Whatever opinion we have of him, we will never take away from Elon Musk his propensity to announce grandiose projects, sometimes serious, sometimes quite stupid. Either way, you will put this one in the category that suits you. During an internal meeting at xAI, the billionaire revealed a plan that seems straight out of an Isaac Asimov novel: transform the Moon into a gigantic factory for AI-boosted satellites, before propelling them into the void thanks to an electromagnetic catapult. Take a deep breath; At first glance, you might say that he was lacking a little sleep or that he had taken too much ketamine, but it’s an engineering principle that holds up.
The lunar catapult: Musk’s new tool of domination?
Why bother building on the Moon what we already know how to do on Earth? Escaping the Earth’s gravitational well costs a huge amount of energy in fuel and on the Moon, gravity is six times less, not to mention that the absence of an atmosphere eliminates all air resistance. We might as well take advantage of the favorable characteristics of our natural satellite which would host this catapult.
As you might expect, this isn’t a siege engine made of wood and rope. It is actually a “ mass driver », a linear mass accelerator using superconducting magnets to propel payloads at phenomenal speeds. The concept of this technology is based on the Lorentz force : we make an electric current circulate in rails of several kilometers to generate a magnetic field powerful enough to catapult a projectile without any combustion.
For Musk, this is the only viable way to outsource the future computing power your company will need xAI. « My estimate is that within two to three years, the cheapest way to generate computing power for AI will be space “, he explained. An innovation in line with the orbital data centers envisaged by the China Aerospace Science and Technology : freeing oneself from terrestrial constraints.
By installing server factories on lunar regolith, SpaceX and xAI could thus manufacture satellite constellations directly on site. The billionaire thinks big, very big: “ Using an electromagnetic mass engine and lunar manufacturing, it is possible to send 500 to 1000 TW per year of AI satellites into deep space, climbing significantly up the Kardashev scale (Editor’s note: theoretical method proposed in 1964 by the Russian astronomer Nikolai Kardashev to classify civilizations according to their energy consumption) and exploit a significant percentage of the sun’s power ».
A crazy idea from the 1970s
If the project may make you smile, Elon Musk did not invent anything (surprising, no?) and happily drew his inspiration from the work of Gérard O’Neill, a physicist who had already put forward the theoretical bases of such an object. In the 1970s, when NASA was wondering what to do after Apollo, this Princeton professor published The High Frontiera work that remains the absolute bible for space optimists. O’Neill had even made working prototypes of catapults in his laboratory and his idea was more or less the same: using electromagnets to propel lunar ore into space to build giant colonies.
Robert Peterkin, from General Atomics, points out that we are already using similar systems on certain aircraft carriers (the Gerald R. Ford classes of the US Navy, for example): EMALS catapults (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System). Although they are much smaller in size, they can propel fighter planes at around 70 m/s, allowing them to take flight on the deck by traveling barely 300 meters. “ Today, an electromagnetic launcher is obvious: it draws on solar energy, omnipresent on site, rather than depending on chemical fuel that would have to be transported at high cost from Earth. », tranche Robert Peterkin.
In Musk’s idea, the first elements of the lunar catapults could be sent aboard the gigantic Starship, with its 100 tons of carrying capacity. Once the basis is established, the Moon would then become a gas station and a giant satellite factory. Why not after all? When you have succeeded in transforming one of the largest social networks in the world into a manure pit in six months, nothing is impossible.
No, more seriously, the logistical obstacles to overcome before such a project comes to fruition are daunting. It will be necessary to ensure that the satellites survive the colossal thrust when propelledensure that the very abrasive lunar regolith does not destroy all the electronic circuits, power the catapult during lunar nights of fourteen days while it will require aberrant power peaks to operateand incidentally convince the world powers that this is just a nice logistical tool. In short, only a few trifles which will certainly be resolved within 10 years !
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