development and operation of a surface mine in a remote location - the south polar region of the moon

1. 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. (jacms1@telus.net) and Marc Schulte, B.Sc. (mschulte37@hotmail.com) - Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Earth
Development and Mining - Equipment Selection
Space Financing Lunar Base Infrastructure
Operation of a Surface • Equipment must be versatile so that it can perform
• Nuclear power/heat – probably gas turbine both development and operations tasks
Mine in a Remote Participating members of ILEWG should lobby national
and state governments to offer a tax incentive to its modular helium reactor (~1MW electric and • First equipment should be small, and then as
citizens for investment in space science and ~1.5MW heat) with associated agriculture development progresses and operations mature,
Location – South Polar technology related to the exploration and human and aquaculture modules larger (but similar) equipment should be deployed
settlement of space. That is, allow individuals and/or • The first small equipment could then be adapted
Region of the Moon corporations an immediate 100% tax write-off for • Human habitat facilities and repair and
maintenance facility mainly for mining and (nuclear power, extra heat tracing, insulating, etc.)
investment in space related activities similar to the for exploration of deep cold craters in the vicinity of
8TH ILEWG CONFERENCE, PAPER NO. 102 Canadian flow-through and tax-credit incentive to processing equipment the lunar mining base exploring for water ice
COSPONSORED BY CNSA AND ILEWG investors in Canadian mineral • Wireless WiMAX mesh network for deposits (high risk, high reward venture)
BEIJING, CHINA
exploration activities. This will bring positioning, monitoring, guidance and • The swing function on equipment will need to be
large numbers of private investors communicating with optical link with Earth modified to slow acceleration and deceleration so
JULY 26, 2006
into the space program. Internet that F=ma does not over-balance the normal force on
the machine in the low lunar gravity (~1/6 Earth’s)
John Chapman, BSc, FCIM, PEng and Marc Schulte, BSc
• Spaceport near lunar mining base USE PARALLEL CUT MINING METHOD (90 DEGREE SWING)
Mining engineers, Canada, Earth
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
THE HYDRAULIC
• Challenge Moon/Mars Arctic Experience EXCAVATOR IS THE
MOST VERSATILE
• Objective Program Mining Equipment Selection PIECE OF
CONSTRUCTION
• Strategy • Many years of experience in open-pit mining EQUIPMENT
AVAILABLE TODAY
in Northern Canada has shown that mobile
• Space Investment • Develop a permanent lunar base to use the mining equipment can operate with high
• Moon/Mars Program moon as a launch pad for deeper space availability and high productivity in a very
cold (-50oC) and dusty environment
• Lunar Environment South Polar Region exploration, as well as tapping resources on
• Equipment design has continued to improve Komatsu PC18M-2 Komatsu PC35MR-2
the lunar surface that could be used for to prevent “brittle” fracture and lubricants (Earth 1g Environment) (Earth 1g Environment)
• Lunar Surface Mine Development those missions, on earth and in LEO. and fluids have been developed that function Power 11.2 kW Power 21.7 kW
Operating Weight 1933 kg Operating Weight 3840 kg
• Equipment Selection • Robotic missions to the moon beginning very well in the harsh Arctic environment Ground Pressure 0.33 kg/cm2 Ground Pressure 0.35 kg/cm2
• Heat tracing of structural components and
Travel Speed 2.3 km/hr (low) Travel Speed 2.8 km/hr (low)
• 2008 4.3 km/hr (high)
Remote Control & Monitoring fluid reservoir heating has all served to Gradeability 30 degrees Gradeability
4.6 km/hr (high)
30 degrees
• Lunar manned missions beginning 2015
Drawbar Pull 1700 kg Drawbar Pull 3600 kg
• Recommendations improve equipment operations Digging Height 3615 mm Digging Height 5010 mm TRANSPORTING HYDROGEN & OXYGEN TO SPACEPORT
Bucket Reach 3935 mm Bucket Reach 4550 mm
Digging Depth 1785 mm Digging Depth 2650 mm
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Lunar Surface “Orebody” Remote Mining Location QUICK COUPLING
ATTACHMENTS WILL
The Challenge Location & Mine Development Systems & Procedures
FACILITATE SIGNIFICANT
VERSATILITY, INCLUDING:
DUNCAN STEEL – TARGET EARTH
(A) ROCK BUCKET
• Carefully select crew members to be experienced and
• Humans cannot survive as a single planet • Remote sensing is now determining the best mentally stable (capable)
(B) ROCK BREAKING
(C) AUGER DRILLING
species as evidenced in the Earth’s fossil location to robotically sample the Lunar • Maintain good crew quarters and medical facilities to (D) VIBRATING COMPACTOR
surface for hydrogen and oxygen ensure high moral & SEISMIC HAMMER
record of mass extinctions of life caused (E) MATERIAL HANDLING ARM A B
mainly by comet/asteroid impacts and super- • Robotic sampling will determine the best • Reliable source of electric power and heat is essential
location for humans to directly test for • Cross train crew members to enhance multi-tasking
volcanic eruptions concentrations of hydrogen and oxygen capabilities
• Standardize equipment as much as possible including
• Humans have a genetic “wiring” that drives • Humans will need to use the same methods mechanical, electrical and hydraulic - functions and
exploration (risk) for discovery of new places as used on earth in determining the fittings
and things (reward) – the earth no longer feasible/optimum combination of mining • Maintain sufficient inventory of spare parts and materials
location(s) as well as excavation and to operate efficiently
