacture of containers for storing radioactive waste or installations for their use. Some parts of rockets and onboard equipment of artificial earth satellites are made from alloys containing niobium and pure niobium.
Typical niobium content in industrial grade earth ores is 2–4%.
Inexhaustible reserves
It should be noted that, unlike earth's natural reserves, lunar resources are constantly replenished due to the fallout of meteorite and asteroid matter.
Fig. 4
New impact craters of various sizes are regularly detected in large-scale images taken by the long-focus camera of the artificial lunar satellite LRO. As an example, a comparison of images (Fig. 4) obtained on December 2, 2012 (left) and July 27, 2013 (right) is given.
The researchers analyzed over 14,000 such pairs of images. As a result, 222 new craters with diameters ranging from 3m to 43m were discovered, formed over the past seven years.
Source: Russian space.
Related article:
Chang’e-5 sample has high-titanium content and rare Earth elements
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/12/change-5-sample-has-high-titanium.html
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/33656/
Russian space: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/russkiy-kosmos/
Moon: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/luna/
Images, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Russian space/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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