Moonrush: Improving Life on Earth with the Moon's Resources (Apogee Books Space) (Apogee Books Space Series)

This book is somewhat analogous to one that an enthusiastic promoter might have written about the California Gold Rush in 1809 instead of in 1849 (i.e., long before gold had even been discovered there). Therefore, if you are hoping to find a detailed discussion of difficulties, opportunities, and methods for lunar resource development, you will probably be disappointed. The first 8 chapters deal largely with the upcoming energy crunch on Earth, the presumed need for hydrogen fuel to replace fossil fuels (competing technologies such as synfuels and batteries are not considered), and the presumed need for large quantities of platinum mined on the Moon (and derived from impacts by metallic asteroids) to catalyze hydrogen fuel cells here on Earth. (Space-derived helium-3 needed to power future fusion reactors is also briefly discussed.) The next 4 chapters deal largely with a history of ideas and missions related to how to explore and develop the Moon, and the last 4 provide a specific vision of how entrepreneurs might do so in the near future (including mining of oxygen and metals, and vacuum processing of materials) using extant launch vehicles and the International Space Station as an assembly and staging area.Although clearly written and highly provocative, this book is narrowly focussed and surprisingly naive in places (e.g., in assuming on pp. 202-3 that deep lunar mining should be more practical than surface mining, and that the amounts of metals and oxygen recovered should correspond to the the amounts given in mineral formulas). I might have preferred a more balanced, complete, and better referenced treatment in place of the author's gushy enthusiasm. Nevertheless, his basic argument, that one way to contend with the limits to growth inherent in this planet's limited resource base is to go off-planet for additional resources, would appear difficult to refute (unless you are a pathologically pessimistic economist). The main arguments then should involve whether or not the Moon is the best place to search for those off-planet resources, and when and how the search for them should begin. I agree with the author that the Moon, despite its less-than-promising external appearance, is THE logical initial exploration target, if only because of its proximity to Earth. In addition, I give him credit for recognizing that commodity pricing and availability are affected by supply and demand - an economic consideration ignored in at least one previous book on space mining.

Moon Rush provies a useful argument for lunar resouce explotation in the years ahead. The book provides some useful review of the utility of space object minerals but to a lesser degree than Mining the Sky by John Lewis. Nonetheless, Dennis Wingo does make the significant point: "we return to th moon for the reasons that make economic sense, not just for science or for some intangibles." The later part of the Wingo book provides some interesting overviews of lunar base implementation ideas. Overall, the book was a fun, light read.