Written by : ROBERT SPENCE

MINING THE MOON has been a hot topic of late , and for good reason . The potential for a bountiful , treasuretrove of untapped resources has many companies pondering the possibilities . Is the Moon ripe for the picking of rare elements , and if so , what is the payoff ?

Ian Crawford , a professor of planetary science and astrobiology at Birkbeck College , London has published a new assessment of whether or not there ’ s an economic case for mining the Moon . Although it ’ s hard to identify any single lunar resource , Crawford says the Moon does possess an abundant of raw materials that are of potential economic interest .

According to Crawford , the overall case for any future payoff from capitalizing on the Moon ’ s resources has yet to be made .

8 March 2015