Angel Abbud-Madrid on Space Resources

In this episode of the Space Economy podcast we discuss the current and future role space resources will play as humanity continues its push into the solar system. This is the eighth of ten episodes in our special series Doing Business in the Solar System hosted by Elizabeth Howell.

NASA hopes to expand its human spaceflight program to the moon in the 2020’s, and perhaps then to Mars. An international consortium is working to make this push into the solar system as efficient as possible. One key aspect is in situ resource utilization, or ISRU. Living off the land, proponents say, may make it cheaper to perform exploration because it means not having to tote all supplies with you.

The Colorado School of Mines has done numerous studies concerning ISRU. Our guest this week is Angel Abbud-Madrid, Director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines. He is also director of the space resources graduate program at the school.

Please note that during the podcast Abbud-Madrid mentions the recently concluded Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Science Symposium and Space Resources Roundtable. Our stories from this conference are available here.

Listen in.