NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine believes that the extraction of rare earth metals from the lunar surface "in this century" will be possible.
The moon as raw material supplier of the 21. C.?
Rare metals have tremendous benefits on Earth. They are used in batteries of electric cars, cell phones, military equipment and fluorescent tubes. In the last twenty years, demand for these rare earths has skyrocketed amidst the growing demand for items they need.
There were few mobile phones around two decades ago, but as these devices become ubiquitous, the demand for rare earths needed to make them has skyrocketed. More than 80 percent of US rare earth minerals are imported from China, and the US dependence on these supplies has important implications for the trade war between the two countries.
"As long as China dominates the world's rare earth production, Washington will be under constant pressure from Beijing, although there is no restriction on rare earth exports," wrote Hu Weijia of Global Times. As rare earths become an increasingly valuable commodity, researchers today are searching for new supplies outside of our planet. The extraction of the moon and asteroids become a lucrative perspective. The head of NASA seemed optimistic that this is possible in the near future.
Moonstone, rich in rare earths.
Bridenstine told CNBC's "Squawk Alley" on Thursday that the moon could be abundant in these rare metals. "There could be tons of platinum-group metals on the moon, rare-earth metals that are hugely valuable on Earth," said Bridenstine.
He also said that obtaining these metals from the moon in the coming decades will be more realistic, considering how much investment is being made in the space industry. He cited the names of SpaceX's Elon Musk, Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos, and Virgin Orbit's Richard Branson, billionaires investing in space exploration.
NASA plans to send astronauts to the moon as part of the Artemis program by the year 2024. Boeing and Lockheed Martin have entered into agreements with NASA to build the space launch system "Rocket and the Orion's Space Agency capsule, which will serve as the main crew of the Moon exploration program.
SpaceX and Blue Origin are also working on spacecraft that would send humans and cargo to the moon. With these private technologies, NASA's chief executive said the agency's current lunar targets are "significantly less than 20 billion dollars" achievable.
"We have trading partners that did not exist in the past so they can help offset the costs. They make their own investments because they want customers who are not necessarily NASA. "
Source: TEKK.TV
