{"id":32584,"date":"2019-10-03T07:30:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T05:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/?p=32584"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:39:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:39:27","slug":"infrastructure-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2019\/10\/infrastructure-on-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brave New World of Infrastructure on the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost fifty years since Neil Armstrong \u200blanded on the moon<\/a>\u200b, NASA, the People\u2019s Republic of China, and some of the richest men on the planet are trying to get people back; this time to stay.<\/p>\n

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is the most recognizable and newest face in this modern space race. The magnate\u2019s other company, Blue Origin, \u200bwill invest more than USD $1bn\u200b to launch its New Glenn rocket <\/a>from Florida\u2019s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 2021. Scott Henderson, vice president of test and flight operations during a recent event at the station said that the rocket is a means to making space habitable for humankind.<\/p>\n

Bezos during Amazon\u2019s first-of-its-kind Re: Mars conference this month, \u200bwas more pointed\u200b<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The reason we’ve got to go to space, in my view, is to save the Earth,” he said. “If we’re going to continue to grow this civilization, we need to move.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Key to Bezos\u2019 grand plan is the \u200bBlue Moon lander\u200b<\/a>. The robotic cargo transport will be able to carry roughly 4 tons of cargo, including rovers and humans, to the lunar surface. A reliable means of transportation will, according to Bezos, result in the creation of \u200boff-world outposts\u200b on the moon<\/a>, Mars and beyond.<\/p>\n

NASA will, though a new space program called \u200bArtemis<\/a>\u200b, \u200bestablish scientific outposts on the moon similar to those in Antarctica or the International Space Station. There, astronauts will spend months living and working in \u201cexploration zones\u201d that will provide life-sustaining resources and opportunities for scientific inquiry.\u00a0 The program, as currently envisioned by the agency, is also supposed to \u201cexpand the US\u2019 global impact.\u201d In addition to creating new manufacturing jobs in space, it will also exploit space resources and seed investments in commercial lunar landers.<\/p>\n

Notably, the People\u2019s Republic of China is considering a \u201cpreliminary\u201d\u200b \u200bplan to \u200bbuild a research station\u200b on the moon\u2019s South Pole<\/a> in the next decade. The government intends to model its moon base along the lines of the European Space Agency\u2019s Moon Village, which is described as \u201c\u200ba community of interested groups coming together with a view to sharing interests and capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

A City on the Moon<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"The

Source: Unsplash | author: History in HD<\/p><\/div>\n

NASA\u200b ultimately hopes to build a sustained human presence on the moon. However, some scientists maintain\u00a0 that creating a habitable environment more than 200,000 miles from Earth is going to be challenging, particularly since there may be nothing to drink.<\/p>\n

Mount Holyoke\u2019s Chair of Astronomy Dr. Darby Dyar maintains that there is not and has never been surface water on the moon. In addition to noting that there are no lunar samples show any evidence of weathering due to the flow of liquid water, she said that the moon has a \u201ctenuous atmosphere\u201d that lacks hydrogen — a vital component for life. Even the opportunities for mining may be limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see that the variety of minerals there is tiny: there are only seven in abundances of more than 1%.\u201d Dyar said. \u201cIt\u2019s not as though there are giant gold deposits on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Jacob Bleacher,\u00a0 chief exploration scientist for NASA\u2019s Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Division, said that the agency expects water ice to exist in some regions around the lunar poles. But, it\u2019s\u00a0 unclear how much is there, and whether it will even be accessible.<\/p>\n

Bleacher noted that, in terms of mining,\u00a0 oxygen is the primary resource NASA intends to extract from the moon. He explained that both oxygen and hydrogen could be taken from the loose layer of rocky material covering the surface, or directly from water ice, if it is found in large enough quantities. But, even if water, oxygen and hydrogen are found on the moon, they may have to stay there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing things back to Earth from the moon on a regular basis wouldn\u2019t be cost efficient under current conditions,\u201d Dyar said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Cost of Calling Space \u201cHome\u201d <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Lunar development comes with a host of unknowns, including whether it can be effectively commercialized due to the costs.<\/p>\n

The White House in its FY 2020 budget will provide NASA with $1.6 billion more than the $21 billion it initially requested, in order to land astronauts on the moon by 2024. By comparison, the agency\u00a0 in FY 2010 requested $18.6 billion.<\/p>\n

According to NASA, $1 billion of the FY 2020 budget request will be used to send a human mission to the moon\u2019s surface by 2024. Roughly $651 million will go to the development of new spacecraft that will shuttle people from Earth to the Gateway lunar station, and another $132 million will go to the advancement of new technologies such as solar electric propulsion and the conversion of polar ice into water.<\/p>\n

Jill Jamieson, managing director at JLL, said that the private sector is looking at a diversity of commercialization and revenue opportunities ranging from satellite networks and load launches to tourism, scientific expeditions and beyond. To be sure, NASA has to date contracted with private entities including Blue Origin, and Space X to make lunar development a reality. However, some in the market question how financing lunar infrastructure could even be approached.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure where revenues would come from, or the risks in delivering a project,\u201d one prominent banker said. Jamieson however noted that a commercial plan for lunar development that would suggest cost-recovery is not well-suited for traditional finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would be hard pressed to go to a commercial bank and secure a loan,\u201d Jamieson said. \u201c Those involved are using patient capital to develop the market, but a critical part of this is the role that public agencies, such as NASA, are playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamieson said that the contracts between NASA and the private sector are great examples of a public-private-partnership. She added that although those partnerships don\u2019t necessarily fit into the traditional mold of infrastructure finance, it is necessary for government agencies such as NASA to continue to develop them if humans are going to make the moon habitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo long as NASA and others continue to enable private sector investment in this area, and are willing to offer contracts of the use of private sector systems, then growth will continue,\u201d Jamieson said. \u201c Over time, as the<\/p>\n

industry matures, there may be less public usage and more private usage, but the role of the public sector in supporting early stage development is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost fifty years since Neil Armstrong \u200blanded on the moon\u200b, NASA, the People\u2019s Republic of China, and some of the richest men on the planet are trying to get people back; this time to stay. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is the most recognizable and newest face in this modern space race. The magnate\u2019s other company, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"nivel-1":[],"nivel-2":[4705,4746],"nivel-3":[],"nivel-4":[],"nivel-5":[],"topic":[7296,7300],"coauthors":[5892],"class_list":["post-32584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","post_format-post-format-image","nivel-2-design-and-engineering","nivel-2-innovation","topic-construction-and-infrastructure","topic-technology-and-innovation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Brave New World of Infrastructure on the Moon - Ferrovial's blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Almost fifty years since Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, NASA, the People\u2019s Republic of China, and some of the richest men are trying to get people back.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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