Getting materials from Earth to a space colony will, over-time, prove to be costly and non-profitable. Therefore, a need to find an alternative source of materials is a vital part to the habitation of space. There are multiple sources for the materials needed and overtime all could be utilized to obtain the resources. A moonbase for the extraction of materials. [Courtesy of NASA] Making the best possible use of the materials already present in space requires step-by-step planning. The first logical location to mine materials from is the Moon. From there we can "move" on to other moons, asteroids, and comets for more resources. The Moon contains minerals such as aluminum, titanium, and iron, which are all strong possibilities in building a space habitat. The Moon also has a large amount of silica in the soil, which can be used to make windows and solar panels. There is oxygen, which can be used for respiration and rocket fuel. The Moon also contains important gases such as hydrogen and carbon. The availability of these resources on the Moon provides a convenient way to get materials without paying for costly rocket launches from Earth. Aluminum can be used to build the outer core of a space station. Another convenience is that aluminum is a widely used metal on Earth, so there will be limited testing necessary to determine the metal's capabilities. Another reason that aluminum could be valuable in space is because of its ability to conduct heat and electricity very well. The next metal that could, over-time, prove to be valuable is titanium. Like aluminum this metal has the ability of being used for building the outside core of a space colony. The only downside to titanium is the lack of current knowledge about its properties and capabilities. After testing, titanium could become a better choice for building than aluminum because it is a stronger metal. The presence of silica in the Moon's soil provides another very important "in space" resource. Silica is melted at very high temperatures to make glass and solar panels. On Earth, sodium oxide is used in making glass because the compound aids in raising the temperature to melt the silica. In space, however, the use of sodium oxide will not be necessary. This is because, theoretically, the temperature will raise to a high enough temperature on its own. The ability to build solar panels in space will also be vital because solar energy will possibly be the largest energy provider for a space colony. Glass made from silica brought back from the moon by the Apollo mission was very dark in color. This could, perhaps, be fixed after refining, or the dark nature of the glass could be used as a sunlight filter. After mining the Moon and establishing techniques for mining in space, mining asteroids and comets could also provide multiple sources for resources. Transporting materials from Earth to space colonies by the use of space shuttles is not a cost-effective technique. The need to create a cheaper, more efficient, and faster way to get materials from Earth to space is very important. On the same token, there is also a large need to have an easier way to move materials from the moon (or other space mining sites) to a space colony. One possible way to send materials is to use a mass driver. Mass drivers are proposed to one-day take over the transportation of moving all materials from the moon to areas of space. A mass driver would catapult materials from the Moon's surface to different collectors throughout space. Illustration of a mass driver [Courtesy of NASA] The driver is run on electricity produced by magnets to accelerate materials for "launch." Some of the positive results of using a mass driver is the fact that it does not use fuels to run. It uses solar power to aid in creating the electromagnetic energy that propels the materials. It is cheaper than using rockets to send cargo, and has the potential to send more loads per second than the conventional way to transport materials. The way that the driver works, as stated above, are by the use of two electromagnets, the bucket coil and the drive coils. This driver works on the principle that two magnets create a magnetic field. This is called and electromagnet. The difference between an electromagnet attraction and normal magnet attraction is that an electromagnet can increase in strength as electricity is sent through the coil. The large coil is called the "bucket coil," which contains the materials being transported, and the smaller coils are called "drive coils." The mass driver is a tunnel of drive coils that accelerate the bucket coil with an electromagnetic field. The bucket coil accelerates through a tunnel of drive coils and then travels with the materials to a pre-determined destination.