One of the most commonly discussed challenges when starting our species' space exploration journey is how to get the resources necessary for life off of the Earth. Typically this is thought of as two things—water and oxygen, but, luckily, oxygen can be supplied by splitting apart a water molecule, so the most critical resource we could find in space is water.

Commonly called a "volatile" in the language of space resources, water has been the focal point of many plans for in-situ resource utilization on the moon, Mars, and elsewhere. Some of those plans have been well thought out, others not. One particular showed some promise when it was selected as part of NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) funding back in 2019, and here we'll take a closer look at it.

The concept, published in a report titled "Thermal Mining of Ices on Cold Solar System Bodies" but hereafter referred to as "thermal mining," is the brainchild of George Sowers, a space resource expert and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM).

As of 2019, China began conducting preliminary studies for a crewed lunar mission that would take place by the 2030s. Two years later, the China National Space Agency (CNSA) and Roscosmos announced a partnership to create an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) around the South Pole-Aitken Basin. The proposed timeline for development came down to three phases: Reconnaissance (2021–25), Construction (2025–35), and Utilization (2035–onward). Earlier this year, China announced that its space agency would send the first crewed mission to the lunar surface by 2030.

On July 12, during the 9th China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan, China, Chinese officials offered additional information about its crewed lunar exploration program. This included Deputy chief engineer Zhang Hailian of the China Manned Space Engineering (CMSE) office announcing the preliminary plan for China's first crewed lunar mission. As Zhang illustrated with a series of animations, the mission will consist of two carrier rockets launching all the necessary elements to the moon, which will then rendezvous in orbit and land on the surface to conduct science operations.

Humans have a knack for sharing intimate moments in unlikely places, as membership of the mile-high club demonstrates. So there is a significant chance that the launch of the space tourism sector may be swiftly followed by the first sex in space.

But having researched the issue, my colleagues and I believe that spacetourism companies haven't adequately prepared for the consequences of people joining what we could call the "Kármán line club" (referencing the 100km-high boundary between Earth and the rest of the cosmos).

Talk of space tourism has always been in terms of the distant future. But sub-orbital space tourism—short flights with only a few minutes of spaceflight and weightlessness—already exists. Tickets range from freebies, to costing millions of dollars.

Much longer flights are just around the corner. Companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX have well-established track records of developing spacecraft faster than the public sector. SpaceX's larger and more capable Starship spacecraft will likely operate routinely in the next few years.

When, not if

Flights have been reserved and passenger lists assembled for private flights that will loop around the Moon.

New research by scientists from NASA and Japan's Osaka University suggests that rogue planets—worlds that drift through space untethered to a star—far outnumber planets that orbit stars. The results imply that NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch by May 2027, could find a staggering 400 Earth-mass rogue worlds. Indeed, this new study has already identified one such candidate.

"We estimate that our galaxy is home to 20 times more rogue planets than stars—trillions of worlds wandering alone," said David Bennett, a senior research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a co-author of two papers describing the results. "This is the first measurement of the number of rogue planets in the galaxy that is sensitive to planets less massive than Earth.