Government / Commercial Synergy
- Paper number
IAC-08.E6.3.13
- Author
Mr. Thomas Taylor, Lunar Transportation Systerms, Inc. , United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Walter Kistler, Lunar Transportation Systems, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Our first trade route beyond Earth is the moon and logistics will be a major space operation for the rest of time. Starting with Synergy will accelerate our trade route development. On Earth trade routes are a sequence of pathways and stopping places or a trading vehicle place used for the commercial transport of cargo. Little commerce takes place on the actual transportation vehicle, but commerce abounds at the nodes, where trade routes cross or harbors where vehicles change. Trade routes can be over land or water and now space, but eventually become commercial, cost effective and sustaining. Space trade routes use neither land nor water. Space transportation and communications change, but so do vehicle requirements and with technology vehicles tend to evolve toward the most cost effective solution for each segment. Lunar Transportation Systems, Inc. develops innovation and hardware for the long term evolution of lunar logistics from an early 800 kgs to later massive mining equipment delivered to the lunar surface with lunar resources back to Earth. This paper offers a commercial perspective to new lunar transportation routes and proposes a logistics architecture that is designed to have sustainable growth over 50 years, financed by private sector partners and government partnerships. Communications of today will evolve to provide plug and play flexibility with the ability to use every vehicle and node in the system being a communications resource. Entrepreneurial startup teams with previous commercial space experience, using innovation to reduced costs and stimulated commerce and market development. Lunar logistics may be the most complicated logistics challenge yet to be attempted by mankind. The price paid, if a single transportation system fails to work is significant. On the Alaskan North Slope, for example, four different logistics transportation systems were used and none work successfully all the time. The lessons learned are discussed and solutions proposed include examples of resource recovery in the billions and how early 20B risk money from commercial sources worked in Alaska and is possible for lunar resource recovery. Commerce can stimulate larger private investments in the moon’s resource development. The lessons learned from remote logistics bases on Earth and learned in the commercial financing of Public Private Partnerships can stimulate the billions in private sector funds to recover lunar resources using affordable commercial transportation along side government transportation in a cooperative manner. The moon is estimated to be 50 times more remote than Alaska, and 100 to 1,000 times more expensive, so the challenge lunar logistics environment is great and the proposed commercial lunar transportation architecture uses new innovations for modularity, salvage and flexibility leading to reduced development and logistics costs, provide faster development schedule, and accelerate the ability to evolve to a FINAL COST EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS Solution insuring space exploration does not get stalled on the moon and goes onto Mars and Beyond. Commercially, this new lunar logistics route permits incremental capability and technology growth as the market matures, offers affordable transportation for the commercial sector and the later recovery of lunar resources with sustainable transportation in both directions. After mankind moves on to other destinations in our solar system, commercial markets and this in-space “in place” commercial logistics system can service, stimulate and sustain a lunar commercial market environment.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)