Momayez Discusses Space Mining with Many Worlds

Interim MGE department head Moe Momayez recently spoke with science publication Many Worlds about the potential for space mining on the moon as well as mini asteroids. Momayez and associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering Jekan Thanga recently won $500,000 in NASA funding for a new project to advance space-mining methods that use swarms of autonomous robots. 

Momayez, like most aspiring off-Earth miners, is focused now on getting at lunar water, Marc Kaufman from Many Worlds writes. The technology and economy for mining lunar or asteroid minerals and metals is well in the future, and will probably be used primarily to support other space ventures, Momayez said. The cost of bringing the iron or nickel or even titanium from the moon back to Earth is high. One group of minerals and elements that might become cost-efficient to mine on asteroids and bring to Earth are the platinum group and rare earth elements — precisely what are expected to be present in substantial deposits on Psyche, an asteroid NASA is planning to visit. 

“If platinum or rare-earth minerals are found in a pure form, it might be economical to haul them back to Earth,” Momayez said. “But we know they’re not found on the moon, and so they would be coming from metal-rich asteroids.”

Many Worlds is a column and website supported by the Lunar Planetary Institute/USRA and informed by NASA's NExSS initiative.