NORCAT moot attracts NASA, CSA officials: conference focused on convergence of mining, space technologies.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: NEWS - Northern Centre for Advanced Technology - Canadian Space Agency

Greater Sudbury- Jim Richard is fast becoming an expert on lunar regolith.

That's the space term for the layer of loose material, or overburden, found on top of the moon's bedrock.

When the next wave of NASA space flights to the moon and Mars takes place sometime after 2010, resource extraction to find extraterrestrial reserves of water, oxygen and hydrogen in preparation for colonizing and travelling in space, will likely be part of the mission profiles.

That's why in early June, space agency officials gathered with representatives from various technology companies at a former producing Falconbridge Mine in Onaping, northwest of Sudbury, to tap into the region's expertise in deep hard-rock mining and mineral processing.

The second annual Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium, hosted by Cambrian College's NORCAT (Northern Centre for Advanced Technology), attracted visitors from NASA's Glenn Research Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center, the Canadian Space Agency and a number of North American robotics, engineering and telecommunications firms.

Among the attendees was Richard, vice-president of Electric Vehicle Controllers (EVC), a Sudbury mining supplier, who is collaborating with the University of New Brunswick and NORCAT in developing what he describes as a "lunar playground" to duplicate the physical properties of the moon's surface.

In order to do the preparatory test drilling and excavating on Earth, NASA needs simulated extraterrestrial environments, known as lunar simulants, to determine if a drill can operate under such conditions.

Richard's involvement in the project has gone light years beyond installing control systems for underground mining locomotives.

As part of a NORCAT development team, Richard has helped build various prototypes of a lightweight electric drill, known as the CanaDrill, which could be part of Canada's contribution to future NASA missions.

"As mining equipment developers, it's necessary to simulate conditions that these pieces of equipment will operate under as closely as we can," says Richard, whose company has secured contracts revolving around drilling and excavating with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

"We want to know what impact that's going to have on the equipment that we're proposing to develop for lunar excavation."

From what scientists say, most of the moon's resources--hydrogen and oxygen--can be extracted from the regolith, which can be used for fuel and life support. "If...