NASA Sees Moon Lunar Mining Trial within the Next Decade

FILE PHOTO: NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from launch complex 39-B on the unmanned Artemis I mission to the moon at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from launch complex 39-B on the unmanned Artemis I mission to the moon at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo/File Photo
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NASA Sees Moon Lunar Mining Trial within the Next Decade

FILE PHOTO: NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from launch complex 39-B on the unmanned Artemis I mission to the moon at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from launch complex 39-B on the unmanned Artemis I mission to the moon at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo/File Photo

NASA is looking to develop resources on the moon that initially include oxygen and water, and eventually may expand to iron and rare earths, and has already taken steps toward excavating moon soil in 2032, a scientist said on Wednesday.
The US space agency plans to return Americans to the moon as part of its Artemis mission, including the first woman and person of color by 2025, and to learn from the mission to facilitate a trip to Mars, Reuters reported.
A key part of the mission is advancing commercial opportunities in space. The agency is looking to quantify potential resources, including energy, water and lunar soil, as a goal to attract commercial investment, said Gerald Sanders, a rocket scientist at NASA's Johnston Space Center for 35 years.
Developing access to resources on the moon will be key to cutting costs and developing a circular economy, Sanders said.
"We are trying to invest in the exploration phase, understand the resources... to (lower) risk such that external investment makes sense that could lead to development and production," he told a mining conference in Brisbane.
"We are literally just scratching the surface," he said. NASA will at the end of the month send a test drill rig to the moon and plans a larger-scale excavation of moon soil, or regolith, and a pilot processing plant in 2032.
The first customers are expected to be commercial rocket companies who could use the moon's resources for fuel or oxygen.
The Australian Space Agency is involved in developing a semi-autonomous rover that will take regolith samples on a NASA mission as early as 2026, said Samuel Webster, an assistant director at the agency.
The rover will demonstrate the collection of lunar soil that contains oxygen in the form of oxides.
Using separate equipment sent to the moon with the rover, NASA will aim to extract that oxygen, he said.
"This ... is a key step towards establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon, as well (as) supporting future missions to Mars," he said at the conference.



Scientists in Japan Develop Plastic that Dissolves in Seawater within Hours 

A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 
A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 
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Scientists in Japan Develop Plastic that Dissolves in Seawater within Hours 

A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 
A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 

Researchers in Japan have developed a plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours, offering up a potential solution for a modern-day scourge polluting oceans and harming wildlife.

While scientists have long experimented with biodegradable plastics, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and the University of Tokyo say their new material breaks down much more quickly and leaves no residual trace.

At a lab in Wako city near Tokyo, the team demonstrated a small piece of plastic vanishing in a container of salt water after it was stirred up for about an hour.

While the team has not yet detailed any plans for commercialization, project lead Takuzo Aida said their research has attracted significant interest, including from those in the packaging sector.

Scientists worldwide are racing to develop innovative solutions to the growing plastic waste crisis, an effort championed by awareness campaigns such as World Environment Day taking place on June 5.

Plastic pollution is set to triple by 2040, the UN Environment Program has predicted, adding 23-37 million metric tons of waste into the world's oceans each year.

"Children cannot choose the planet they will live on. It is our duty as scientists to ensure that we leave them with best possible environment," Aida said.

Aida said the new material is as strong as petroleum-based plastics, but breaks down into its original components when exposed to salt. Those components can then be further processed by naturally occurring bacteria, thereby avoiding generating microplastics that can harm aquatic life and enter the food chain. As salt is also present in soil, a piece about five centimeters (two inches) in size disintegrates on land after over 200 hours, he added.

The material can be used like regular plastic when coated, and the team are focusing their current research on the best coating methods, Aida said. The plastic is non-toxic, non-flammable, and does not emit carbon dioxide, he added.