
NASA has patented a new route to the moon - mhb
https://twitter.com/GazEtc/status/1298979254244261890
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PaulHoule
"Helium 3 nuclear fuel mining?"

I thought the first product from the moon would be oxygen (7/8 the mass of
your rocket "fuel") and that you'd produce it by reducing hematite (one
astronaut scooped up powdered iron ore about as good you'd find at any mine on
Earth.) Thus you get iron as coproduct; use it to make storage tanks for the
oxygen you're producing.

I wonder if you could possibly get rare earths or any other moonproduct to
Earth economically with one of these bad boys:

[https://thediplomat.com/2019/06/us-navys-railgun-entering-
ne...](https://thediplomat.com/2019/06/us-navys-railgun-entering-new-testing-
phases/)

Delivering O2 to Low Earth Orbit by skimming the Earth's atmosphere seems
possible but would take close attention to maneuvering to lose the right
amount of energy and get into the phase space footprint of the catching
machine.

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justanotherc
So I don't understand, any space farer who takes this route will be sued for
patent infringement?

Lol. I'm going to patent a driving route to Walmart. I'll be rich.

