Applied Space Resources, Inc., plans to launch a privately-funded Lunar Sample Return Mission by the 30th anniversary of the first robotic lunar rock retrieval.
As NASA’s Lunar Prospector mapping mission sets off to chart the moon’s mineral resources, a Applied Space Resources announced plans to put lunar rocks in the hands of research organizations and private citizens alike.
Applied Space Resources, Inc. (ASR) of Long Island, New York says it expects to offer to the general public, through commercial distribution channels, approximately ten kilograms of lunar rock at a retail price comparable to high-quality gemstones. ASR also plans to sell additional material to interested scientific research organizations.
ASR says it expects to launch its lunar sample return mission, the Lunar
Retriever, by September 2000, the 30th anniversary of Luna 16, the first
robotic sample mission to soft land on the moon.
ASR is developing a core competency in the use of existing technologies
for the development of resources in near-Earth space. Its focus is to
deliver spacecraft to any destination with precision, and return resources
and information with equal precision, for a profit.
Resources Available Considerable
Astronomers have plotted the orbits of 400 near-Earth asteroids one kilometer or greater in diameter, and estimate their number to be closer to
2,000. Some of them would be easier to reach and return materials from
than our Moon. Because of their size and the processes by which they were
formed, these asteroids have rare metals such as platinum close to the
surface; in this way, they differ from Earth, where most precious metals
lie far beneath the planetary crust. Both NASA and Japan are planning
missions to test new technology and assay particular asteroids.
As an initial mission, ASR has chosen the more modest goal of landing a
spacecraft at a site on the Sea of Tranquillity, gathering rock and soil and returning it safely to Earth, while leaving instruments behind for ongoing data transmission to Earth. It sees this mission as hastening the day when, for the first time in human history, individuals can gaze upon
Earth’s nearest neighbor while holding an affordable piece of it in their
hands … the day when businesspeople and engineers can retrieve formerly
scarce resources from space. “We consider our Lunar Sample Return Mission
an important demonstration of the value of space resources,” says ASR Vice
President Beth Elliott.
Elliott points out that a lunar sample return mission costing less than
$100 million could return a quantity of lunar material with enough demand
in the marketplace to make the return on investment attractive to financial
backers. The current market for lunar samples is restricted by low supply
and characterized by extremely high prices. In 1993, a sample of lunar
material said to be from the Apollo 14 mission was sold publicly despite a
federal policy prohibiting private ownership of material collected during
the U.S. manned lunar landings. This sample, alleged to be lunar dust
collected off Dave Scott’s lunar EVA suit, sold for $42,500 based on the
speculation that it was lunar in origin-scientific authentication was never
performed. A subsequent sale of lunar material from one of the former
Soviet Union’s three successful Luna sampling missions occurred at a
Sotheby’s auction. A sample weighing just a few grains, less than one
carat in weight, sold for an astounding $442,000-or $2,200 per milligram.
“Missions like the Lunar Retriever are essential to understanding the
resources available to a future manned lunar base, ” says Jay Manifold,
another ASR vice president. Manifold explains that an In-Situ Resource
Utilization (ISRU) program is key to developing a manned lunar base, and
key to ISRU development is having samples of lunar resources in the hands
of scientists on Earth.
Manifold will also be pointing out the parallels between the
commercialization of near-Earth space and European voyages of exploration
on January 14th in a presentation to the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics (AIAA) at their 36th Aerospace Sciences Meeting and
Exhibit in Reno, Nevada. In both instances, says Manifold, rival
superpowers financed the technology of exploration, then, in the case of
European exploration, retreated into the business of granting royal
charters for a share of the profits. Individual entrepreneurs, finding
that a purse full of coin could carry limited clout in emergencies, began
to consolidate their operations, which led to the development of the
corporation. A similar pattern is appearing with the advent of NASA’s
Discovery program and other efforts by world governments to push the
financial risks of space exploration into the private sector. A copy of
the presentation will be made available to the public at ASR’s website on
the day of the presentation.
When working with potential and financial partners, ASR’s principals
stress the importance of entrepreneurs to opening near-Earth space to
resource development. ASR will make its services available to private and
public concerns alike, but will take no subsidies. “Humankind will only
benefit from the resources of space when they are developed by private
enterprises such as ours,” says ASR CEO Denise Norris. “We intend to use
our knowledge, creativity, hard work and business vision to demonstrate the
viability of market-driven space missions. We will not go to the public
asking them to send us into space. We will go into space first, then come
to the public with something to offer: the productive utilization of the
vast resources of near-Earth space.”
