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Energy Minerals in the Solar System: Resources for the 21 st Century

Energy Minerals in the Solar System: Resources for the 21 st Century. 2008 AAPG Annual Convention April 21, 2008. Harrison H. Schmitt. William A. Ambrose. Bureau of Economic Geology John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences. Engineering Physics

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Energy Minerals in the Solar System: Resources for the 21 st Century

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  1. Energy Minerals in the Solar System: • Resources for the 21st Century 2008 AAPG Annual Convention April 21, 2008 Harrison H. Schmitt William A. Ambrose Bureau of Economic Geology John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences Engineering Physics University of Wisconsin-Madison

  2. Outline ●Strategic Goals Human settlement Transportation (propellants) Energy resources ● Solar System Resources Moon Mars Near-Earth asteroids Titan

  3. Main Sources and Acknowledgments NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory John Curchin John S. Lewis, Mining the Sky (1996) Paul Spudis, The Once and Future Moon (1996) Harrison Schmitt, Return to the Moon (2006) Publication was authorized by the Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin

  4. Support human settlement Manufacture of propellants for transportation Energy and materials sources for Earth imports Strategic Goals

  5. Earth-LEO: 8.0 kms-1 LEO-Moon: 6.3 kms-1 Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle >280,000 lb to Low Earth Orbit 7.4-Mlb gross liftoff weight 358 ft in length Five-segment RSRB’s Earth-departure stage •LOX/LH2 Core stage •LOX/LH2 •Five RS68 engines

  6. Moon base: materials from regolith Shuttle launch with lunar propellants He-3 mining U.S. funding commitment: $150B for 15 yr Schmitt (2004)

  7. Lunar Helium-3 Schmitt (2004) >270,000 km2 minable (high- and medium-grade) Lewis (1996)

  8. Schmitt (2006)

  9. Lunar He-3 Distribution OP T Tranquillitatis Oceanus Procellarum Johnson et al. (1999)

  10. Epithermal neutron flux Both poles: ~6.6 billion tons of ice Shadowed area within 12° latitude of north pole: 7,500 km2 Bussey and Spudis (2006) Lunar Hydrogen North Pole Feldman et al. (1998) 1.5°

  11. Solar power Solar Illumination North Pole % Illumination 100 90-99 75-90 60-75 45-60 15 km 0 Bussey and Spudis (2006)

  12. Gorgonum Chaos: Mars Odyssey CO2, CH4 clathrates Ice caps Permafrost 200 m USGS Mars Propellants North Pole - MOLA Water Atmosphere Ice caps Permafrost Max. thickness 3 km Volume ~1.2 million km3

  13. Holden Delta Water on Mars Wax River Delta (H. Roberts) 7 km 5 km

  14. Methane on Mars Atmosphere: 10 ppb Exhumed Permafrost 200 m Mars: Plains near Lyot Crater Earth: Northwest territories Emma Pike Mars Global Surveyor

  15. Methane on Mars Atmosphere: 10 ppb Microbial activity Comet impacts Hale-Bopp Malcolm Ellis ALH84001 McKay (1996)

  16. Methane on Mars Atmosphere: 10 ppb Weathered olivine Igneous activity Ceraunius Tholus Nili Fossae 40 km 20-32 Olivine compositions (% FeO) >45

  17. Asteroids NEA’s Non-Earth approaching Amors NEA’s Armagh University

  18. 75% of known asteroids CI and CM chondrites: volatiles: 5-20% water C-Type 253 Mathilde S-Type 15% of known asteroids dominant in inner belt: olivine, pyroxene, Fe 951 Gaspra 10% of known asteroids Fe, Ni, Co, Pt-group M-Type 3554 Amun Asteroid Compositional Types

  19. 3554 Amun—NEA Smallest known M asteroid—300× metal in lunar regolith ~2 km diameter (size of a typical open-pit mine) Mass: 30 billion tons Market value Fe and Ni: $8,000 billion Co: $6,000 billion Pt-group: $6,000 billion Equivalent asset $10 million per ton to launch from Earth, or $300,000,000 billion Codrin Bucur

  20. (-) Small number of NEA’s have been spectrally classified Target accessibility depends on orbital variability Mining techniques require feasibility testing Economic Factors (+) Large market for mass-in-orbit materials (metals, construction, volatiles) Potential for in situ propellant production http://www.celestia.info/

  21. Asteroid-Mining Technology Orbital transfer Strip mining Bonsor (2000) Chesley Bonestell

  22. Ethane/methane lakes Titan Atmospheric profile Cassini/ Huygens mission Ethane production and fallout Methane haze Ethane mist Altitude (km) Ethane/methane/N2 ocean H2O ice and acetylene Temperature (K)

  23. Titan: Cryovolcanism Lopes et al. (2005) Ganesha Macula Art View: Michael Carroll 100 km

  24. 100 km Benzene (5.05-micron band) Titan: Hydrocarbons HC’s concentrated in low-albedo terrains Clark et al. (2007)

  25. He-3, ice, regolith Ice, CH4, N, CO2 Metals, volatiles HC, ice Summary

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