We need a space resources institute

GOLDEN, Colo., - Fifty years ago this July, Apollo 11 delivered the first crewed mission to the surface of the moon. Today, the United States is on the verge of a space renaissance—returning astronauts to the moon, first on an orbiting space station and then a return to the surface. Among other objectives, NASA, its international partners and commercial companies are looking to find and mine lunar water­—the basic building block of hydrogen fuel and oxygen, wrote Alex Gilbert and Morgan D. Bazilian for Scientific American.

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The Intelligent Aerospace take:

April 19, 2019 -It is an exciting time for tech businesses, engineers, and even space travel aficionados. In 2018, the global space industry is estimated to be north of $400 billion, and could double in the next decade if technology developments keep up with demand to leave terra firma and exploit resources on other planets or asteroids. Scientists theorize that there are planets made of diamonds, and there's a reason why rare Earth elements are called that. With reusable rockets, getting to space is more egalitarian than ever. Gilbert and Bazilian argue that the functional duopoly of the United States and the U.S.S.R. of yesteryear is broken and now is the time to set up an organization regarding space resources.

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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace

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