The Moon is very popular now. Teams from China, Israel, India and NASA all need moon resources-just like private companies like the Moon Express in Cape Canaveral. Some of these gimmicks are designed to cheat investment, and some are purely for research. But the prosperity of this global activity is also pushing us closer to the moon. The weathered layer of the moon can be burned into bricks to extract precious metals or refined into fuel and solar panels. The following contents are available for reference:
1. silicon
The earth is rich in silicon, but it is not unnecessary. Future lunar residents can mine and refine silicon on the moon, make semiconductors and solar panels, and achieve self-sufficiency. 20% of the dust on the moon is silicon.
2. oxides of rare earth elements
Rare earth elements-highly conductive metals used in technologies such as batteries and telephones of17 hybrid vehicles-are scarce on the earth. The moon is rich in potassium and phosphorus, which can be combined to contain good rare earth minerals.
3. Titanium
In the basalt on the surface of the moon, powerful and light titanium forms as much as 8% lunar dirt. It mainly exists in ilmenite, which is a mineral containing iron and oxygen, so it can be extracted and made into other articles.
4. Aluminum metal
The lunar highlands-those white areas-are filled with aluminum, another light and strong material used in buildings, airplanes and medical equipment. In these pale places, aluminum accounts for 10% to 18% of the weathered layer.
5. Water
If all the shadow areas on both sides of the moon have as much ice as the southern Kabius crater, then settlers can extract about 2.9 billion metric tons of water for drinking and agriculture. If they are divided into hydrogen and oxygen, they may also become fuel for rockets flying to Mars.
6. Precious metals
We don't know how many platinum group elements are on the moon, but a batch of new landers may find them. These metals are excellent conductors and non-reactivity, which makes them an ideal choice for electronic implants and other devices.
Helium -3
Future safe nuclear reactions may depend on helium variant (helium -3). Although there is little weathering (up to 10 parts per billion), there is much more helium -3 in Jinghai than on earth: our atmosphere blocks helium -3 in the solar wind.
This article is translated from popsci and published by translator HW based on Creative Protocol (BY-NC).