Think_Lunan

Think Like a Lunan

We have moondust, solar energy, cold temps at night, free vacuum and low gravity

From moondust-iron, cast basalt, oxygen and eventually a lot of other things

Low gravity means we don't need the strongest materials-just make things thicker, so what? We're in 1/6th G!

Free vacuum = no outside corrosion, easy welding

What we need are alloys of lunar only available materials like iron (Fe), silicon (Si), calcium (Ca), titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn),

chromium (Cr), REEs (rare earth elements like eurpoium, lanthanum from KREEP with also contains potassium and phosphorus for farming and uranium (U) and thorium (Th))

Those REEs may find new lunar alloying uses that can't compete with copper and zinc for instance on Earth. There is significant amounts of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) in the regolith also that have various uses. There might be chlorine and fluorine in some of the volcanic glasses. Might even be shallow chromite deposits in crater central peaks.

There could be ice at the poles for water, hydrogen and oxygen. If the ice, should it prove out, came from comets it could contain significant amounts of carbon, very complex organics, CO, CH4, N2, NH3, HCN (cyanide) and more...

Comet Elements

Element
Mass%

H
4.20%

C
7.70%

N
3.80%

O
62.50%

S
3.10%

Mg
4.50%

Si
4.90%

Fe
8.80%

Ni + Cr
0.60%

Al
0.40%

Comet Components

Component
Mass%

Silicates
21.00%

Carbon (graphite)
6.00%

Very Complex Organics
19.00%

Water
19.00%

Carbon monoxide
10.00%

Other volatiles: CO2, CH4, N2, NH3,HCN, etc.
25.00%

A comet is a "dirty snowball" of ice and dust. The "dirt" or dust may be the most valuable stuff of it all. We must have landers to sample the ice if that's what it is and analyze it, determine it's composition before we finalize plans. We don't have much hydrogen, carbon or nitrogen; just averages of 40-50 ppm H, 100 ppm N, 200 ppm C and 500 ppm S varying from location to location. We could do a lot of volatile mining with tractors that load up the moondust, roast out the volatiles, store them in onboard tanks, dump the spent moondust and move on. The H, C, N and S during roasting will form H20, CO, CO2, SO2, and maybe some NO2 by reaction with oxides in the regolith and these are far easier to liquefy and store than the H and N themselves. Helium 4 might leak out so yields will be lower of that gas.

If the ice is of cometary origin, the most popular theory, then it would be a gold mine of elements besides hydrogen and oxygen from water....

There could even be nickel in it! Important stuff for steel and catalysts.

If it is just frozen concentrations of hydrogen from the solar wind, does it not stand to reason that it will also contain C, N and other elements present in the solar wind like the stuff we find traces of in the regolith?

So I am optimistic no matter what it is, we just have to know what it is to figure out how to extract it and process it, separate the elements...

Could there be meteor impacts where iron and nickel deposits remain? So what if the meteor or asteroid vaporizes into a ball of plasma when it hits? Some blows away and some penetrates the regolith, mingles with the impact molten rock and dissolves in there, or so it seems in my vision of things...so some good stony iron-nickel asteroid impacts might be up there. If there's only a small percentage of nickel rather than just a few ppm as in regolith we can get it. Iron, Nickel and Cobalt react with CO (carbon monoxide) to form carbonyls, liquid compounds that can be separated by distillation and decomposed with moderate amounts of heat. Dr. John Lewis of U of Az. (author of "Mining the Sky" and other books) has already experimentally done this to metoric materials on Earth. It's no big deal and nickel is conventionally refined in this way.

Easy to get free iron and iron bearing minerals. Have to look up magnetic properties to really work this out. Some minerals are less magnetic than the iron fines of meteoric origin, so with the right electromagnet strength we could get just the iron fines, and/or just the iron fines and/or the ilmenite which might be yanked straight out electrostatically. Electrostatic separation is a conventional industrial process. Ilmenite, FeTiO3, is separated from sands and other minerals that way. How much electricity would we need? So there are questions but those details can be worked out for sure. (Fe,Mg)SiO4 is olivine, FeCrO4 is chromite and (Ca,Mg,Fe)2SiO6 is the general formula for pyroxene group minerals. These are common minerals on the Moon. Pyroxenes are more common than olivine. Plagioclase (Na,Ca)Al2Si2O8 is most common in the highlands. Many other minerals exist in small amounts, about 35 have been identified.

