Moon mining gains momentum as private companies plan for a lunar economy

[Judi Lynn]

By Leonard David published about 6 hours ago
"This is now becoming so real."



NASA has awarded funds to Austin, Texas-based ICON, to develop construction technologies that could help build landing pads, habitats, and roads on the Moon using local lunar resources. (Image credit: ICON/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group)

GOLDEN, Colorado – The pace is quickening for using Earth's moon as a near-term, go-to location to land on, live and explore.

As NASA's Artemis Program moves forward, so too do long-term plans by small and large firms, academia, along with international space agencies.

That was in evidence at the twenty-third meeting of the Space Resources Roundtable, held here last month at the Colorado School of Mines. A record attendance of some 250 participants spoke on lunar economic models, results of in-the-lab tests, and legal and policy issues. A number of entrepreneurial groups shared their strategies to turn the moon into a hustle and bustle world of marketable services.

Off-world machinery

"For years it has all seemed like pie in the sky … do this, or do that. This is now becoming so real," said Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines.

More:
https://www.space.com/moon-mining-gains-momentum?utm_source=notification

Since no one has objected, dibs on the universe!