I can tell the First Crew had an easy time of it. The top meter of the surface, here, is 0.8% ice (by mass), 0.9% in some places. We can mine this down to 0.1%, below which it’s usually not worth it. We keep our methods as simple as possible, many borrowed from mining on Earth. The first step is to break the surface.
The moon’s polar craters are very cold (down to a frigid [tooltip tip=”30 Kelvin is about -245 degrees Celsius” term=”30K”]). The ice exists within the [tooltip tip=”regolith: the pulverized remains of meteorite impacts on the lunar surface” term=”regolith”] next to plenty of rock. The nickel-graphene augers make holes two meters deep. Another robot inserts explosives and packs the regolith back in, and we stand back and wait for the boom! We won’t hear it, but we can feel it through our boots.
Mac and I aren’t driving the equipment. We’re visiting this spent site to oversee the last few extractions. From the control center, Al monitors the robotic auger as it constantly redistributes its weight, and Eddie monitors the front-loader and haul trucks as they load up the ice.