Resourcing the Future
What exciting times we live in. The old 50’s saying, “Out of this world!” has relevance now more than ever with how we as the human race move away from reliance on Earth as a provider of resources to looking beyond our stratosphere to supplement our needs. We have seen some incredible advancement in technology in the last decade, and we will need this thinking as we seek to challenge ourselves to the future beyond for our mining resources. As technology advances so we need to advance our thinking as humans if we want to overcome the engineering, political, economic and environmental challenges of mining in space. Whether you believe global warming or not the fact is we are starting to look beyond our planet as a means of supplying our ever expanding race and reliance on hydrocarbon fuels. The growth of mineral resources such as lithium, cadium and cobalt to store power for our vehicles, computers and machinery is gathering incredible pace. Tesla cars have seen a dramatic increase in demand for their product in the last six months. But it is hydrocarbons that fuel these cells so are we really solving any potential threat from hydrocarbons to our environment? The answer at this time is no, we are only reducing the impact which in itself is a positive step. However the potential discovery of a clean and efficient source of energy on the moon in Helium-3 (3He) is very real. This resource has the potential to provide power to us at a significantly cheaper cost along with burning clean. 3He has very little to nil radioactive emissions and the very water that drives the turbines is safe to use outside of the facility. A ton of 3He can power New York City for twelve months. A current space ship’s cargo hold can power a quarter of the Earth for a year. Even as I write this article, China is exploring the surface of the moon looking for this energy resource and other future sources of mineralization. How will we get this mineralization back to Earth? Herein lies the challenge for the human race that will see us use the very innovative thinking that has driven us over the centuries. The planning for space mining is not new. There have been a number ideas being put forward, not only for mining the moon but for asteroid mining and mining of Mars. How effective these techniques will be, only time will tell. The engineering behind bringing resources back to Earth is only one of many challenges that we will need to overcome in our pursuit of a better world. What would be the political consequences for us? This is probably our greatest challenge. As we have seen over our history the control of resources has led to deadly conflict. While not the only reason, the embargoing of Japan from oil by the US in the late 30’s was the very catalyst for the attack on Pearl Harbor and eventual involvement in World War Two. Although there is a treaty to cover who owns space, The Outer Space Treaty 1967 which was ratified by 62 nations including the US, China and Russia, it had to be revisited in the Outer Space Treaty of 1979 due to some very glaring omissions on space resource ownership. This updated treaty however was only ever ratified by 13 nations, none of which was signed by the big three space explorers, US, China and Russia. This has left the commercial aspect of mineral resources in outer space very much open to potential legal and political implications. The US has been the first to act with legislation passed by Barack Obama. The Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act was passed in November 2015 allowing private US citizens to own any non living resources sourced in space. Other nations such as Luxembourg are advancing legislation of their own. The question however is with the potential for trillions of dollars in wealth, who will honour the treaties and who will enforce them? With the introduction of a new energy sources comes the economic implications on current suppliers of oil and gas. What would the drastic reduction of oil demand have on the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela, Ecuador and many other oil producing countries? These nations have limited local resources but they have the capital to support future endeavour’s and scientific advancements. The economic effects could be catastrophic to these nations and there people, many of which like Nigeria, Venezuela and Ecuador are developing nations already struggling to have a revenue stream outside of oil and gas. The very infrastructure of many of these countries will crumble without the revenue produced from oil and gas. Only as recently as the OPEC meeting on April 17 2016 was it evident that oil nations are starting to think beyond their current resources for their economic survival. This very challenge will require every effort from within the countries people and how they work with others if they are to avoid the potentially devastating effects of space mining. As is evident in the current oil crisis, this may not be possible with past hostilities and prejudices proving to great a barrier for future growth. How will the major loss of oil revenue effect ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Saudi Aramco, China National Petroleum, Kuwati Petroleum, five of the top ten biggest companies by revenue in the world? These companies have a very large employee base and these people rely heavily on the income oil and gas produce for themselves and their families. There will also be a countless number of businesses that also supply oil and gas to the worlds energy markets, along with the supporting businesses that supply labour and materials to these companies. The flow on effect of this major loss of supply of revenue to other industries such as schools, communities, vehicle manufacturers, tourism, retail etc. could also be cataclysmic to the local and world economies. Finally the potential effect on the environment both on Earth and the moon will also need to be taken into account from moon/space mining. Will reducing the moon’s mass by extracting resources affect the tides and the subsequent effects of such a change? Or is the amount of material being extracted of little consequence? With our exposure to Hollywood could it be possible to introduce a foreign material onto Earth that could mutate into a deadly disease that could harm us or have a devastating effect on the environment? Regardless of our real or unrealistic fears we do need to ensure that we plan and prepare for any potential exposure that could have lasting effects on the planet we habitat. The environmental factors do not just extend to the world we live in, but also to the environment people will be working in on the moon. Already in the last ten years in mining we have seen some major advancement in technology in how we mine. There has been significant increase in remotely managing equipment without the need for humans to be on the machine. With the use of robotics gaining momentum we can greatly reduce the impact on human exposure to living in these hostile environments whilst developing our future resources. Now is not the time for us to fear the future but to challenge ourselves to make the most of the possibilities that surround it. The human race does have a remarkable ability to adapt to our ever-changing world and build on innovation. If we can just overcome our natural ability for self-protectionism, we can advance the human race to be the pioneers of our very existence and discover the answers to the mysteries we have so long asked ourselves. Author bio Leon Margie, having spent 15 years working as a risk manager for a number of large resource and energy companies, captures in “Profit of Death” a number of these issues in a chilling race between the world’s super powers. The battle for global domination is at stake as the greed of big business fights to prevent innovation and progression for the sake of profits. |
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