51Թapp

Space Resource Utilisation

space shuttle

The moon is sexy again. Multiple national agencies and private firms are planning missions. Both NASA and ESA are planning lunar-outposts or space-gateways, with support by major industry players such as Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed. The time frame for many of these plans is within the next decade. These plans will soon open doors for resources sourced from the moon or asteroids to be delivered in earth or lunar orbit or to the Martian surface.

With its immense experience in terrestrial resource infrastructure and extraction, Australia is well placed to take a leading role in space resource extraction and processing as well as become a leader in advanced in-space manufacturing, such as additive manufacturing or large-scale 3D printing.

  • ACSER and the UNSW School of of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering jointly host a bi-annual forum to discuss issues surrounding Space Resource Utilisation (SRU). In the years since this event was first realised (2013), the research and industrial backdrop has changed dramatically. Click below to find out more about the program or proceedings from our past forums:

    • 2019 Off Earth Mining Forum website
    • 2017 Off Earth Mining Forumwebsite and proceedings

  • Here at UNSW Sydney we have been developing our capabilities in mission development and SRU research in conjunction with NASA and our industrial partners, enabling us to make substantial contributions to the burgeoning space economy that is now only a few years away. Those efforts are currently focussed in theproject.

  • PhD topics in this field are available with ACSER.
School

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Recent Papers

Off-Earth Mining Project:An Integrated Economics Model for ISRU inSupport of a Mars Colony

Funded by NASA’s Economic Research for SpaceDevelopment, Emerging Space Office.

Partners: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The project aimed to develop an integrated set of riskbasedfinancial and technical models to evaluate multipleOff-Earth Mining scenarios. This quantitative, scenariobasedtool helps identify combinations of market variables,technical parameters, and policy levers that will enablethe expansion of the global economy into the solar systemand return economic benefits. As part of the projectfour models were developed: Mars Colony ArchitecturalModel, Extraction Process Model, Mars Infrastructureand Integrated Logistical Support Model and EconomicsIntegration Model. UNSW Australia’s team was led by A/Prof Saydam, with Prof Dempster, Dr Coulton and Mr TapiaCortez. The group involved developing multiple optimisedmining systems to extract water from the Mars surface.

Activities in 2019

We are currently launching a new project in this area, seefor more info.

The 2019 Off Earth Mining Forum ran in November.

Activities in 2018

  • Professor Saydam was recorded for a MOOC-open access online course by University of Queensland’s "The Future of Mining" course in the area of Off-Earth Mining.
  • Ph.D. student Michael Dello-Iacovo from the School of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineering completed his 1-year internship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He undertook research into asteroid exploration, mining and impact risk.
  • Ph.D. student Sophia Casanova replaced Michael in May 2018 to undertake a 1-year internship at JPL.Sophia is conducting research into the development of resource estimation practices for water ice deposits on the Moon and Mars. Sophia presented her research findings at the 42nd Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the 69th International Aeronautical Congress (IAC). Sophia was awarded the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) Educational Endowment Fund (EEF) scholarship. Prof Saydam was visited by JPL and had meetings with our PhD student Sophia Casanova, her supervisor at JPL Dr Robert Anderson and Dr Robert Shishko. Timothy Pelech supervised by ProfSaydam will replace her later in 2019.
  • Prof Saydam published the following book chapter:
    Saydam, S. 2018. “Extracting Off-Earth Resources”. Extracting Innovations: Mining, Energy, and Technological Change in the Digital Age. Editors: M J. Clifford, R.K. Perrons, S. H. Ali, T. A. Grice. CRC Press. Published May 8, 2018. Reference - 375 Pages. ISBN 9781138040823 - CAT# K32979.
  • Prof Saydam was invited by OZ Minerals to attend the Round Table on the Space Opportunities Roundtable discussion in Monday 27 May in Adelaide.
  • Prof Saydam was invited to deliver keynotes and/or panel speeches on the following events:
    • IMPACT7, Off-Earth Mining, 9th August 2018, Melbourne.
    • Off Earth Mining: Why, When, How? The 8th Society of Mining Professors Regional meeting,27-28 July 2018, Bandung, Indonesia.

Activities in 2017

  • A/Prof Saydam was also part of a project which funded by Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) – Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) competitive grant scheme from the U.S. Government collaborating with Virginia Tech, Ascentech Enterprises and KSC (completed in 15th June 2017). One of the STTR Phase 1 project outcomes was developing a mining and processing optimisation model, called Mars Mining Operation Optimiser (M2O2).
  • A/Prof Saydam has been invited by the UQ and QUT to write a book chapter as part of the book of Extracting Innovations: Mining, Energy, and Technological Change in the Digital Age and also recorded for a MOOC-open access online course by Univ. of Queensland’s The Future of Mining course in the area of Off-Earth Mining.
  • In addition, he was also invited to be the Editor-In-Chief for the Mines of The Future Project by the General Secretary of the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP), and has been leading the Editorial Board which includes well-known professors from the US, Peru, South Africa, Canada, Germany and Australia. The outcomes of the project were disseminated at the 28th Annual Meeting in Italy in 3rd July 2017.
  • PhD student Michael Dello-Iacovo from the School of Mining went on exchange to JPL for several months to continue his research into asteroid exploration, mining and impact risk, under our existing agreement with NASA. Another student UNSW student will replace him in 2018.

Activities in 2015

A/Prof Serkan Saydam spent a significant proportion ofhis sabbatical (Jun-Dec 2015) visiting potential off-earthmining (OEM) collaborators and developing proposals forongoing research. This is in addition to the work on theproject with NASA’s JPL, and the two events; the FutureMining Conference and the Off-Earth Mining Forum.

As part of his travels, Serkan visited Caltech, MIT, VirginiaTech, Univ. Central Florida, NASA’s Jet PropulsionLaboratory (CA), Kennedy Space Centre (FL), andDefence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DC). Hegave invited talks in the US on “An Integrated EconomicsModel for ISRU in Support of a Mars Colony” to NASASSERVI (Solar System Exploration Research VirtualInstitute) CLASS (Centre for Lunar and Asteroid Sciences),Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),Washington DC, Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT), Boston, MA, Swamp Works, Kennedy SpaceCentre, NASA, Orlando, FL. He initiated MOUs with JPL/Caltech, MIT, and UTEP.

He also produced the application “ComprehensiveModelling for Off-Earth Mining Optimization and Resource
Processing” under the STTR scheme, i.e. a Governmentresearch grant (CAT 3) with Easi, VTech and NASA KSC
($174,975).