Titanium treasure found on Moon

[Xracer]

PARIS: A new map of the Moon has revealed an abundance of titanium ore that is up to 10 times richer than on Earth, a finding that could one day lead to a lunar mining colony, astronomers said on Friday.

The discovery was made thanks to a camera aboard the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which swept the surface of the Moon, scrutinising it in seven different light wavelengths.

Mark Robinson of Arizona State University, who presented the research at a conference in Nantes, western France with Brett Denevi of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, sifted through the data for telltale jumps in the ratio of ultra-violet to visible light.

They established this signature thanks to rock samples brought back to Earth by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972 and images of the area around the mission's landing site by the Hubble space telescope.

Titanium is as strong as steel but nearly half as light, which makes it a highly desired and also very expensive metal.

On Earth, titanium is found, at the very most, in around one percent of similar types of ore. But the new map found abundances in the lunar maria that range from about one percent to 10 percent, the conference organisers said in a press release. In the lunar highlands, abundance was around one percent.

The meeting gathers, for the first time, members of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences

 

[roadrunner]

this is what will lead to star wars.

 

[Safriz]

this is what will lead to star wars.

and Avatar..as they went to pandora for "Unobtanium"

 

[roadrunner]

an interesting point.

 

[Safriz]

an interesting point.

I can deduce another result from this report..
Moon is an ex part of earth according to most popular theory of how the moon came into being,and the part of earth from where moon is said to have separated from earth is the Pacific ocean..So perhaps there is abundance of Titanium at the bottom of Pacific ocean too?
It will be more feasible for nations to look for titanium there instead of moon.

 

[Mosamania]

And who is exactly going to reap the profits of the Moon resources?? The US alone?? Doesn't the moon belong to the whole earth or is it US property?? is WW3 going to happen ON the moon or OVER the moon.... Or will it be WW4??

 

[Aktavist_KKWC]

Finally a place the US doesn't have to kill life to gain control.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

There are plenty of resources around our solar system.

'Oceans of diamonds' on Uranus and Neptune - Telegraph

The problem is that it is not cost effective to get at them.

How much titanium/uranium could a space vehicle bring back from the moon? Not enough to offset even 5% of the costs involved in sending the vehicle there in the first place.

 

[Aktavist_KKWC]

There are plenty of resources around our solar system.

'Oceans of diamonds' on Uranus and Neptune - Telegraph

The problem is that it is not cost effective to get at them.

How much titanium/uranium could a space vehicle bring back from the moon? Not enough to offset even 5% of the costs involved in sending the vehicle there in the first place.

Diamonds are not rare on Earth, just the market is controlled.

 

[Safriz]

Diamonds are not rare on Earth, just the market is controlled.

And you can grow your own in the lab..being done commercially..
Reminds me of the whole diamond single piece windows made for CERN by debeers.

 

[wmdisinfo]

impossible to bring that titanium to earth and if did then it will be the most expensive metal in the world mote then even diamonds acording to weight.good luck for them

 

[Globenim]

It may be nowhere near feasible to bring this stuff down to earth to use it on earth ... but who said we need to bring it down here to earth?

We can certainly make good use of it for production on the moon itself later this century or next one. Titanium is a major component of rockets already next to aluminum alloys for its light weight. An higher abundance of Titanium could lead to much cheaper production of components right on the moon (where sooner or later local production will start after first colonization) instead of costly delivery of components from earth to moon just to get anything done.

 

[GORKHALI]

And that is one reason why we are pursuing space mission in moon . Wait for 2013 ,Chandrayaan 2 will be launched with rover

 

[bubble123]

i beg to differ if a mining colony can be established. It would be very easy let's see the costs involved.

1.maintaining a colony of a few persons on moon.
2.lift off expenses from the moon.

when the space ship lift's off a robot would control it, bring it back to the ISS orbiting earth, and then easily dump it towards the earth.

Hmm the only major expense seems to be the lift off costs from moon.

 

[JonAsad]

i beg to differ if a mining colony can be established. It would be very easy let's see the costs involved.

1.maintaining a colony of a few persons on moon.
2.lift off expenses from the moon.

when the space ship lift's off a robot would control it, bring it back to the ISS orbiting earth, and then easily dump it towards the earth.

Hmm the only major expense seems to be the lift off costs from moon.

the major cost will be the constant supply of oxygen- even for few persons- its will cost millions / hour-