AN ANALYSIS OF POSSIBLE ADVANCED SPACE STRATEGIES FEATURING THE ROLE OF SPACE RESOURCE UTILIZATIONt

Abstract-A major weakness of space planning in the U.S.A. has been the lack of clearly defined, major space goals within a coherent, politically palatable, long-range national space strategy. Unresolved issues include the Space Station's role, the most profitable space exploration strategies, and space resource use. We present an analysis of these factors with special emphasis on space resource utilization. Our!,erfo~ance modeling reve~ls that lunar ~xygen is useful on or near the Moon and-if lunar hydrogen IS aval!able--Iunar oxygen IS also economical in LEO. Use of volatile materials from PhobosfDeimos is preferred or attractive in LEO, low lunar orbit, and-if lunar hydrogen is unavailable--on the Moon. Thus it appears that resource synergisms between operations in the Mars system and in Earth-Moon space could become commercially important. I. INTRODUCTION most productive way to maximize international co A major weakness of space planning in the U.S.A. operation in these momentous space ventures. has been the lack of clearly defined, major space goals In this paper we present an analysis which provides within a coherent, politically palatable, long-range a useful method of organizing one's approach to national space strategy. These space goals must help understanding and assessing this complex matrix o