Slashdot Mirror
Energy Firm Wants To Be First To Mine the Moon
coondoggie writes "By 2020, the Shackleton Energy Company says it intends to be operating the world's first lunar base and propellant depot for all manner of spacecraft. Shackleton stated that after a phase of robotic prospecting, its crews will establish the infrastructure in space and basecamps in the lunar polar crater regions to supervise industrial machinery for mining, processing and transporting lunar products to market in Low Earth Orbit and beyond. The company said it will use a mix of industrial astronauts and advanced robotic systems to provide a strategically-assured, continuous supply of propellants for spacecraft."
Perhaps Assimo will finally be put to work.
Perhaps I'm trolling, perhaps I'm not.
SEC team members have deeply embedded relationships at many levels within the international space community, industry, academia and NASA.
right. Deep connections to all those people, who can help with extracting a few bucks from the Fed. Why not? Everybody else is doing it.
You can't handle the truth.
My prediction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(film)
A lot of people own land on the moon and will sue you for trespassing on their mineral rights!
2020? These guys are either nuts or lying, maybe both. If they're not just total crackpots, then this is probably just trolling for VC dollars like that stupid flying car thing.
I read the internet for the articles.
How have they solved the problem of the abrasive Moon dust? It is really hard on bearings and even worse on lungs.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
So who owns the moon? I mean - will they have mineral rights licensed from someone? And is there an agreement as to who that might be? Sounds like a casus belli brewing.
I was excited about this, until I went to their "website". http://www.shackletonenergy.com/
TV: "In 2020 we'll land privately-owned vvehicles on the moon-"
Viewer:"Yaaaaaaaay"
TV" "-in order to rape its resources."
Viewer: "fuuuuuuuck"
Either way I got my laugh for the day.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Actually, there are 2 moon bases, or moon units: Moon Unit Alpha and Moon Unit Zappa.
I am officially gone from
I'm planning an occupy Moon Unit Zappa movement.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Would the "temperature" really be a problem? The machines are going to be in vacuum, so the only way they can lose heat (apart from conduction via the soil) is by radiation. Here being constantly in shadow is probably a benefit, as then you can wrap the machine in enough reflective foil to maintain whatever your desired operating temperature is without having to worry about the sun spoiling your calculations.
Sure you can insulate, but are you going to wrap every exposed tool on your system in insulation? This company is planing a mining operation, how long do you think that foil is going to last while digging in dirt (which happens to be extremely abrasive). And sure it's easy to maintain the desired operating temperature if you're connected via cable to an operating nuclear reactor, but your excavator moving in the field will be draining its batteries just trying to keep the joints and hydraulics warm without that 1.3 kW/m^2 solar assist (and no solar panels to recharge them either).
I'm aging rapidly, I bought a new game and had no idea if my machine was good for it.
That's about as likely as a company naming itself Cyberdyne and developing semi-autonomous robots...Oh wait!
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Anyone who has watched a mine, and a refinery, or even seen pictures of them, is qualified to question the validity of the time frame here. All that industrial process activity, in an environment with no atmosphere to speak of and reduced gravity ?
... but operating by 2020 ?
Kudos for thinking big and bold, and the value of whatever solutions do emerge
Not gonna happen.
In their defense, you could have said the same thing back in the late 70s about PCs.
Those companies aren't going to take the risk. They'll let somebody else do it and, if those people are successful, they'll buy them out.
When I first saw the article, I flashed on Heinlein, then "Destination Moon", the first movie I saw, back in 1951.
Seems to me that what Bill Stone is setting out to do is the kind of thing any real nerd would give his left nut to do, be involved in, or see happen. I may be getting too cynical (I think many here are, or have already arrived) but I'd like to see this work. Wouldn't hurt to have a modern-day Delos Harriman or three backing this. I think too many forget that humans invent their own future. One may observe - avidly or idly, participate, or scoff.
For those who didn't click through the links: http://www.stoneaerospace.com/news-/news-mining-moon.php
(Thanks for the hippie quiz. It brought back a few memories. 114)
"Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. "
The US is a signatory, which makes this law for any US registered company. How long the treaty remains viable is another question.
"To make this ambitious plan possible, the company this week said it had begun its initial fundraising campaign via a company called RocketHub which defines itself as a crowdfunding outfit that helps raise money for a variety of entrepreneurial pursuits."
In other news, I have decided to build a robot army to take over the world and build fusion power plants, donations welcome! lol. In the aerospace industry without funding you're just another in a LONG list of dreamers with a bunch of untried concepts. Maybe the Shackleton people are less utterly vapor than some, but the chances of anything like this getting off the ground are 1000's to 1 against. I think the business plan is vastly overoptimistic in its cost analysis, and the question still remains who would be the customers for all this rocket fuel? Truthfully, having been in the business of building rockets, this stuff is way harder and way more expensive than even most of the people in the industry are wont to estimate when it is their own project.
Not that I don't hope they can pull it off, but they're going to need 50-100 billion to do it, and I'm pretty much doubting they're going to crowdsource the GDP of most of sub-saharan Africa... Good luck to them though.
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem." -- Jefferson
My main concern is that no taxpayer subsidies be involved. If they want to set up their vast lunar mining industry, fine. Don't expect me to pay for even a tiny bit of it so that a handful of rich assholes can bask in luxury and privilege. VCs should fund all of it.
I am an indigenous aboriginal person and any grant of mineral rights should include compensation to my tribe (the "Humans") as the moon is our collective property and any use of it could potentially damage it and affect its prominent role in my culture. The moon features prominently in the traditions of my people from dances (the Moonwalk) to courting and romantic rituals (the honeymoon) and cuisine (cheese). I propose that any private commercial venture be submitted to approval by vote by a base majority of my tribe (7 billion+ members) and that revenues from any commercial venture be distributed equally to each member.
In related news, the United States Federal government has created a business license class for lunar activities. The licensing fee is 2 billion dollars per year.