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development and operation of a surface mine in a remote location - the south polar region of the moon
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development and operation of a surface mine in a remote location - south polar region of the moon
John A. Chapman, B.Sc., FCIM, P.Eng. and Marc Schulte, B.Sc. - Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Earth([email protected]) ([email protected])
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Development and
Operation of a Surface
Mine in a Remote
Location – South Polar
Region of the Moon
8TH ILEWG CONFERENCE, PAPER NO. 102
COSPONSORED BY CNSA AND ILEWG
BEIJING, CHINA
JULY 26, 2006
John Chapman, BSc, FCIM, PEng and Marc Schulte, BSc
Mining engineers, Canada, Earth
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
• Challenge
• Objective
• Strategy
• Space Investment
• Moon/Mars Program
• Lunar Environment South Polar Region
• Lunar Surface Mine Development
• Equipment Selection
• Remote Control & Monitoring
• Recommendations
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
The Challenge
• Humans cannot survive as a single planetspecies as evidenced in the Earth’s fossilrecord of mass extinctions of life causedmainly by comet/asteroid impacts and super-volcanic eruptions
• Humans have a genetic “wiring” that drivesexploration (risk) for discovery of new placesand things (reward) – the earth no longerholds the exploration potential nor therewards needed by society – it is time tomove onto the rest of the Solar System
DUNCAN STEEL – TARGET EARTH
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Objective
TO CONTRIBUTE TO ACTIVITIES
RELATED TO SAVING THE HUMAN
SPECIES AND CREATING GREAT
WEALTH FOR SOCIETY
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Strategy
• Create an investment environment thatrewards space development by privateenterprise
• Support the lunar/mars program
• Develop lunar base systems and proceduresthat as much as possible use technologiesand equipment applications from Earth (low-cost, versatile, redundant and reliable)
• Support enabling “foundation” technologiesfor space transportation, power/heat,communications
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Space Financing
Participating members of ILEWG should lobby nationaland state governments to offer a tax incentive to itscitizens for investment in space science andtechnology related to the exploration and humansettlement of space. That is, allow individuals and/orcorporations an immediate 100% tax write-off forinvestment in space related activities similar to theCanadian flow-through and tax-credit incentive toinvestors in Canadian mineralexploration activities. This will bringlarge numbers of private investorsinto the space program.
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Moon/Mars
Program
• Develop a permanent lunar base to use the
moon as a launch pad for deeper space
exploration, as well as tapping resources on
the lunar surface that could be used for
those missions, on earth and in LEO.
• Robotic missions to the moon beginning
2008
• Lunar manned missions beginning 2015
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Lunar Surface “Orebody”
Location & Mine Development• Remote sensing is now determining the best
location to robotically sample the Lunarsurface for hydrogen and oxygen
• Robotic sampling will determine the bestlocation for humans to directly test forconcentrations of hydrogen and oxygen
• Humans will need to use the same methodsas used on earth in determining thefeasible/optimum combination of mininglocation(s) as well as excavation andextraction methods (on Earth – maximizeNPV of deposit)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Exploration & Development Strategy
(Highland Regolith to Crater Water Ice)
• Commence mining at the highland lunar baseutilizing regolith (non-water) for processing tohydrogen and oxygen (low risk low reward)
• Once systems and procedures are establishedbring in larger equipment & use the originalsmall equipment for crater bottom exploration(water ice) – close to or at lunar base
• Enter old crater (water ice and other “volatiles”from comet debris) with partly shaded bottomwith gentle sloping walls for ease of ingress andegress to the shaded “cold sink”
• Develop and operate a hydrogen, oxygen(nitrogen, carbon) mining and processing facilityin or near the crater bottom (high risk highreward)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Lunar Environment
South Polar Region
• Temperature: Highlands -53oC +/-10, Craters -233oC +/-0(equatorial: -18oC +/-140)
• Atmosphere: thin, essentially non-existent (“hard”vacuum)
• Radiation: high ionizing radiation as very thin to no lunaratmosphere (significant danger to humans)
• Meteoroids: direct high velocity impact as no atmosphereto “burn” them up
• Gravity: 1.62m/s2 (~1/6g on Earth)
• Length of Day: 29.53 Earth days
• Dust: very dusty and a photoelectric change inconductivity at sunrise/sunset causes particles to levitateand adhere to surfaces (hard on equipment)
• Seismic Activity: few and of low magnitude (<4 on Richterscale)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Lunar Base Infrastructure
• Nuclear power/heat – probably gas turbinemodular helium reactor (~1MW electric and~1.5MW heat) with associated agricultureand aquaculture modules
• Human habitat facilities and repair andmaintenance facility mainly for mining andprocessing equipment
• Wireless WiMAX mesh network forpositioning, monitoring, guidance andcommunicating with optical link with EarthInternet
• Spaceport near lunar mining base
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Arctic Experience
Mining Equipment Selection• Many years of experience in open-pit mining
in Northern Canada has shown that mobilemining equipment can operate with highavailability and high productivity in a verycold (-50oC) and dusty environment
• Equipment design has continued to improveto prevent “brittle” fracture and lubricantsand fluids have been developed that functionvery well in the harsh Arctic environment
• Heat tracing of structural components andfluid reservoir heating has all served toimprove equipment operations
