Scientists attending the recent the School of Mines in Colorado have discussed how an international effort could see lunar ice mined commercially, with the reality only a decade away. Planetary scientist Philip Metzger, of the University of Central Florida, said more information was needed to determine the form of lunar ice, and rovers should be deployed "as quickly as possible to resolve this". Meanwhile, researchers at Space Resources Roundtable said the use of thermal mining, using tilted mirrors and direct sunlight, could help extract frozen water resources from deep lunar craters.
Scientists attending the recent Space Resources Roundtable in Colorado have discussed how an international effort could see lunar ice mined commercially, with the reality only a decade away. Planetary scientist Philip Metzger, of the University of Central Florida, said more information was needed to determine the form of lunar ice, and rovers should be deployed "as quickly as possible to resolve this". Meanwhile, researchers at the School of Mines said the use of thermal mining, using tilted mirrors and direct sunlight, could help extract frozen water resources from deep lunar craters.