If we use magnetic separation we can increase the amount of iron from the molten silicate (magma) electrolysis furnaces.

Reducing these minerals with carbon is a problem because of varying amounts of calcium and magnesium. That's why I opted for making cast iron from ferrosilicon alloy produced by magma electrolysis.

The non-magnetic material containing plagioclase can be acid leached without producing iron sulfate to get feedstocks for magnesium, calcium(lime and anhydrite too) and aluminum when we have enough electricity and some chlorine.

We want good pure silicon. Semiconductor grade is made by reacting Si with Cl or Fl to get SiCl4 or SiFl4 gas that is then distilled away from impurities and decomposed with heat. But that's only for making small amounts of super pure silicon. Zone refining is an old tried and true process for purifying silicon. Four inch rods are suspended in inert gas filled glass tubes because hot silicon will oxidize and powdkkkkkered silicon will even burn with 13,000 BTU per pound like aluminum in pure oxygen. On the Moon we have free vacuum and low gravity. No need for inert gas filled tubes. Low gravity-we can use bigger rods. Two foot long rods or longer??? Telephone pole sized rods????? For massive silicon purification operations for mass production of solar panels??? Getting crazy now. Whatever we can do, we can do it with less hassle and bigger rods on the Moon, then spray our molten silicon on aluminum sheets, etc.

Yes, there are all kinds of engineering details to work out, but we just want to get the general scheme of it all. Without labs and grants, there's a limit to what we can do. Our goal is a general picture of it all. And proposing ideas. Someone might pick up the ball and run with it out there. Everything starts out with a basic idea then we work our way up into more and more complex details. We don't start with the whole thing done in every last detail or say it can't be done or become pessimstic because of all the details that must be worked out to make these things work in reality. Somebody who gets paid at some corp. to do that will do that.

I'm all SPS, possibly he3, space tourism, astronomy and base camp to the solar system. How to do it is the trick. High vacuum makes magnesium production more effective, stainless steel refining to if the right elements are had, and finally the abundance of solar energy. And the fact that we can use some nuclear without fear (except at launch) until we get solar energy up and going.

1) the Sun moves across Earth's sky at 15 degrees per hour. The Moon's sky at only about 0.5 degree per hour. Easy to track and keep reflectors pointed on smelters, etc.

2) Silicon solar panels are fine but solar thermal with turbo-generators, like power towers, trough or dish systems can give us 3 phase AC that can be transformed and distributed long distances on the Moon. I can't imagine industry without AC power for motors, arc welders, and everything else. Eventually we need a ring of solar power stations and power grid to supply power constantly to Moon bases even at night (power from day side). Near polar locations are less distant from day side at night.

Silicon panels make DC. That can be inverted to AC but it means loss of efficiency. And can you get high voltages from silicon solar panels? I don't know. You can with AC generators and transformers. Both approaches to lunar power- silicon PVs and solar thermal with turbo-generators ( steam, nitrogen or carbon dioxide driven) would make most sense. So? The Moon could be a manufacturing center for solar power systems for space craft, space stations. Lunans will have the best experience at making these space solar power systems for other space citizens in orbital stations, colonists to Mars, etc.

3) Broadcasts from the Moon. "Live, From the Moon!" How unique. Sure to attract customers. Live studios-low gravity sports, dance, theatre and circuses with low gravity acrobats. Ever see Cirque de Sole? Entertainment is big bizzness. And people are always looking for something new for diversion. The Moon craze sweeps the entertainment world. No phony digital effects-real live stuff, even sci-fi shot on the Moon on location. Lava tube and rille valley hotels will be filled with movie stars and film crews.

4) Retirement-longer life span? Easier for aged arthritics and partially paralyzed folks. Billionaires would fork over the money to live longer and no longer in pain.