Lunar Power

Arlin Crotts

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139045384.013

Chapter 12 - Lunar Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014

Arlin Crotts

Show author details

Arlin Crotts: Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York

Book contents

Get access

Summary

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be,

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,

Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales.

– Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1835, “Locksley Hall”

Tennyson reminds us that despite the scope for humanity of exploration, personal fulfillment rests on immediate accomplishment: on commerce, personal opportunity, and peace versus conflict – measured on a human scale. How can outer space fit into human lives?

From the start, Columbian-era Europeans set out to explore the world for profit. Although investors often lost their stakes and crew-members their lives, both dreamed of riches, and some were rewarded. In intervening centuries ships sailed the globe to exploit and trade in natural resources: spices, whale oil, and more. In the twentieth century, exploration of Earth’s polar regions and outer space was a contest for the prestige of nations and individuals more than profit. Lunar explorers need not fear unreasonably for their lives given precaution (Chapter 11), but what have investors to gain? Can distant space including the Moon be monetized for profit?

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: The New Moon
Water, Exploration, and Future Habitation
, pp. 368 - 391

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139045384.013 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Dreams of Earth and Space – Grëzy o Zemle i nebe: antologiià russkogo kosmizma by Tsiolkovski, Konstantin, 1895 (1995 reprinting), St. Petersburg: Khudozh. lit-raGoogle Scholar

Moon Rush by Wingo, Dennis, 2004, Burlington, Ontario: Apogee, p. 83Google Scholar

“Development of Automotive Liquid Hydrogen Storage Systems” by Krainz, G., Bartlok, G., Bodner, P., Casapicola, P., Doeller, Ch., Hofmeister, F., Neubacher, E. & Zieger, A., 2004, Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, Cryogenic Engineering Conference, 49, 35CrossRef Google Scholar

The Lunar Hopping Transporter by Degner, R. et al., 1971, NASA-CR-130010

“High-Rate Solar Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 and Water Vapor to Hydrocarbon Fuels” by Varghese, Oomman K., Paulose, Maggie, LaTempa, Thomas J. & Grimes, Craig A., 2010, Nano Letters, 10, 750CrossRef Google Scholar

Satellites to be Built and Launched by 2018, World Market Survey by Villain, Rachel, 2009, Paris: EuroconsultGoogle Scholar

Scott, Dave: “Astronaut Lunar Surface Exploration Destinations: New Technology to Address New and Complex Scientific Problems” by Head, James W. & Scott, David R., July 16, 2013, Lunar Science Institute Virtual ForumGoogle Scholar

“Microwave Extraction of Water from Lunar Regolith Simulant” by Ethridge, Edwin & Kaukler, William, 2007, Space Technology and Applications International Forum, AIP Conference, 880, 830Google Scholar

“Specific Heats of Lunar Basalt 15555 and Soils 15301 and 60601 from 90 to 350 K” by Hemingway, B. S. & Robie, R. A., 1973, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 4, 355Google Scholar

“Multi-MW Closed Cycle MHD Nuclear Space Power Via Nonequilibrium He/Xe Working Plasma” by Litchford, Ron J. & Harada, Nobuhiro, 2011, Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (N&ETfS) 2011, #3349Google Scholar

“Trade Study of a 20 Megawatt Electric Low Specific Mass Nuclear Power System for Space Propulsion” by Deason, Wesley, Ferrulli, Regal, Gupta, Mahima, Hoifeldt, Nic, Reneau, Jarred & Suddert, Laura, 2011, N&ETfS 2011, #3289Google Scholar

A Conceptual Multi-Megawatt System Based on a Tungsten CERMET Reactor” by Webb, Jonathan A. & Gross, Brian J., 2011, N&EtfS, #3275Google Scholar

“The History of Power Transmission by Radio Waves” by Brown, W. C., 1984, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 32, 1240CrossRef Google Scholar

“Lunar Oxygen Production by Vapor Phase Pyrolysis” by Steurer, Wolfgang, in Space Manufacturing 5: Engineering with Lunar and Asteroidal Materials, eds. Faughnan, Barbara & Maryniak, Gregg, 1985, New York: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 123Google Scholar

