Mining Water on the Moon by Leveraging Alberta’s Oil & Gas Expertise

Space exploration is constantly growing in popularity with many organizations seeking to discover more information about our solar system and beyond. Unfortunately, when travelling to space, many limitations make these discoveries challenging. Luckily, businesses like Lunar Water Supply Company recognize these gaps.

Lunar Water Supply Company is a business committed to extracting, purifying, storing and selling water on the moon. Their mission is to allow for longer missions, more astronauts, and more exploration, with an overall goal to create a space economy on the lunar surface. 

Zac Trolley, the Co-Founder of Lunar Water Supply Company, sat down with Rachel Gregory, Digital Host at The Global Energy Show, to discuss how his company can take Alberta’s knowledge in extracting oil and natural gas and using the same skills to extract water ice from the moon's surface.

Global Energy Show Series - Lunar Mining: Taking Alberta's Oil and Gas Expertise to the Moon

What Lunar Water Supply Plans to do on the Lunar Surface 

Rachel: Zach, your company, Lunar Water Supply, is working on an incredible feat. Could you provide us with the coles notes of what your team is working towards? 

Zac: We are going to extract, purify, store, and sell water on the moon. Right now, it's about $4,000 per litre of water to get it into space, but we believe we can get it down to $500. Putting water on the moon would allow for longer missions, more people, more activity, and a space economy around the moon. 

How Mining on the Moon is Parallel to Mining Oil and Gas

Rachel: Wow. That sounds incredible. What parallels do you see between Alberta's oil and gas industry and space exploration?

Zac: Alberta builds modular equipment to extract resources in a remote location. We do this for a resource used in manufacturing fuel here on earth, and that same skill set is needed for space resources.

Somebody is going to do it. Somebody's going to be building this hardware, and that somebody can be Alberta. 

How Alberta Can Diversify Their Economy by Taking Advantage of the Water Ice Resources Buried Beneath the Moon’s Surface

Rachel: You've mentioned in articles that you believe it's time for Alberta to diversify its economy. Can you expand more on what you mean by that?

Zac: I want Alberta to use the skills that we currently have in new markets. One great example of that is geothermal energy. We have the hands-on knowledge to execute these large resource projects under serious constraints. We do this day in and day out. 

If we could apply these skills to this emerging market, there's huge growth potential. Some people say 2 billion per year by 2050, and that's just for water.

How Alberta Can Utilize Their Knowledge for Moon Exploration

Rachel: In a perfect world, where would you like to see Alberta's talent, innovation and technology in space exploration? 

Zac: I think that Alberta could be front and centre internationally and domestically. I mean, it's hard. Let's not pretend it's an easy problem. It's a hard problem, but we've never let that stop us before. 

Why Lunar Water Supply is Attracted to the Idea of Space Exploration

Rachel: Many people are so fascinated with space, but it's definitely not every day that you encounter someone making it their career. So I have to ask you, Zach, why space?

Zac: Space is full of unknowns, which excites me. If you imagine the future, lunar ice water can be used to grow crops in lunar soil to feed astronauts; that same tech can be used in remote areas in Canada to solve our food and security problems. 

Space, to me, represents those stretch goals and a way to wipe the board clean and imagine what things could be.

Learn More About How Companies are Taking Advantage of Old Techniques for New Problems

As we continue to explore life beyond Earth, more companies and countries are looking for ways to create a space economy. Luckily, extracting water ice from the moon can help reach these goals. With abundant water in the lunar poles, especially in permanently shadowed regions, companies like Lunar Water Supply Company have a great chance of successfully conducting extensive mining operations on the lunar surface.

If you're interested in learning more about leveraging Alberta’s oil & gas expertise from those actively changing the game in North America's energy industry, register for the next Global Energy Show today.