The Moon: Resources, Future Development and Settlement (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) [Paperback]

David Schrunk (Author), Burton Sharpe (Author), Bonnie L. Cooper (Author), Madhu Thangavelu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0387360557 | ISBN-13: 978-0387360553 | Edition: 2nd

This extraordinary book details how the Moon could be used as a springboard for Solar System exploration. It presents a realistic plan for placing and servicing telescopes on the Moon, and highlights the use of the Moon as a base for an early warning system from which to combat threats of near-Earth objects. A realistic vision of human development and settlement of the Moon over the next one hundred years is presented, and the author explains how global living standards for the Earth can be enhanced through the use of lunar-based generated solar power. From that beginning, the people of the Earth would evolve into a spacefaring civilisation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews of the second edition: "This is basically a handbook describing what must be done to return to the moon, build permanent bases, and use them as a springboard for economic development such as mining, as well as to push further into the solar system and beyond. … This book … would be a valuable addition to the shelves of technical libraries, particularly those associated with schools of aeronautics, space exploration, or engineering. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals." (C. G. Wood, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (7), 2008) "The Moon is a broad-scoped treatment of future lunar development, with a lot of technical information in an easy-to-read style. … this book is an interesting read for all different types of Earth-bound lunar enthusiasts. The book … briefly covering the formation, characteristics, and historical explorations of the Moon starting with Apollo. … The book has well-described ideas and illustrations for lunar development concepts. The scope includes discussion of robotics technology and its near-term application to lunar operations." (Gordon Woodcock, National Space Society, September, 2009)

From the Back Cover

In the past five years, there has been growing interest in the idea of an immediate return to the Moon, and its development as a platform for science, industrialization and exploration of our Solar System and beyond. This book describes the reasons why we should now return to lunar development and settlement, and how this goal may be accomplished. In The Moon: Resources, Future Development and Colonization, the authors consider the rationale and steps necessary for establishing permanent bases on the Moon. Their innovative and scientific-based analysis concludes that the Moon has sufficient resources for large-scale human development. Their case for development includes arguments for a solar-powered electric grid and railroad, creation of a utilities infrastructure, habitable facilities, scientific operations and the involvement of private enterprise with the public sector in the macroproject. By transferring and adapting existing technologies to the lunar environment, it will be possible to use lunar resources and solar power to build a global lunar power-communication-transportation-manufacturing infrastructure. This will support the migration of increasing numbers of people from Earth, and realization of the Moon's scientific potential. As an inhabited world, the Moon will become a centre for Solar System exploration, human settlement, and exploitation of the resources of near-Earth objects. The development on the Moon of an 'off-Earth economy' will result in substantial benefits on our home planet. Readership: Undergraduate and postgraduate students in astronautics, space science, life sciences, space engineering and technology. Professional space scientists, engineers and technologists in space projects, and those interested in the future human space programme and exploitation of Solar System resources. Space enthusiasts with a particular interest in the future development and colonization of the Moon. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: Praxis; 2nd edition (October 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387360557
• ISBN-13: 978-0387360553
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 1.3 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #745,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Comets, Meteors & Asteroids

More About the Author

Aerospace engineer and medical doctor.
Founder of the Quality of Laws Institute and the Science of Laws.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best introduction to lunar development January 15, 2001

By Arthur P. Smith

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is the best up-to-date introduction to lunar development, focusing on the primary technical infrastructure necessary to expand from an initial base via In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) to global development of what the authors term "Planet Moon". The book makes a clear case first for why we should do this, and then in quite detailed outline, how. While some technical components, such as remote robotic tele-operation, or lunar materials mining and processing, still require research and development work, nothing in this project is far from mundane things we already know how to do. The book isn't entirely self-consistent and the logical separation of topics sometimes seems a bit odd, but the range of material covered is satisfyingly broad: lunar topography and composition; railways, telecommunications and materials transport; requirements on construction and chemical processing equipment; human-suitable habitats, life support, agriculture, and "cislunar" transport and logistics, and more. Beyond the technical discussion of the physical, chemical, and engineering issues are several sections of the book dealing with lunar government, including a proposal for creation of a "Lunar Economic Development Authority" (LEDA) following a port authority model, which looks extremely promising. At least as valuable as the 10 main chapters are the 20 appendixes, to which over half the book's pages are devoted. These appendixes, based heavily on work published elsewhere, bring a lot of information together in one place available for ready inter-comparison. Perhaps the most interesting is also the longest, Appendix E, which thoroughly covers the proposed processes for lunar oxygen extraction and related chemical processing. This book is an essential guide for anybody hoping to work on lunar development and participate in, as the authors phrase it, the "Planet Moon Project".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Some day this all might become true! April 25, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I've been reading a lot of books about the moon and it's exploration lately. Some deal with the Apollo past but also some about the (near) future. This book gives a good overview of the aspects involved in developing a permanent base on the moon. It even deals with long term development of cities containing thousands of people. The concepts presented are viable although it presents some concepts that are to far into the future to my likings. It not only presents the theorectical concepts but also the work that has been done in relevant research areas and the problems encountered. It is not science fiction. Not only does the book cover the technical challenges but it also deals with economical and political aspects of a lunar base. If you want to get a clear picture of the current state of the art of lunar development this book is a very good starting point.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars immediate classic - ambitious primer with vision & scope August 3, 2000

By Peter Kokh

Format:Hardcover

Take your pick of "must buy", "immediate classic", or "ambitious Primer with Vision and Scope". Not a few people have taken a hard in depth look at what it will take to establish a permanent outpost on the Moon - as if that was an end all and be all goal in and of itself. In this new volume, Schrunk and his team are clearly out to do more. Seeing the Moon in the much wider light as a world with considerable mineral resources and its strategic location on the shoulder of Earth' gravity well, they outline a feasible, realistic scenario for the coming century. Their goal is not "a" moon base. It is a global integration of the Moon into Earth's economy. Looking at the Moon's resources, where they are located, and at which parts of the Moon have special advantages, they take us from a first south polar outpost step by step into a future when humans will be busy all over the Moon, and making money doing so. Their vision is grounded on established technologies, never depending on developments or breakthroughs that may or may not ever happen. On the airless Moon, good old fashion electric railroads (eventually MagLev) will be the principal way of moving goods and materials from one part of the globe to another. Relying solely on solar power, they manage the long lunar nightspans by setting up grids that loop both poles at approximately 85° N and S, latitudes, depending on the terrain, of course. The Moon will produce power for Earth, and become the principal spaceport by which we open the rest of the Solar System and beyond. By the turn of the next century, hundreds of thousands of people, and maybe more, will live and work on the Moon. Profusely illustrated with B/W sketches, the authors take us through every well-reasoned and grounded step. For all of us interested in the Moon, this book is a must read. Do buy it!