“Lunar Oxygen Production by Pyrolysis” by Senior, Constance L., in Resources of Near-Earth Space, eds. Lewis, J. & Matthews, M. S., 1993, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 179Google Scholar

“Production of O2 on the Moon: A Lab-Top Demonstration of Ilmenite Reduction with Hydrogen” by Taylor, Lawence A., Jerde, Eric A., McKay, David S., Gibson, Michael A., Knudsen, Christian W. & Kanamori, Hiroshi, 1993, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 24, 1411Google Scholar

“A Lunar Miner Design: With Emphasis on the Volatile Storage System” by Gajda, Matthew E., Kulcinski, Gerald L., Sviatoslavsky, Gregory I. and Sviatoslavsky, Igor N., Earth & Space 2006, 188, 49

“Race to the Moon” by Guterl, Fred, Newsweek, October 11, 2007Google Scholar

“The Moon: An Abundant Source of Clean and Safe Fusion Fuel for the 21st Century” by Kulcinski, G. L. & Schmitt, H. H., in 11th International Scientific Forum on Fueling the 21st Century, 1987, Google Scholar

“Lifetimes in Aluminum-doped Silicon” by Schmidt, Jan, Thiemann, Nils, Bock, Robert & Brendel, Rolf, 2009, Journal of Applied Physics, 106, 093707CrossRef Google Scholar

“Thorium Abundances on the Aristarchus Plateau: Insights into the Composition of Aristarchus Pyroclastic Glass Deposits” by Hagerty, J. J., Lawrence, D. J., Hawke, B. R. & Gaddis, L. R., 2009, Journal of Geophysical Research, 114, E04002CrossRef Google Scholar

“Lunar Monazites” by Kartashov, P. M., Bogatikov, O. A., Mokhov, A. V., Gorshkov, A. I., Ashikhmina, N. A., Magazina, L. O. & Koporulina, E. V., 2006, Doklady Earth Sciences, 407A, 498CrossRef Google Scholar

“The Uranium Distrubution in Lunar Soils and Rocks 12013 and 14310” by Haines, E. L., Gancarz, A. J. & Wasserburg, G. J., 1972, Abstracts of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 3, 350Google Scholar

“Imaging Extended Sources with Coded Mask Telescopes: Application to the INTEGRAL IBIS/ISGRI Instrument” by Matthieu, Renaud, Gros, Alexandra, Lebrun, François, Terrier, Régis, Goldwurm, Andréa, Reynolds, Steve & Kalemci, Emrah, 2006, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 456, 389Google Scholar

“Global Elemental Maps of the Moon: The Lunar Prospector Gamma-Ray Spectrometer” by Lawrence, D. J., Feldman, W. C., Barraclough, B. L., Binder, A. B., Elphic, R. C., Maurice, S. & Thomsen, D. R., 1998, Science, 281, 1484CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

“Descriptive Models of Thorium-Rare-Earth Veins” by Staatz, Mortimer H., in Developments in Mineral Deposit Modeling, edited by Bliss, James D., 1992, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 2004Google Scholar

Geochemical Prospecting for Thorium and Uranium Deposits by Boyle, R. W., 2013, Amsterdam: Elsevier, p. 170.Google Scholar

“Q&A: Thorium Reactor Designer Ratan Kumar Sinha” by Singh, Seema, August 2008, IEEE SpectrumGoogle Scholar

SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future by Martin, Richard, 2012, New York: Palgrave MacmillanGoogle Scholar

“Space Settlements, Property Rights, and International Law: Could a Lunar Settlement Claim the Lunar Real Estate It Needs to Survive?” by Wasser, Alan and Jobes, Douglas, 2008, Journal of Air Law and Commerce, 73, 38Google Scholar

“A New Paradigm for Arbitrating Disputes in Outer Space” by Listner, Michael, January 9, 2012, Space Review, Google Scholar

“Heinlein’s Ghost” by Day, Dwayne A., April 16, 2007, The Space Review, Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.