Press Release AAPG Memoir No. 101 Has Been Released as Text Energy Resources for Human Settlement in the Solar System and Earth’s Future in Space The U.S. Constellation project, although cancelled in 2010 by President Obama, was designed to return US astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and support long-term human settlement as well as in situ development of mineral and energy resources for infrastructure on the Moon, fuel and life support materials while in space and for use of such energy and mineral resources on Earth. We have not lost this dream, however, but the initiative has passed to a number of entrepreneurs and private entities working, sometimes with NASA and sometimes independently to fully realize these goals. This AAPG Special Publication 101 is a comprehensive and integrated review of energy resources in the Solar System, including materials that could both sustain future manned expeditions as well as meet Earth's energy challenges in the 21 st century and beyond. Any long-range program of human exploration and settlement of the solar system must consider in situ resource utilization; the vital role that extraterrestrial energy minerals and related resources must also support human habitation of near Earth Space as well as the nearby worlds of the Moon, Mars and the Near Earth Asteroids. This volume is ambitious in scope, and encompasses three main themes related to energy and mineral resources in the Solar System as well as the economics and life-support considerations required for success in space: (1) Sustaining and supporting human habitation and colonization of the solar system; (2) Cost-effective manufacture of propellants for life support, human exploration of the solar system and transportation systems in space; (3) Exploring for and developing sources of energy and materials for Earth importation to meet the growing demands for Rare Earth Elements, Platinum Group Metals, Nuclear Materials for both fission and fusion reactions and protection of sensitive environments on Earth. This Memoir, produced in collaboration with AAPG’s Energy Minerals Division and the Astrogeology Committee, is a clear reflection of AAPG's vision of advancing the science and technology of energy, minerals and hydrocarbon resources into the future and supporting exploration and development of the ultimate frontier, beyond Earth’s atmosphere. For the Memoir 101 Table of Contents and Preface, see following pages. To place your order for the original publication (M101) in book format, see: http://store.aapg.org/detail.aspx?id=1179
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Press Release
AAPG Memoir No. 101 Has Been Released as Text
Energy Resources for Human Settlement in the Solar System and Earth’s Future in Space
The U.S. Constellation project, although cancelled in 2010 by President Obama, was designed to return US astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and support long-term human settlement as well as in situ development of mineral and energy resources for infrastructure on the Moon, fuel and life support materials while in space and for use of such energy and mineral resources on Earth. We have not lost this dream, however, but the initiative has passed to a number of entrepreneurs and private entities working, sometimes with NASA and sometimes independently to fully realize these goals. This AAPG Special Publication 101 is a comprehensive and integrated review of energy resources in the Solar System, including materials that could both sustain future manned expeditions as well as meet Earth's energy challenges in the 21st century and beyond. Any long-range program of human exploration and settlement of the solar system must consider in situ resource utilization; the vital role that extraterrestrial energy minerals and related resources must also support human habitation of near Earth Space as well as the nearby worlds of the Moon, Mars and the Near Earth Asteroids. This volume is ambitious in scope, and encompasses three main themes related to energy and mineral resources in the Solar System as well as the economics and life-support considerations required for success in space:
(1) Sustaining and supporting human habitation and colonization of the solar system; (2) Cost-effective manufacture of propellants for life support, human exploration of the solar
system and transportation systems in space; (3) Exploring for and developing sources of energy and materials for Earth importation to meet the
growing demands for Rare Earth Elements, Platinum Group Metals, Nuclear Materials for both fission and fusion reactions and protection of sensitive environments on Earth.
