Global has launched a super "moon cake" battle. Why is the moon exploring so popular?

Author:Look at the think tank Time:2022.09.23

On the moon about 385,000 kilometers away from the earth, the value of resources is beyond imagination. For humans, the moon is not only a outposting station on the vast universe, but also the resource reserve warehouse that is survived. These resources can help people solve the world energy crisis, meet their future demand for smartphones and electric vehicles, and bring people to Mars or even farther.

Although these treasures are extremely attractive, they are out of reach. At present, people have no clear methods for mining precious metals, water and 氦 on the moon.

The "Artemis 1" Rockets launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) may become a "hair gun" for humans to return to the moon. The British "Daily Mail" stated that once the deployment is in place, people's attention will turn to mining resources. The competition for lunar resources is first of all the competition between large powers, but it won't be long, many large enterprise groups in the world will also join this battle.

So far, at least 6 countries and a group of private companies have publicly announced more than 250 moon landing missions in the next ten years. They all hope to get a share from this "moon cake", including about 168 billion pounds of water, billions of pounds of gold and pounds of £ 1.2 trillion. However, these are extremely rough estimates. No one knows how much water, metals and minerals are in the depths of the moon.

The "Lingyue" phenomenon of "Lingyue" phenomenon "Lingyue", which was "passing" from the surface of the Chinese Space Station in Beijing (Photo by Yan Yan)

Wen | Zhang Jiaxin

This article is reproduced from the WeChat public account "Global Magazine" (ID: Globemagazine). The original first was released on September 15, 2022. Why is the original title "Global Exploration of Mooncakes" for the lunar battle? "

Water is a priceless treasure

The cost of sending a cubic meter of water into the near -land orbit is as high as 1 million pounds, which means that the water in the space is like getting a priceless treasure. Water on the moon is not only the source of life of astronauts, but also can make rocket fuel through separation of hydrogen and oxygen. NASA estimates that there is about 600 million tons of water ice on the moon.

The water is so precious that the moon can even make the moon the "gas station" for people to explore the solar system.

According to a 2019 research report, according to the current cost of water supply, the value of water on the moon is 8.7 million pounds per ton. The report also estimates that the market value of the next 30 years may be about 179 billion pounds.

So the question is, how much water does the moon have?

In October 2020, NASA confirmed that water was found on the surface of the moon that was exposed to the sun, which means that water may be distributed in a wider surface area of the moon. NASA Gadar Space Flying Center doctoral researcher Casey Honey Honey said that the water they found is equivalent to about a bottle of 12 ounces (about 354 ml) of a bottle of water in a cubic meter of moon soil.

Recently, China ’s“ Chang'e 5 ”detector found that there are trace water in the moon and moon rocks. There are about 120 grams of water in 1 ton month, and about 180 grams of water among 1 ton of rocks.

Metal huge market

In order to become more environmentally friendly and cope with climate change on the earth, electric vehicles, wind power fields and solar panels are becoming more and more popular, but they all need a large number of metals called "rare earth".

Extracting metals in rare earth, such as crickets for magnets, may cause serious pollution to the earth's environment. Considering this, the moon is the best alternative option. It may be a "big market" worth millions of pounds.

Apollo astronauts who brought back to the lunar rocks in the 1960s and 1970s said that the surface layer of the moon also contained some such resources. However, Professor Ian Crowford at the University of London, the University of London, UK believes that these resources may be difficult to extract.

Professor Crowford said that we do n’t know enough about the moon. We do n’t know if the extraction of moon resources is economically feasible. We are still in the exploration stage. He said he would regard the "Artemis Plan" as part of the exploration activities.

Many metals are essential for building industry and scientific infrastructure on the moon and moon space on the moon.

Many places on the surface of the moon contain precious titanium metals, and the proportion may be 10 times the earth. Like titanium, aluminum and iron also exist in the form of oxides. In addition, all moon rocks are rich in silicon, and Professor Crowford said that this may be very important in the context of space industrialization in the future.

Some people have speculated that the moon may still be buried under the surface of the moon -some asteroids that cross space may contain gold, and they sink below the moon surface with gold when they hit the moon.

The temptation of 氦

At present, the huge energy crisis plagues most of the world and regions.

Nuclear fusion has always been considered a potential alternative to fossil fuels. Scientists want to imitate the sun and transform hydrogen into 氦 by nuclear fusion to generate energy.

To do this, one method is to extract one rare hydrogen (氘); the other is to extract more rare 氦, called 氦 -3.极 -3 is extremely rare on the earth, but in some parts of the moon, including the Sea of Jinghai, the 氦-3 concentration in the surface material is 20ppb. This is because the moon has no atmosphere to provide protection, so the 氦-3 is deposited on the surface of the moon by the sun wind. As an alternative to uranium as a nuclear power plant, this isotope is not radioactive. According to Dr. Tony Cook, a lecturer of the Department of Physics at the University of Aberist Was, its concentration is "about 1,000 times the concentration we found in the atmosphere."

It is estimated that there is a 氦 -3 worth about $ 1.5 trillion in the moon. Although this number is so tempting, Professor Crusford still said, "In any case, it should not be considered that the earth is economical and feasible. Energy.

Space travel beckon

In addition to valuable water, metal and cricket resources, the moon is also a popular destination for commercial space travel. Financial service company UBS estimates that by 2030, the value of the space travel market will reach $ 3 billion.

Companies such as Virgin Galaxy, SpaceX, and Blue Origin want to profit from this profitable project. Those who can afford this cost will not misunderstand the opportunities for the planet travel such as the moon.

How to divide "moon cakes"

How will this huge "moon cake" be divided? How will the competition for these resources be supervised?

The UN "Outer Space Treaty" clearly stipulates that no ethnic state can claim sovereignty over the moon, and more than 100 countries, including all major aerospace countries, have signed the treaty.

"Daily Mail" reported that experts from many countries have unanimously called for resolving rules and legal issues in order to reach more consensus internationally, because people are worried that competing for this huge "moon cake" will become between rich companies Mailing.