Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had big plans when he was selected to serve in the Trump Administration. Now, he has a plan that is bringing the U.S. back to space exploration with a moon base in the works to be used for refueling for interplanetary voyages.
According to Business Insider, Ross will be an integral part of the Trump Administration’s goals of turning the moon, “into a kind of gas station for outer space.” Before some explode in anxiety and disarray from such a “crazy” idea, this has been proposed many times before.
Since Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s historic achievement of being the first successful human to travel to space, low-Earth orbit travel and voyages to the moon and back have been the province of government agencies and expressions of national pride. Though, in the last few years, the private sector has become a big part of space-related affairs, exploration, and infrastructure. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin, and, most importantly, Elon Musk’s SpaceX are the current industry leaders of transportation to above the Earth’s atmosphere and beyond.
When sending something to space via NASA’s Space Shuttle, the cost is around $10,000 per pound. Even with SpaceX’s Falcon-9 Heavy reusable rocket, the cost is approximately $2,500 per pound. Although it is a herculean cost-cutting achievement, it is still extremely expensive to send materials and people into low-Earth orbit. This is mainly perpetuated by the cost of fuel.
With space exploration kicking into high gear in the next few years and decades, to truly make space flight efficient both environmentally and fiscally, the transportation method needs to be revisited. Therefore, Ross is taking the idea of a moon base to heart.
“In the report, Ross stated, “A lot depends upon how successful we are in turning the moon into a kind of gas station for outer space.” If the U.S. was able to construct a fueling station on the surface of the moon, interplanetary travel will become much more feasible.
President Donald Trump appointed Ross as the point person to advance commercial space initiatives and as a member of the reconstituted National Space Council. According to a White House press release, Vice President Mike Pence, Chairman of the National Space Council, announced the 29-member team staffed by executives from Boeing, Northrop Grumman, former astronauts, and leaders in the aerospace industry. The Council will forward President Trump’s,” mandate to ‘foster close coordination, cooperation, and technology and information exchange’ across our nation’s space enterprise.”
In Ross’ initial conception of a fueling station or moon base, interplanetary expeditions would first launch from Earth and travel to the moon. Spacecrafts would then refuel with liquid hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide compounds made from ice in moon craters. “The plan is to break down the ice into hydrogen and oxygen, use those as the fuel propellant,” Ross said.
The concept of a moon base to be a pit stop on the way to other worlds has been the subject of various studeies over the last few decades. Many experts claim it would allow the space-faring civilization to cut down drastically on fuel costs.
Ross has praised SpaceX founder Musk for the recent launch of the Falcon-9 Heavy rocket, saying the administration wishes to cut down on regulations for commercial space travel as a way to encourage more competition.
“It was really quite an amazing thing,” Ross commented of the SpaceX launch. “At the end of it, you have that little red Tesla hurdling off to an orbit around the Sun and the Moon,” he added.