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Remote Mining Location
Systems & Procedures• Carefully select crew members to be experienced and
mentally stable (capable)
• Maintain good crew quarters and medical facilities toensure high moral
• Reliable source of electric power and heat is essential
• Cross train crew members to enhance multi-taskingcapabilities
• Standardize equipment as much as possible includingmechanical, electrical and hydraulic - functions andfittings
• Maintain sufficient inventory of spare parts and materialsto operate efficiently
• Maintain a modern machine shop with maintenance andrepair facilities to optimize equipment availability andproductivity
• Maintain an efficient communications network on, to/fromthe operations site, with Internet access to the crew
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Mining - Equipment Selection• Equipment must be versatile so that it can perform
both development and operations tasks
• First equipment should be small, and then asdevelopment progresses and operations mature,larger (but similar) equipment should be deployed
• The first small equipment could then be adapted(nuclear power, extra heat tracing, insulating, etc.)for exploration of deep cold craters in the vicinity ofthe lunar mining base exploring for water icedeposits (high risk, high reward venture)
• The swing function on equipment will need to bemodified to slow acceleration and deceleration sothat F=ma does not over-balance the normal force onthe machine in the low lunar gravity (~1/6 Earth’s)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Mining - Drilling the “Orebody”• The target area located by robotic sampling will need to
be auger drilled to ~2 meters depth on a grid pattern todefine a large enough hydrogen and oxygen resource tosatisfy the human (air and water) and equipment (rocketfuel, and fuel cell fuel) needs for at least ten years
• Neutron activation probe would analyze for hydrogen atthe borehole and report results in real time
• The use of hammer seismic may assist in defining thelunar bedrock profile and any regolith subsurfacevariations within the development area prior to drilling
• If water ice happens to be present in the highland regoliththat will create excitement (high-grade ore) but it couldcreate significant mining challenges if it is massive andcements the regolith particles – hard and abrasivematerial difficult to drill and to excavate (like Alberta OilSands)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Standardize Systems
to Hydrogen & Oxygen
• Rocket propulsion: chemical (H2 & O2),
nuclear thermal (H2 or H2O), nuclear
thermal with O2 augmentation (H2 & O2)
• Humans: O2 & H2O
• Agriculture and Aquaculture: H2O
• Mobile equipment fuel cells: H2 & O2
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
USE PARALLEL CUT MINING METHOD (90 DEGREE SWING)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Lunar Excavator & Powered
Side Dump Trailer
EARTH EXAMPLE TRACTOR TRAILER EARTH EXAMPLE SIDE DUMP TRAILERS
TRAILER CARBODY SAME AS EXCAVATOR & HYDRAULIC POWERED
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Lunar mining would be done during the daytime and processing would be done
at night. Operation crews would include, at least: mine engineer, extractive
metallurgical engineer, electrician, mechanic and equipment specialist – they
would be cross trained to both mine and process and they would need to have
Industrial first aid training
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Komatsu PC18M-2
(Earth 1g Environment)
Power 11.2 kW
Operating Weight 1933 kg
Ground Pressure 0.33 kg/cm2
Travel Speed 2.3 km/hr (low)
4.3 km/hr (high)
Gradeability 30 degrees
Drawbar Pull 1700 kg
Digging Height 3615 mm
Bucket Reach 3935 mm
Digging Depth 1785 mm
Komatsu PC35MR-2
(Earth 1g Environment)
Power 21.7 kW
Operating Weight 3840 kg
Ground Pressure 0.35 kg/cm2
Travel Speed 2.8 km/hr (low)
4.6 km/hr (high)
Gradeability 30 degrees
Drawbar Pull 3600 kg
Digging Height 5010 mm
Bucket Reach 4550 mm
Digging Depth 2650 mm
THE HYDRAULIC
EXCAVATOR IS THE
MOST VERSATILE
PIECE OF
CONSTRUCTION
EQUIPMENT
AVAILABLE TODAY
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
RECOMMENDATIONSFinancing-Transportation-Power/Heat-Communication
• The most important factors that will provide thefoundation for commercial space development are:
– Private sector funding (tax-incentive driven)
– Commissioning of reusable Nuclear ThermalRockets with LOX augmentation
– Commissioning of small Gas Turbine ModularHelium Reactors
– Deployment of optical (laser) communicationssystems compatible with the Internet
• Nuclear technology is an essential component tolunar and general space development and must beembraced by governments and developers
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
REMOTE CONTROL &
MONITORING OF EQUIPMENT• Establish local metric grid coordinate system (if there is still no
lunar UTM high resolution datum available)
• Deploy antenna array (at least 6) around perimeter of lunarbase for communication (~10m baud) and positioning (+/-10cm)
• Use WiMAX/IEEE 802.16 broadband wireless mesh network onand around the lunar base for positioning, equipment andoperations health/safety monitoring, remote control,autonomous functions as well as performance monitoring andreporting
• There are several companies on Earth now successfullyproviding the positioning, control and monitoring systems,mentioned above, to surface and underground mines
• Communicate with Earth using optical transmission via relaysatellite parked at Earth-Lunar L1 point and the UniversalSpace Network
• The end-to-end system connectivity would be TCP/IP compliantand be routered into the Earth’s Internet for mission controland public access
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
MOBILE HUMAN HABITAT (REFUG E) FOR EXPLORATION VENTURES
& FOR REMOTE CONTROL CENTER
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
TRANSPORTING HYDROGEN & OXYGEN TO SPACEPORT
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
QUICK COUPLING
ATTACHMENTS WILL
FACILITATE SIGNIFICANT
VERSATILITY, INCLUDING:
(A) ROCK BUCKET
(B) ROCK BREAKING
(C) AUGER DRILLING
(D) VIBRATING COMPACTOR
& SEISMIC HAMMER
(E) MATERIAL HANDLING ARM A B
C D E