Assessing the plausibility of mining lunar titanium

Exploring the Solar System requires large amounts of resources. However, many critical resources on Earth cannot be diverted from vital productions required for establishing a sustainable society. Resource extraction from extraterrestrial bodies such as the Moon might be an attractive alternative. Here, we assess the potential of the Moons’ Titanium (Ti) resources, which is known to contain significant amounts of this metal. We used mathematical models comparing historical trends of Earth mining operations to build explorative scenarios for future lunar mining operations of Ti resources. The results provide a timeframe for the mining operation and estimates of the quantity of extracted material. We further discuss how lunar resources can be primarily used for in-situ resource utilisation but also as a backup supply source in the worst-case scenario of Earth’s resource depletion.