Australia's BHP Billiton is, by anyone's standard, a big company. In fact, it is the world's largest mining company by revenue, and is one of the world's biggest companies by market capitalisation. In August this year, it announced the biggest profit in Australian corporate history, and most of the investments it announces are spoken about in tens of billions of dollars. In fact, BHP is actually bigger than the economy of many small nations around the world.
They are experts at what they do - "discovery, acquisition, development and marketing of natural resources", and have a strong track record of success.
Recently, the moon has become increasingly attractive from a mining perspective with the discovery of higher concentrations of valuable and sometimes rare minerals. This year the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has helped identify that the Moon has much higher amounts of Titanium Ore than previously expected, together with large quantities of platinum, iron, oxygen and an element known as Helium-3 that is rare on earth but very useful for Nuclear fusion research.
The moon is also known to have deposits of several rare-earth minerals such as Yttrium and Dysprosium, and we now know that the moon contains a small amount of water, that could be very useful for any future mining operation or settlement.
The combined quantity of these minerals has now attracted the attention of some serious entrepreneurs, who are pressing ahead with the business case of a moon mining venture. Moon Express was founded in 2011 by a set of successful silicon valley entrepreneurs, combined with some great space minds to develop a spacecraft that can take a 100kg payload to the surface of the moon, win the Google Lunar X-Prize and to build the business case to mine the moon. Whilst previous start-ups have set such goals and failed, Moon Express was founded by a group of highly successful business people who have money to invest, have received backing and support from NASA, and have already been testing several of the critical technologies required to get to the moon. They are currently looking at a 2013-2014 time frame for their first moon landing - which is not really that far away!
Meanwhile, back closer to home, BHP Billiton and other major mining companies, are slowly perfecting the ability to operate a mine from a remote location and are turning more and more to robotic technology to run their mines, both of which are ideally suited for a moon mining operation. They have also had a remarkable few years in terms of financial results, and now have the financial reserves to look at a variety of new and major resource opportunities.
Several estimates have suggested a moon mining operation would be in the order of $20 Billion to set up, which is similar to a medium mine setup cost on earth, and one that BHP Billiton invests on a somewhat regular basis. BHP is also one of the few companies that has the financial strength and technology to actually assess, invest and make a success of such an operation.
In addition, a moon mining venture would open up major scientific and space tourism opportunities, as well as develop a new suite of space technologies that would make the business case even more attractive. Whilst each of these may not be economically viable on their own, together the business case might make sense.
The aim of this article is not to outline the business case for mining the moon, or in fact call for BHP to start mining the moon tomorrow - I understand that this concept is not seriously considered within the mainstream space industry. The idea is rather to provoke some discussion of how we can take some of the best capabilities Australia has, and apply them to a space application to deliver real and sustainable outcomes.
Of course, such a venture will not be possible for the better part of this decade in reality, but I do believe it is time we start thinking about the real business conversation about a moon mine, that comes with a unique set of logistics challenges to say the least.
A venture such as moon mining and settlement will need to deliver financial returns to shareholders over the long term to be sustainable, and I'm not quite sure we're at that point yet. However, in the corridors of the BHP headquarters in Melbourne, is it not time that someone starts paying attention to Moon Mining? The concept has started moving from the science fiction world to the real world, and it will not be long before countries like China and India will have the technologies, resources, and the political motivation to undertake such a venture, with no competitors in the market and no other nation to interfere.
Perhaps it's time to start developing the business case numbers, and possibly even time to start looking at how such an operation could be set-up. BHP, together with a major Aerospace company such as a Lockheed Martin or Boeing, would have the resources and expertise to build an end-to-end business case, to determine at what cost the venture becomes viable.
As time goes by, we continue to find more resources on the moon and the price of launch continues to drop. At the same time, the price of resources on earth trends up, and the cost of obtaining them generally increases, as we have mined the easiest-to-access resources first.
At some point, the business case will become viable. When it does, I hope it is companies like BHP Billiton who will be amongst the pioneers of moon mining.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
11th Australian Space Science Conference Outcomes
The 11th Australian Space Science Conference wrapped up on the 29th of September, after 4 successful days of Australia's best and brightest space scientists and engineers gathering at the Australian National University.
