The preppers' way of space exploration with zero specific cost

It is well known that the primary obstacle to space exploration has been launch costs – currently around $20,000/kg to low-Earth orbit – although there have been efforts to reduce this substantially through re-usable launcher technology. An alternative approach is to bypass launch altogether and exploit space resources directly. There have been proposals for such in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) but they have been focussed on apparent ease (such as water extraction on the Moon) and are merely incidental to mission objectives. Another approach is to build infrastructure from lunar resources and there have been proposals of this nature such as 3D printing of lunar habitat shells using regolith with binder. Again, this is focussed on apparent ease and is incidental to mission objectives. To gain the full value of space resources, we must exploit them fully, not as ad hoc addenda to space missions but as central leveraging assets. But if we are to build entire infrastructures on the Moon, we must deliver the means of production to the Moon. A 10,000 tonne production factory including mining machines, processing, manufacturing and assembly facilities delivered to the Moon at Moon Express rates ($750,000/kg) costs $7.5T – clearly, this is not feasible. There is a solution – the use of smaller self-contained modules (cells) that can self-replicate using local resources, i.e. a self-replicating machine. A 10 tonne self-replicating machine costs $7.5B to deliver to the Moon but once there it exploits local resources to build copies of itself. It grows its productive capacity exponentially attaining 15 million tonnes within 13 generations. Conversely, the capital cost has been amortised exponentially through this growth to just 50 c/kg. Further generations reduce this effectively to zero – at 20 generations, the specific cost has been reduced to near zero at 0.2c/kg. Furthermore, self-replication is premised on the property of universal construction – if we can build a self-replicating machine, it can be programmed to build almost anything given the appropriate resources. The power of the self-replicating machine is entirely transformative – it will revolutionise how we conduct space exploration. Spacecraft can be constructed remotely in space and delivered where desired. Furthermore, the cost is zero as it is constructed as a descendent from the original self-replicator. This is not a technology of tomorrow but of today. We have been demonstrating key aspects to realise the self-replicating machine that we shall present: (i) a basic demandite list of materials leveraged from lunar resources; (ii) a lunar industrial ecology that is sustainable; (iii) 3D printed electric motors to build kinematic machines; (iv) neural network-based computational circuitry capable of learning; and (v) energy generation/storage methods suitable for leverage from lunar resources. We shall discuss specifically the issue of manufacturing electronics from lunar resources. We believe that we are attacking the main fundamental issues required to build a self-replicating machine on the Moon. If we succeed, space will be opened to all for business, recreation and exploration. Our goal is the construct solar power satellites at low cost to solve our global climate crisis.