Industrializing the Earth-Moon System – a conceptual study for a space factory in the Lagrange point L5

Werner Grandl^*

• Space Renaissance International, Fino Mornasco, Italy

The utilization of the natural resources of our Moon and the Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) for the benefit of mankind will need industrial plants in space. There are a number of possible locations for deep space processing of extracted space-based materials and future industrial activities in cis-lunar space. Prime among these are the Moon itself and the Earth´s five Lagrange Points which provide an equilibrium between the gravity forces of Earth and Moon. Especially in the points L4 and L5 an object remains in a stable position because there is a triangle between the object, the Earth and the Moon. Building the first space factory e.g. in L5 will enable us to process material and produce goods in zero gravity. Unlike on Earth or on the Moon solar power is available for 24 hours. The industrialisation of cis-lunar space will start with the mining of our Moon. The Lagrange Space Factory (LSF) will start with the processing of lunar material and extract aluminium, iron, titanium and other materials from lunar regolith. When the metals are extracted from oxides we get oxygen as a by-product. An additional source for material will be the recycling of orbital debris to clean up Earth orbit. In the long run the LSF will also process near-Earth asteroid (NEA) material including gold, platinum and carbon. C-type (carbonaceous) asteroids contain also water ice and organic molecules. The goal is to produce building material like steel bars, aluminium panels, tubes and bricks for future space habitats.