holds the exploration potential nor the
extraction methods (on Earth – maximize • Maintain a modern machine shop with maintenance and
rewards needed by society – it is time to repair facilities to optimize equipment availability and MOBILE HUMAN HABITAT (REFUG E) FOR EXPLORATION VENTURES
move onto the rest of the Solar System NPV of deposit) productivity & FOR REMOTE CONTROL CENTER
• Maintain an efficient communications network on, to/from C D E
the operations site, with Internet access to the crew Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Exploration & Development Strategy
Standardize Systems REMOTE CONTROL &
Objective (Highland Regolith to Crater Water Ice)
to Hydrogen & Oxygen MONITORING OF EQUIPMENT
• Commence mining at the highland lunar base • Establish local metric grid coordinate system (if there is still no
utilizing regolith (non-water) for processing to lunar UTM high resolution datum available)
hydrogen and oxygen (low risk low reward) • Rocket propulsion: chemical (H2 & O2), • Deploy antenna array (at least 6) around perimeter of lunar
• Once systems and procedures are established base for communication (~10m baud) and positioning (+/-10cm)
TO CONTRIBUTE TO ACTIVITIES bring in larger equipment & use the original nuclear thermal (H2 or H2O), nuclear • Use WiMAX/IEEE 802.16 broadband wireless mesh network on
and around the lunar base for positioning, equipment and
RELATED TO SAVING THE HUMAN small equipment for crater bottom exploration thermal with O2 augmentation (H2 & O2) operations health/safety monitoring, remote control,
(water ice) – close to or at lunar base autonomous functions as well as performance monitoring and
SPECIES AND CREATING GREAT • Enter old crater (water ice and other “volatiles” • Humans: O2 & H2O reporting
• There are several companies on Earth now successfully
WEALTH FOR SOCIETY from comet debris) with partly shaded bottom
with gentle sloping walls for ease of ingress and • Agriculture and Aquaculture: H 2O providing the positioning, control and monitoring systems,
mentioned above, to surface and underground mines
egress to the shaded “cold sink” • Communicate with Earth using optical transmission via relay
• Mobile equipment fuel cells: H2 & O2 satellite parked at Earth-Lunar L1 point and the Universal
• Develop and operate a hydrogen, oxygen Lunar mining would be done during the daytime and processing would be done
at night. Operation crews would include, at least: mine engineer, extractive Space Network
(nitrogen, carbon) mining and processing facility metallurgical engineer, electrician, mechanic and equipment specialist – they • The end-to-end system connectivity would be TCP/IP compliant
in or near the crater bottom (high risk high would be cross trained to both mine and process and they would need to have and be routered into the Earth’s Internet for mission control
Industrial first aid training and public access
reward)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Lunar Environment Lunar Excavator & Powered RECOMMENDATIONS
Strategy Mining - Drilling the “Orebody” Side Dump Trailer
South Polar Region • The target area located by robotic sampling will need to
Financing-Transportation-Power/Heat-Communication
be auger drilled to ~2 meters depth on a grid pattern to • The most important factors that will provide the
• Create an investment environment that • Temperature: Highlands -53 oC +/-10, Craters -233oC +/-0 define a large enough hydrogen and oxygen resource to
rewards space development by private (equatorial: -18oC +/-140) satisfy the human (air and water) and equipment (rocket foundation for commercial space development are:
enterprise • Atmosphere: thin, essentially non-existent (“hard” fuel, and fuel cell fuel) needs for at least ten years – Private sector funding (tax-incentive driven)
vacuum) • Neutron activation probe would analyze for hydrogen at – Commissioning of reusable Nuclear Thermal
• Support the lunar/mars program • Radiation: high ionizing radiation as very thin to no lunar the borehole and report results in real time
Rockets with LOX augmentation
atmosphere (significant danger to humans) • The use of hammer seismic may assist in defining the
• Develop lunar base systems and procedures • Meteoroids: direct high velocity impact as no atmosphere lunar bedrock profile and any regolith subsurface TRAILER CARBODY SAME AS EXCAVATOR & HYDRAULIC POWERED – Commissioning of small Gas Turbine Modular
that as much as possible use technologies to “burn” them up variations within the development area prior to drilling EARTH EXAMPLE TRACTOR TRAILER EARTH EXAMPLE SIDE DUMP TRAILERS Helium Reactors
and equipment applications from Earth (low- • Gravity: 1.62m/s2 (~1/6g on Earth) • If water ice happens to be present in the highland regolith – Deployment of optical (laser) communications
that will create excitement (high-grade ore) but it could
cost, versatile, redundant and reliable) • Length of Day: 29.53 Earth days create significant mining challenges if it is massive and systems compatible with the Internet
• Dust: very dusty and a photoelectric change in • Nuclear technology is an essential component to
• Support enabling “foundation” technologies conductivity at sunrise/sunset causes particles to levitate
cements the regolith particles – hard and abrasive
material difficult to drill and to excavate (like Alberta Oil
for space transportation, power/heat, and adhere to surfaces (hard on equipment) lunar and general space development and must be
Sands)
• Seismic Activity: few and of low magnitude (<4 on Richter embraced by governments and developers
communications
scale)
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07 Chapman/Schulte 2006/07
Chapman/Schulte 2006/07