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<\/p>\nUnited Launch Alliance (ULA) President and CEO Tory Bruno has provided a new overview of his company\u2019s role in a proposed \u201cEconosphere\u201d in space. Although it will take decades to fully realize its potential, ULA hardware is set to provide the key elements via its CisLunar 1000 roadmap, allowing numerous commercial companies to come together to create a self-sustaining community of around 1000 people in the space between the Earth and the Moon.<\/p>\n
The CisLunar 1000 plans revolve creating an in-space economy that would tap into the vast amount of resources that could be harnessed from objects such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) and on the surface of the Moon.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the community would become self-sufficient via in situ resource utilization (ISRU), while becoming economically viable via the prospecting of precious materials that are rare on Earth but abundant in space.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we understand today is there\u2019s over 17,000 of these (varying range of NEAs) that come in different classes. Best estimates, there are two trillion kilograms of industrial metals residing in that region,\u201d noted Mr. Bruno during his address to students at the University of Colorado Boulder.<\/p>\n
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ULA CisLunar slide on resources<\/p>\n
\u201cMaterials like Aluminum, Titanium, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel and so on. That\u2019s about a 1000 years of the total production we have here on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added there are more of the precious materials \u2013 such as gold, silver and platinum \u2013 in this region that has ever been mined in the history of humankind, while also referencing the large amounts of water \u2013 a key element for ISRU \u2013 that resides on the Moon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater\u2019s important because it\u2019s rocket fuel,\u201d added Mr. Bruno.<\/p>\n
CisLunar 1000 staging points could also become a base of operations for deep space missions, with the additional benefits of setting sail from a spaceport, with numerous components \u2013 from hardware through to propellant \u2013 having been created, harvested and stored in space, as opposed to the costly and far less efficient process of hauling them uphill from Earth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can have our propellant in space, instead of having to lift it out of Earth\u2019s gravity well, then we have the makings of a transportation system,\u201d Mr. Bruno noted. \u201cOnce you make it to LEO you are two thirds to anywhere else in the Solar System.\u201d<\/p>\n
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ULA\u2019s CisLunar envisioning<\/p>\n
While various proposals have been promoted over recent years, the financial viability of creating such an industry is often out of the reach of the numerous companies that have shown an interest in space prospecting.<\/p>\n
ULA is attempting to create the conditions that would allow interested companies to join the CisLunar workforce via a staged buildup of hardware via their primary role of space transportation.<\/p>\n
The first stage calls for the utilization of space habitats, allowing for an initial base of operations. ULA is already working closely with Bigelow Aerospace, allowing for obvious synergy in this opening salvo of staged hardware. This first phase would allow for around 20 people to live and work in space.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n