May 22nd 06, 11:50 PM
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/22may_beaty.htm
Hard-nosed Advice to Lunar Prospectors
NASA Science News
May 22, 2006
May 22, 2006: Long before David Beaty became associate Chief Scientist
for NASA's Mars Program, he was a prospector. Beaty spent 10 years
surveying remote parts of Earth for precious metals and another 12
years
hunting for oil.
And this qualifies him to work for NASA? Precisely.
Beaty has the kind of experience NASA needs as the agency prepares to
implement the Vision for Space Exploration. "Mining and prospecting are
going to be key skills for settlers on the Moon and Mars," he explains.
"We can send them air and water and fuel from Earth, but eventually,
they'll have to learn to live off the land, using local resources to
meet their needs."
On the Moon, for instance, mission planners hope to find water frozen
in
the dark recesses of polar craters. Water can be split into hydrogen
for
rocket fuel and oxygen for breathing. Water is also good for drinking
and as a bonus it is one of the best known radiation shields. "In many
ways," notes Beaty, "water is key to a sustained human presence." Ice
mining on the Moon could become a big industry.
Beaty has learned a lot from his long career prospecting, exploring and
mining on Earth. Now, with an eye on other worlds, he has distilled
four
pieces of wisdom he calls "Dave's Postulates" for prospectors working
anywhere in the solar system:
Postulate #1: "Wishful thinking is no substitute for scientific
evidence."
"On Earth, banks won't lend money for less than proven reserves. From a
bank's viewpoint, anything less than proven is not really there. This
lesson has been learned the hard way by many a prospector," he laughs.
For NASA the stakes are higher than profit. The lives of astronauts
could hang in the balance. "Proven reserves on the Moon can perhaps be
thought of as having enough confidence to risk the lives of astronauts
to go after it."
What does it take to "prove" a reserve?that is, to know with
confidence
that a resource exists in high enough concentration to be produced?
"That depends on the nature of the deposit," explains Beaty. "Searching
for oil on Earth, you can drill one hole, measure the pressure and
calculate how much oil is there. You know that oil probably exists 100
feet away because liquids flow. However, for gold you must drill holes
100 feet apart, and assay the concentration of gold every five feet
down
each hole. That's because the solid earth is heterogenous. 100 feet
away
the rocks may be completely different."
Deposits on the Moon aren't so well understood. Is lunar ice widespread
or patchy, deep or shallow? Does it even exist? "We don't know," says
Beaty. "We still have a lot to learn."
Postulate #2: "You cannot define a reserve without specifying how it
can
be extracted. If it can't be mined, it's of no use." Enough said.
Postulate #3: "Perfect knowledge is not
possible. Exploration costs money, and we can't afford to buy all the
information we want. We have to make choices, deciding what information
is critical and what's not."
He offers the following hypothetical example:
"Suppose we decide to send a robot with a little drill and an onboard
laboratory into Shackleton Crater, a place on the Moon with suspected
ice deposits. We're going to have to think pretty carefully about that
lab. Maybe it can contain only two instruments. What are the two things
we most need to know?"
"Suppose further that someone on Earth has invented a machine that can
extract water from lunar soil. But it only works if the ice is close to
the surface and if the ice is not too salty." The choice is made. "We'd
better equip the robot with instruments to measure the saltiness of the
ice and its depth in the drill hole."
Finally, Postulate #4: "Don't underestimate the potential effects of
heterogeneity. All parts of the Moon are not alike, just as all parts
of
Earth are not alike. So where you land matters."
Ultimately, says Beaty, if geologists and engineers work together
applying these rules as they go, living off the land on alien worlds
might not be so hard after all.
Hard-nosed Advice to Lunar Prospectors
NASA Science News
May 22, 2006
May 22, 2006: Long before David Beaty became associate Chief Scientist
for NASA's Mars Program, he was a prospector. Beaty spent 10 years
surveying remote parts of Earth for precious metals and another 12
years
hunting for oil.
And this qualifies him to work for NASA? Precisely.
Beaty has the kind of experience NASA needs as the agency prepares to
implement the Vision for Space Exploration. "Mining and prospecting are
going to be key skills for settlers on the Moon and Mars," he explains.
"We can send them air and water and fuel from Earth, but eventually,
they'll have to learn to live off the land, using local resources to
meet their needs."
On the Moon, for instance, mission planners hope to find water frozen
in
the dark recesses of polar craters. Water can be split into hydrogen
for
rocket fuel and oxygen for breathing. Water is also good for drinking
and as a bonus it is one of the best known radiation shields. "In many
ways," notes Beaty, "water is key to a sustained human presence." Ice
mining on the Moon could become a big industry.
Beaty has learned a lot from his long career prospecting, exploring and
mining on Earth. Now, with an eye on other worlds, he has distilled
four
pieces of wisdom he calls "Dave's Postulates" for prospectors working
anywhere in the solar system:
Postulate #1: "Wishful thinking is no substitute for scientific
evidence."
"On Earth, banks won't lend money for less than proven reserves. From a
bank's viewpoint, anything less than proven is not really there. This
lesson has been learned the hard way by many a prospector," he laughs.
For NASA the stakes are higher than profit. The lives of astronauts
could hang in the balance. "Proven reserves on the Moon can perhaps be
thought of as having enough confidence to risk the lives of astronauts
to go after it."
What does it take to "prove" a reserve?that is, to know with
confidence
that a resource exists in high enough concentration to be produced?
"That depends on the nature of the deposit," explains Beaty. "Searching
for oil on Earth, you can drill one hole, measure the pressure and
calculate how much oil is there. You know that oil probably exists 100
feet away because liquids flow. However, for gold you must drill holes
100 feet apart, and assay the concentration of gold every five feet
down
each hole. That's because the solid earth is heterogenous. 100 feet
away
the rocks may be completely different."
Deposits on the Moon aren't so well understood. Is lunar ice widespread
or patchy, deep or shallow? Does it even exist? "We don't know," says
Beaty. "We still have a lot to learn."
Postulate #2: "You cannot define a reserve without specifying how it
can
be extracted. If it can't be mined, it's of no use." Enough said.
Postulate #3: "Perfect knowledge is not
possible. Exploration costs money, and we can't afford to buy all the
information we want. We have to make choices, deciding what information
is critical and what's not."
He offers the following hypothetical example:
"Suppose we decide to send a robot with a little drill and an onboard
laboratory into Shackleton Crater, a place on the Moon with suspected
ice deposits. We're going to have to think pretty carefully about that
lab. Maybe it can contain only two instruments. What are the two things
we most need to know?"
"Suppose further that someone on Earth has invented a machine that can
extract water from lunar soil. But it only works if the ice is close to
the surface and if the ice is not too salty." The choice is made. "We'd
better equip the robot with instruments to measure the saltiness of the
ice and its depth in the drill hole."
Finally, Postulate #4: "Don't underestimate the potential effects of
heterogeneity. All parts of the Moon are not alike, just as all parts
of
Earth are not alike. So where you land matters."
Ultimately, says Beaty, if geologists and engineers work together
applying these rules as they go, living off the land on alien worlds
might not be so hard after all.