• Urgent attention be given to ensuring that Australia has access to data from the next generation of Earth observation and geodetic satellites – to include the establishment of relevant agreements and the necessary remediation of Australia’s ground reception, processing and dissemination infrastructure;
• Continuation of the Australian Space Research Program; and
• Urgent attention be given to providing space education to public officials to ensure they understand why they are being encouraged to spend time and money on developing national capacity and capability in space – that Australia has considerable dependency and associated vulnerability on space, which can be addressed by supporting and strengthening our space science and engineering which in turn will strengthen our international space credentials and credibility
Some great ideas to create and sustain a vital space capability within Australia.
Three points I would like to pick up on here:
1. The mention of "bipartisan support" for a national space policy. In all of the recent Australian Space events, we haven't heard as much as a peep out of the opposition (or at least I haven't seen much). I understand that they broadly supported the Senate Inquiry into the Space Sector in Australia and its recommendations, but beyond that have not spoken much further. In the difficult Australian political context, it is important that both sides of politics understand the importance of Space to Australia, and the critical role it plays to our country, economy and society.
2. The need for sustainability for both political support and funding, to provide certainty to the space market, investors, and the industry as a whole. As an industry, we cannot survive and prosper under an ever changing context, and the broader space market in Australia has a need for certainty of its future. All other space nations have a long term vision for their space sector, with short term goals and aspirations. Australia should look to develop a long term vision within its space policy, one that directly serves the interests of Australians.
3. There continues to be an 'education' problem within both the parliament, as well as the broader Australian government. Most people just don't understand what Australia uses space for, and people find it difficult to support a vision that they don't understand. Space should not, and cannot be thought of as 'sending man to the moon', yet ask an average Australian what they thing of an Australian space program, and that's probably their response. Space in Australia needs to be seen as an extension of the critical national infrastructure that powers much of what we do, just like the provision of roads, water, electricity and the like. Turn it off, and you very quickly find out how important it is. Collectively, we need to keep solving this 'education' problem in Australia.
Congratulations to the National Space Society of Australia for organising the conference, and all of those who attended who made it a success.
The conference saw the release of the Principles for a National Space Industry Policy, the guiding principles behind the future Australian Space Policy that the Space Policy Unit is currently working upon.
As an outcome from the conference, the delegates issued a series of resolutions and recommendations that are worth sharing with you:
The conference resolution concludes:
The delegates Resolve:
The conference resolution concludes:
The delegates Resolve:
• To congratulate the Government, including Parliament, and the Minister for recognising the importance of space to our daily lives, for the investments made and proposed in creating the Space Policy Unit, for funding the Australian Space Research Program, and for forging stronger bilateral and multi-lateral international links in the space domain;
• To acknowledge the substantial investment by the Government in gathering evidence about the uses of space and the importance of space-based utilities to the daily lives of all Australians, to national security, and to the strength of the economy more broadly;
• To congratulate the Government for explicitly recognising the importance of space science research and education in the soon to be released 2011 Research Infrastructure Roadmap and for comprehending the interconnections that exist between the far universe (astronomy), the solar system and Sun/Earth interactions (space science) and the implications for the Earth system (Earth sciences);
• To congratulate and support the Government for its commitment to Australia winning the support of the international astronomical community to host the SKA in Australia, and its support for Australia to become a 10% investor in the Giant Magellan Telescope; and
• To encourage the Government to develop bipartisan support for the finalisation and release of a national space policy noting that this document will assist a whole-of-government approach to space, will raise the profile of space in Australia and of Australia’s space activities internationally, and will help to remove market uncertainty which at present is holding back investors;
The delegates Recommend:
• Funding certainty for the Space Policy Unit, to allow for both growth in size and
dedicated leadership at a level appropriate to inter- and intra-departmental
negotiation and decision making; • To acknowledge the substantial investment by the Government in gathering evidence about the uses of space and the importance of space-based utilities to the daily lives of all Australians, to national security, and to the strength of the economy more broadly;
• To congratulate the Government for explicitly recognising the importance of space science research and education in the soon to be released 2011 Research Infrastructure Roadmap and for comprehending the interconnections that exist between the far universe (astronomy), the solar system and Sun/Earth interactions (space science) and the implications for the Earth system (Earth sciences);
• To congratulate and support the Government for its commitment to Australia winning the support of the international astronomical community to host the SKA in Australia, and its support for Australia to become a 10% investor in the Giant Magellan Telescope; and
• To encourage the Government to develop bipartisan support for the finalisation and release of a national space policy noting that this document will assist a whole-of-government approach to space, will raise the profile of space in Australia and of Australia’s space activities internationally, and will help to remove market uncertainty which at present is holding back investors;
The delegates Recommend:
• Urgent attention be given to ensuring that Australia has access to data from the next generation of Earth observation and geodetic satellites – to include the establishment of relevant agreements and the necessary remediation of Australia’s ground reception, processing and dissemination infrastructure;
• Continuation of the Australian Space Research Program; and
• Urgent attention be given to providing space education to public officials to ensure they understand why they are being encouraged to spend time and money on developing national capacity and capability in space – that Australia has considerable dependency and associated vulnerability on space, which can be addressed by supporting and strengthening our space science and engineering which in turn will strengthen our international space credentials and credibility
Some great ideas to create and sustain a vital space capability within Australia.
