SPACE — On Earth, China recently blocked the export of rare earth elements to Japan for use in various products. These include wind turbines, glass solar panels for hybrid cars, guided missiles and other defense-oriented creations.
China is increasingly limiting the quota of these elements outside its country. As the scarcity of these valuable minerals increases, other countries’ concerns about the limited availability of these resources also increase.
For example, the latest report from the Congressional Research Service, a research group of the United States (US) Congress. The report reviews the use of rare earth elements for US national defense.
The report looked at the production of elements such as europium and tantalum outside the United States and highlighted important issues regarding the vulnerability of those supplies. The study shows that rare earth elements are being used for new energy technologies and US national security applications.
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They guess how the situation will develop. Is the United States vulnerable to supply disruptions of those elements? Are they important to U.S. national security and economic prosperity?
One of the policy options flagged in the Congressional Research Service assessment is establishing government-administered economic reserves and/or US private sector reserves. It is noted to be a prudent investment and will contain supplies of certain rare earth elements that are widely needed for US green initiatives and defense applications.
Looking up to the Moon
Given Earth’s many mineral problems, the moon could be an important resource. But what about the quality, quantity and costs involved? This is what concerns them.
Carrying out observations of the moon was Carle Pieters, a leading planetary scientist in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University, Providence. “Yes, we know there are local concentrations of REE (rare earth metals) on the moon,” said Pieters.
“We also know from the samples returned, that we have not sampled REE concentrations directly, but can easily detect them along the mixing pathway with the many samples we have.”
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Pieters is also the principal investigator for NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), the instrument carried by India’s lunar-orbiting spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1. The probe was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in October 2008 and circled the moon until the end of August 2009.
2023-10-15 04:29:00
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