Astrometallurgist

Dr Matt Shaw is researching mining techniques for use in space

Matt is an astrometallurgist, a field that mixes science and engineering. “It involves turning space rocks into useful resources,” he explains.

Sending materials to the Moon is expensive – about a million dollars per kilogram. So Matti s is working on ways to create what we need right there in space, for the Moon and beyond.

“In the near term, we’ll probably use techniques that we are familiar with here on Earth. But in the distant future, we can start using the conditions in space to aid us,” he says.

On Earth, water boils at a lower temperature on mountains because of the low pressure. Similarly, in space, there are materials that vaporise easier in a vacuum.

“I’ve managed to vaporise a rock in a furnace without it melting,” Matt says. It’s a process that turns a solid straight to a gas, for extraction.

“Now the challenge is to separate out the elements from the gas,” he explains.

While it’s at the cutting edge, you don’t need to be a genius to do this kind of work.“You don’t need to be amazing at science and engineering, you just need to be inquisitive. I think we lose out when people think they’re not smart enough for STEM. What we really want is for people to be imaginative and think outside the box,” Matt says.

Working at the extremes

Matt’s career has taken him to extreme environments, including the Australian desert and Canadian Arctic.

“Considering the differences in how you operate in a scorching desert compared to the freezing Arctic, I began thinking about even more extreme environments, like deep sea and space,” Matt says.

CSIRO + metallurgy = critical minerals

Here on Earth, critical minerals will be vital to make the technologies of the future.

“CSIRO has a massive focus on critical minerals: everything from finding them, all the way through to processing them and making useful things,” Matt explains.