David reported in mid-2024 that in 1974, the late Princeton University professor and space visionary Gerard O'Neill proposed using electromagnetic rail guns to send mineral concentrates from the Moon to a receiving station on Earth.
A cylindrical 220 pound (100 kilogram) launch package is shown after emerging
from the end of a lunar electromagnetic launcher.
(Image credit: General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems)
O'Neill suggested using "mass drivers" based on a coil gun design to accelerate a non-magnetic object. One application for mass drivers was launching Moon-derived materials into lunar orbit for in-space manufacturing. O'Neill also worked at MIT on mass drivers, along with colleague Henry H. Kolm, and a group of farsighted student volunteers, to fabricate their first mass driver prototype. Backed by grants from the Space Studies Institute, later prototypes improved on the mass driver concept. That was five decades ago. Catapult yourself to today and ask this question: What's the U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier got to do with the moon?
Future lunar economy
Late last year, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems filed a final report to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research's (AFOSR). That report was titled "Lunar Electromagnetic Launch for Resource Exploitation to Enhance National Security and Economic Growth." The author of that appraisal is Robert Peterkin, director of operations for the organization's Albuquerque, New Mexico office. Underscored in the 30-page document is that the Moon is rich in useful resources, including silicon, titanium, aluminum and iron [Also see (here)]. The prospect of tapping into lunar water also looms large.
"A not-too-distant future lunar economy will make use of these lunar resources to resupply, repair, and refuel spacecraft in lunar orbit at lower cost than delivering terrestrial resources from Earth's deep gravitational well," explains the report.
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