Chinese researchers have proposed a magnetic launch system on the Moon that could significantly reduce the cost of transporting valuable materials from the Moon back to Earth in the future.
Moon Launch Project
This technology, suggested by the Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering, could become a crucial component in China’s broader vision for a research base at the Moon’s South Pole, which Beijing aims to build in cooperation with Moscow.
According to a description in the journal Aerospace Shanghai, the new system is designed to operate on the principle of magnetic levitation. Inspired by the hammer throw in athletics, the system will use a high-speed rotating arm to propel lunar payloads into space.
“The “battle” for resource extraction on the Moon will be fierce in the near future.
Reports suggest that this magnetic launch facility could revolutionize space travel by allowing countries to transport goods from the Moon at a fraction of the cost of current transportation methods.
The proposed launch device will include a 50-meter (165 ft) long rotating arm powered by a high-temperature superconducting engine.
The arm is designed to accelerate to the Moon’s escape velocity—approximately 2.4 km per second, about one-sixth the escape velocity of Earth—in just 10 minutes. Once the desired speed is achieved, the launch pod containing lunar materials will be directed back to Earth.
The estimated construction cost for this ambitious project is 130 billion yuan (18.2 billion USD), aiming to leverage the vacuum and low gravity of the Moon, which are optimal conditions for efficiently launching payloads. Chinese researchers predict that this system could handle up to two payloads per day.
The launch mechanism will be powered by a combination of solar and nuclear energy. Its design recovers over 70% of the energy used in each launch through kinetic energy conversion during the deceleration phase.
The magnetic launch system is expected to have a lifespan of at least 20 years and weigh around 80 tons.
However, its deployment depends on the development and operational readiness of China’s super-heavy rockets, which are essential for transporting this system to the Moon.
The launch facility is capable of extracting three to five tons of helium-3 annually, potentially generating revenue of 100 billion yuan.
Key challenges for the launch project include installing it on the rugged terrain of the Moon’s surface, maintaining the stability of the rotating arm at high speeds, and ensuring it can withstand extreme temperature fluctuations, cosmic radiation, and lunar dust.
The research team plans to complete the development of key components by 2030, conduct tests on the Moon’s surface, and achieve full deployment by 2045.
The “Battle” for Lunar Resource Extraction
The Moon’s South Pole has garnered significant attention from major countries engaged in space exploration, including China, Russia, and the United States.
These nations are focused on exploiting lunar resources, with the primary goal of obtaining helium-3. This rare isotope is seen as a potential solution to Earth’s energy challenges.
According to researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering, the aim is to mine and recover helium-3 to help alleviate the global energy crisis.
Experts believe that the South Pole of the Moon contains vast amounts of valuable materials, including helium-3, hidden beneath the lunar regolith (the layer of unsolidified material covering the planet’s bedrock).
China and Russia will begin preparations for their future lunar research station this year. (Photo source: Roscosmos/CNSA)
Research from the Shanghai Institute indicates that helium-3 is abundant on the Moon, unlike its scarcity on Earth. This isotope is crucial for nuclear fusion, a technology that could significantly boost energy production.
While transporting other precious metals like platinum and rhodium from the Moon to Earth may not be economically feasible, helium-3 is an exception.
Helium-3 can be valued at up to $2,000 per liter, making it the Moon’s most valuable resource due to its rarity on Earth.
A small amount—one kilogram of helium-3 combined with 0.67 kilograms of deuterium—can generate energy equivalent to what the United States needs to operate for an entire year.
One ton of this material can produce an immense amount of energy, 1.5 times that of the so-called Tsar Bomba, the strongest nuclear bomb ever tested by the Soviet Union in 1962, with an explosive yield of up to 58 megatons.
The Tsar Bomba had a destructive power 1,350 times greater than the total number of atomic bombs that devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
Chinese researchers argue that only 20 tons of helium-3 would be enough to meet China’s annual electricity demand.
Earth contains only about 0.5 tons of helium-3, while the Moon is estimated to contain approximately one million tons of this resource. This abundance has the potential to meet global energy needs for over a thousand years.