This Memoir, produced in collaboration with AAPG’s Energy Minerals Division and the Astrogeology Committee, is a clear reflection of AAPG's vision of advancing the science and technology of energy, minerals and hydrocarbon resources into the future and supporting exploration and development of the ultimate frontier, beyond Earth’s atmosphere. For the Memoir 101 Table of Contents and Preface, see following pages. To place your order for the original publication (M101) in book format, see: http://store.aapg.org/detail.aspx?id=1179
Energy Resources for Human Settlement in the Solar System and Earth’s Future in Space
AAPG-Astrogeology / EMD Memoir 101
Text Released: April 1, 2013
Table of Contents
Preface… William A. Ambrose, James F. Reilly II, and Douglas C. Peters ................................................................... Chapter 1. The Significance of Lunar Water-Ice and Other Mineral Resources for Rocket Propellants and Human Settlement of the Moon… William A. Ambrose, EMD Past President, Chair, EMD Coal Committee, and Senior Geoscientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas, Austin, TX ..................................................................................................................................... Chapter 2. Lunar Helium-3 Energy Resources… Harrison H. Schmitt, NASA Apollo 17 Astronaut, Senator from New Mexico and Professor, University of Wisconsin........ Chapter 3. Mining of Helium-3 on the Moon: Resource, Technology, Commerciality – A Business Perspective… Dieter Beike, International Energy Consultant, Houston, TX ..................................................................................................... Chapter 4. The Near-Earth Asteroids on the Pathway to Earth’s Future in Space… Bruce L. Cutright, Senior Geoscientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas, Austin, TX............................... Chapter 5. Hydrocarbon System Analysis for Methane Hydrate Exploration on Mars… Michael D. Max, Stephen M. Clifford and Arthur H. Johnson, MDS Research, St. Petersburg, FL; Lunar & Planetary Institute, Houston, TX; and Chair, EMD Gas Hydrates Committee and Hydrate Energy International, Kenner, LA, respectively ....................................................................................................................................................................................... Chapter 6. Remote Sensing of Hydrocarbons on Titan… John M. Curchin and Roger N. Clark, University of Idaho, Dept. Physics, Moscow, and U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... Chapter 7. Avoiding Extraterrestrial Claim Jumping: Economic Development Policy for Space Exploration /Exploitation… James F. Reilly, II, NASA Astronaut Research and Development, VP, Photo Stencil Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO .. Chapter 8. The Sun–Moon–Earth Solar-Electric Power System to Enable Unlimited Human Prosperity Biospheric Power and Its Limits for the Production of Net New Wealth… David R. Criswell, Professor and Director, Institute for Space Systems Operations, University of Houston, Houston, TX. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... Chapter 9. Nuclear Power and Associated Environmental Issues in the Transition of Exploration and Mining on Earth to the Development of Off-World Natural Resources in the 21st Century… Michael D. Campbell, Jeffrey D. King, Henry M. Wise, Bruce Handley, James L. Conca and M. David Campbell; EMD Past President and Chair, and members of the EMD Uranium (Nuclear and Rare Earth Minerals) Committee; and members of I2M Associates, LLC, Houston, TX & Seattle, WA .............................................................................................. NOTE: Because the fields discussed in Memoir 101 are advancing rapidly, the Chapters above are to be updated from time to time, as required, and sold in PDF form for rapid distribution. An example is provided for Chapter 9, which has been revised and updated.
Energy Resources for HumanSettlement in the Solar System andEarth’s Future in SpaceWilliam A. AmbroseBureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences,University of Texas at Austin, University Station, Box X, Austin, Texas, 78713, U.S.A.(e-mail: [email protected])
James F. Reilly IISchool of Science and Technology, Space Studies, American Public University System,111 West Congress St., Charles Town, West Virginia, 25414, U.S.A. (e-mail: [email protected])
Douglas C. PetersPeters Geosciences, 825 Raptor Point Rd., Golden, Colorado, 80403, U.S.A.(e-mail: [email protected])
The solar system is the new and ultimate frontier for
Earth. Future success in exploration and human
habitation in the new frontier, beginning with the
Moon, will depend on space missions and settlements
becoming more self-sustaining through exploitation of
Missions to the new frontier can contribute meaning-
fully to the energy requirements of Earth because
conventional energy resources such as oil, natural gas,
and coal go beyond the period of peak capacity to pro-
duction decline. Energy resources that can be harvested
in space for the benefit of Earth include helium-3 that
occurs in abundance on both theMoon and asteroids,
as well as solar energy that can be collected and trans-
mitted in concentrated form to Earth fromorbit.More-
over, metals, platinum-group elements (PGEs), rare-
earth elements (REEs), and volatiles (e.g., H, H2O, and
carbon compounds) are abundant on asteroids, many
of which are relatively accessible from Earth. Hydro-
carbons, hydrogen, and volatiles in the solar systemare
important for human exploration and habitation
because they will provide essential high-energy, high-
density fuels and feedstock formanufactured goods and
materials for construction.
Since the United States National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) conducted the Apollo 17
mission to theMoon inDecember 1972, human space-
flight has been confined to low Earth orbit (LEO), with
the space shuttle and International Space Station.
However, several nations including the United States,
Japan, China, and India have recently expressed an
interest in renewed manned expeditions to the Moon.
The NASA Constellation program, although canceled
in 2010 by United States President Barack Obama, was
designed to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020.
Unlike the NASA Apollo program, the Constellation
program was envisioned to involve long-term human
settlement as well as in-situ development of mineral
and energy resources for infrastructure on the Moon.
This would include supporting human resource needs
Preface
Ambrose, W. A., J. F. Reilly II, and D. C. Peters, 2013, Energy resourcesfor human settlement in the solar system and Earth’s future in space,in W. A. Ambrose, J. F. Reilly II, and D. C. Peters, eds., Energy resourcesfor human settlement in the solar system and Earth’s future in space:AAPG Memoir 101, p. 1–5.
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Copyright n2013 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
DOI:10.1306/13361566M1013540
and manufacturing rocket propellants from hydrogen
from the lunar regolith and water ice, principally, in po-
lar areas. The Constellation program would have con-
tributed tomission costs as well as in decreasing reliance
on expensive fuel-lifting costs from the gravity well of
Earth. Moreover, the lower gravity well of the Moon