Mining of Lunar polar ice

Energy system and resource utilization in space: A state-of-the-art review

“…Therefore, thermal mining methods were proposed. 27,[90][91][92][93] As illustrated in Figure 3A, the conducted sunlight or other 16,160,161 heat sources heats ices to sublimate or evaporate, which is then collected by a cold trap device.…”

An Integrated Economics Model for ISRU in Support of a Mars Colony--Initial Status Report

“…Craig, et al 10 provide a contemporary literature review of 20 OEM studies. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Many of the earlier studies covered focused on lunar or asteroid mining for volatiles and minerals, or on proposed OEM systems and operational processes. This is not surprising since NASA's previous human exploration programs-the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) 1989-1992 and the Constellation Program 2005-2010-were initially focused on a return to the Moon.…”

Deployable Tensegrity Lunar Tower

“…Scientists have been exploring the idea of mining the moon for some time. Mining ice on the moon can be achieved by using solar energy to heat the ice and store it as water (Duke et al 1998). Rock breakage by microwave techniques, mineral processing, and materials manufacturing for ISRU have also been discussed (Tukkaraja et al 2018).…”