"Bootstrapping" means to start with the least expensive manufacturing and transportation system, which then increases its own capacity using materials already in space. This proposal optimizes the locations of manufacturing, initially in LEO for lower launch and servicing costs; later in high orbit to use continuous solar power. It starts with a few hundred kilograms of equipment on the Lunar surface, just to load dirt into spacecraft. For inexpensive transportation: Rotating Tethers catch raw materials coming from the Lunar surface, recover their kinetic energy, and throw additional mining equipment back. Later, "Regolith Rockets" use preheated Lunar dust for reaction mass to lift off the Lunar surface to catch the tip of a tether; rugged miniature spacecraft are launched from an Electromagnetic Mass Driver. This system becomes self financing and grows by producing oxygen, fiberglass tethers; metals for spacecraft, rovers, and habitats; solar panels; and slag for shielding. This breaks an economic barrier to enable the settlements beyond Earth, the most significant migration in history.


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    Title :

    BootStrapping Space Resource Utilization with Tethers, Regolith Rockets and Micro Rovers


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Fifth International Conference on Space ; 1996 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States



    Publication date :

    1996-07-19




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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