A Case Study for a Lunar Base Supporting a LEO Propellant Depot IAC-18-D4.5.4

摘要

There exists increasing evidence that a market for a propellant depot in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) could become a realistic, financially viable option. Recently, at a cis-lunar marketplace held in Centennial, CO, the United Launch Alliance announced that it was willing to pay for propellant in Low Earth Orbit. Prices in LEO were stated to be bid in a range between $3,000/kg and $7,000/kg. Propellant in Lunar Orbit was bid at $1,000/kg. In an earlier case study, we demonstrated that a LEO propellant depot could make substantial revenue when supplied with volatiles (water, ammonia, methane, etc,) from lunar polar deposits when sold for $4,500/kg at the depot, when half the revenue went to a lunar polar excavation and beneficiation system. We also discovered that $2,250/kg was not sufficiently high to make a compelling case for that architecture. I was a profitable venture, however, it required either too much propellant to maintain orbit (in the case of chemical propulsion), to very high electrical power >500 kWe to make the system sufficiently profitable for a commercial only venture.