We may use inflatables to create an extension for the ISS, but when we build on the moon (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show), we want something more permanent: While an inflatable structure could be transported from Earth, it would then need to be covered with a shell built by 3D printers, and the shell would be constructed from material already on the moon’s surface.
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When US astronauts planted an American flag on the moon, it made other countries nervous because it seemed as if our country might be "claiming" it. Now space lawyers say that the international legal system must be improved and expanded before any products that are space-mined from asteroids are brought back to Earth to sell.
If plans to use robots to mine asteroid succeed, it would create its fair share of confusion about mining rights in space–from who owns what to how business interests beyond Earth’s orbit would be specifically protected.
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NASA may return to space after all–but not to explore, to MINE the valuable minerals that are on asteroids, in a NEW TYPE of "Gold Rush." And we may use robots to do the dirty work.
Space scientists think that robots will be the astronauts of the future. They’ll explore the universe, find and identify extraterrestrial life and even clean up space debris in the process. In the April 24th edition of the New York Times, Kenneth Chang writes: "Perhaps it will be a platinum rush that finally opens up the final frontier."
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Believe it or not, researchers are using a computerized search to look at hundreds of thousands of NASA satellite images of the moon, looking for telltale signs that aliens have visited there. And if they’ve visited our moon, have they visited US?
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