Plasma lightning pulses could reduce space mining infrastructure by 100 times for moon, Mars, etc.

Next Big Future ^ | March 19, 2015 | Brian Wang

[2ndDivisionVet]

Shackleton Energy Company (SEC) and Zaptec sign a Memorandum of Understanding to explore how technologies developed by Zaptec for the oil and gas industry can be utilised in lunar mining.

SEC is focusing on building a supply chain for extraction of water ice and minerals from the surface of the Moon, to convert the resources into fuel.

Shackleton Energy believes that the electronic transformer technology developed by Zaptec for the oil and gas industry can be applied to SEC’s lunar mining plans as it reduces size and mass of equipment, which is a primary goal of SECs strategy.

The cost of operations on the lunar surface is sensitive to the size and mass of equipment, SEC is always on the lookout for novel engineering solutions, especially for power systems and extraction that drive the fundamental design of in-space systems.

A potential solution has been developed by Zaptec, a Norwegian company that originated from the oil and gas industry. Zaptec has developed a patented electronic transformer that enables transformation of high voltages and high currents in very small devices, reducing material usage by a factor of 100. Zaptec's transformer enables plasma lightning pulses to be generated and controlled in very compact, powerful drilling technology. Plasma drilling technology offers the potential to extract water ice at significantly lower power levels compared with traditional mechanical drilling systems....

[DanielRedfoot]

Meanwhile I can’t manage to program a universal remote.....

[cripplecreek]

Seems like it would be an advantage in very low or no gravity environments.

I don’t believe you would be creating a force away from the surface.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Don’t feel bad; no one else can either. If they can, they aren’t.

[nikos1121]

bttt

[sickoflibs]

Sounds like they might blow up the earth