Three points I would like to pick up on here:
1. The mention of "bipartisan support" for a national space policy. In all of the recent Australian Space events, we haven't heard as much as a peep out of the opposition (or at least I haven't seen much). I understand that they broadly supported the Senate Inquiry into the Space Sector in Australia and its recommendations, but beyond that have not spoken much further. In the difficult Australian political context, it is important that both sides of politics understand the importance of Space to Australia, and the critical role it plays to our country, economy and society.
2. The need for sustainability for both political support and funding, to provide certainty to the space market, investors, and the industry as a whole. As an industry, we cannot survive and prosper under an ever changing context, and the broader space market in Australia has a need for certainty of its future. All other space nations have a long term vision for their space sector, with short term goals and aspirations. Australia should look to develop a long term vision within its space policy, one that directly serves the interests of Australians.
3. There continues to be an 'education' problem within both the parliament, as well as the broader Australian government. Most people just don't understand what Australia uses space for, and people find it difficult to support a vision that they don't understand. Space should not, and cannot be thought of as 'sending man to the moon', yet ask an average Australian what they thing of an Australian space program, and that's probably their response. Space in Australia needs to be seen as an extension of the critical national infrastructure that powers much of what we do, just like the provision of roads, water, electricity and the like. Turn it off, and you very quickly find out how important it is. Collectively, we need to keep solving this 'education' problem in Australia.
Congratulations to the National Space Society of Australia for organising the conference, and all of those who attended who made it a success.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Australian Scientist Brian Schmidt awarded Nobel Prize for Physics
ANU Professor Brian Schmidt has been awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics, sharing his award with Professor Saul Perlmutter from the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor Adam Riess from the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
U.S. Born Australian Professor Schmidt was honoured "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" according to the Prize announcement.
It continues...
"For almost a century, the Universe has been known to be expanding as a consequence of the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. However, the discovery that this expansion is accelerating is astounding. If the expansion will continue to speed up the Universe will end in ice.
The acceleration is thought to be driven by dark energy, but what that dark energy is remains an enigma - perhaps the greatest in physics today. What is known is that dark energy constitutes about three quarters of the Universe. Therefore the findings of the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physics have helped to unveil a Universe that to a large extent is unknown to science. And everything is possible again."
Professor Schmidt becomes only the 12th Australian to ever win a Nobel Prize, and joins a collection of Australia's greatest academic minds including Howard Florey and William and Lawrence Bragg.
The award demonstrates the value of Australia's commitment to world class Astronomy facilities such as Mt Stromlo where Professor Schmidt, and serves as a huge inspiration to all Australian scientists and students alike.
Australia is incredibly proud to see Professor Schmidt take out this award, and it comes as one of Australia's best achievements in the field of physics, having last one the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915.
Congratulations Professor Schmidt.
U.S. Born Australian Professor Schmidt was honoured "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" according to the Prize announcement.
It continues...
"For almost a century, the Universe has been known to be expanding as a consequence of the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. However, the discovery that this expansion is accelerating is astounding. If the expansion will continue to speed up the Universe will end in ice.
The acceleration is thought to be driven by dark energy, but what that dark energy is remains an enigma - perhaps the greatest in physics today. What is known is that dark energy constitutes about three quarters of the Universe. Therefore the findings of the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physics have helped to unveil a Universe that to a large extent is unknown to science. And everything is possible again."
Professor Schmidt becomes only the 12th Australian to ever win a Nobel Prize, and joins a collection of Australia's greatest academic minds including Howard Florey and William and Lawrence Bragg.
The award demonstrates the value of Australia's commitment to world class Astronomy facilities such as Mt Stromlo where Professor Schmidt, and serves as a huge inspiration to all Australian scientists and students alike.
Australia is incredibly proud to see Professor Schmidt take out this award, and it comes as one of Australia's best achievements in the field of physics, having last one the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915.
Congratulations Professor Schmidt.
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