English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Zendy Plus

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Insights

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Zendy Tools

Zendy Open

Economic parameters are identified for an in-space industry where the capitalis made on one planet, it is transported to and teleoperated on a secondplanet, and the product is transported off the second planet for consumption.This framework is used to model the long-run cost of lunar propellantproduction to help answer whether it is commercially competitive againstpropellant launched from Earth. The prior techno-economic analyses (TEAs) oflunar propellant production had disagreed over this. The "gear ratio on cost"for capital transport, G, and the production mass ratio of the capital, phi,are identified as the most important factors determining competitiveness. Theprior TEAs are examined for how they handled these two metrics. This identifiescrucial mistakes in some of the TEAs: choosing transportation architectureswith high G, and neglecting to make choices for the capital that could achieveadequate phi. The tent sublimation technology has a value of phi that is anorder of magnitude better than the threshold for competitiveness even in lowEarth orbit (LEO). The strip mining technology is closer to the threshold, buttechnological improvements plus several years of operating experience willimprove its competitiveness, according to the model. Objections from members ofthe aerospace community are discussed, especially the question whether thetechnology can attain adequate reliability in the lunar environment. Theresults suggest that lunar propellant production will be commercially viableand that it should lower the cost of doing everything else in space.

Economics of In-Space Industry and Competitiveness of Lunar-Derived Rocket Propellant