The inventions of UCF planetary scientists help open doors for extraterrestrial commerce.
Metzger’s most recent creations are meant to make the gathering, utilization, and management of resources—like ice for fuel and water, and lunar soil for building materials—more affordable.
Envision a future where UCF researchers reside and study on the moon, and where businesses mine and utilize lunar resources to propel rockets farther into space.
In the not-too-distant future, UCF planetary scientist Phil Metzger ’00MS’05PhD anticipates this.Given the trend of the space business and the decreasing cost of space access, Metzger predicts that within a few decades, that will actually happen. “There will soon be a revolution in even lunar transportation.”
In order to meet those predictions and relieve the planet of numerous environmental burdens, Metzger, who oversees the Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education, a joint venture between UCF and Space Florida, has created inventions.
These are some of Metzger’s most recent creations, which are intended to make the gathering, usage, and management of resources—such as ice for fuel and water, and lunar dirt for building materials—more affordable.
Harvesting Lunar Ice for Fuel and Water
Are you Harry Potter fans familiar with “Aqua Factorem!”? That’s the moniker Metzger and his colleagues given their low-cost, patent-pending method of moonwater extraction.
Aqua Factorem, which might be translated as “Water Maker” in the Harry Potter universe, is an invention that makes it possible for businesses to run facilities in space by gathering and utilizing the moon’s resources.
NASA found almost ten years ago that the moon’s dark craters included precious resources such as metals and ice that could aid in future space travel. Metzger and other scientists began examining the moon’s ice at that time.
“Numerous individuals were putting forth ideas on how to extract the ice from the ground in order to create rocket fuel,” he continues.
According to Metzger, one of the main challenges over the years has been the quantity of energy required to extract and transform those resources into fuel, water, and even air.
According to Metzger, “it takes huge amounts of power to go down into these craters.” And how is electricity introduced into these shadowy lunar craters? We considered ideas such as using lasers to beam energy or large mirrors to reflect sunlight.
“I noticed that the ice in the lunar soil is granular—that is, there are individual ice grains mixed throughout—when I was reflecting on its physical state one day.
Metzger created and oversaw a NASA-funded study on techniques for removing ice from soil far more cheaply based on that geological insight.
He suggests that instead of heating the grain until it vaporizes in a lunar vacuum, collecting the vapor, and then refreezing it, the grains may be sorted using a number of methods.
“Our research indicates that we can lower the power by 98.3%, which is in line with my proposal that we cut the energy by roughly 99%. Very very good. That implies that these pricey energy systems are not necessary.
Alternatively, you could merely drive fuel cells into and out of the craters using fuel cells.