Marvin the Martian wrote:

:On Thu, 21 May 2009 20:02:40 -0700, Fred J. McCall wrote:
:
: Marvin the Martian wrote:
:
: :On Thu, 21 May 2009 03:42:56 +0000, Alan Erskine wrote: :
: : "Marvin the Martian" wrote in message :
: news : : What you really want to do is... (wait for it) ... build a :
: manufacturing plant on Mars. Once on Mars, you can use Martian :
: materials, so you don't have to bring as much mass up. :
: : Or the Moon - nearer to Earth; no atmosphere at all (compared to
: Mars) : and half the gravity of Mars. Also the Moon's closer to the
: Sun, so : solar energy can be used for smelting materials and
: industrial : processes.
: :
: :Smelting is a process that usually involves Carbon, which the moon does
: :not have.
: :
:
: And which you do not need, since you've got a plethora of free energy
: and would like to keep the oxygen anyway.
:
:1) No, you don't have a "plethora" of free energy.
:

Yeah, you do.

:
:2) Please describe the method you're going to use to convert aluminum
xide to aluminum + oxygen, with no carbon (for electrodes) and no
:hydrogen, and no fluorides. What are you doing? The Deville process? You
:need carbonates for that, and again, that means carbon.
:

Personally, I'm going to use fluorine. Yes, you have to ship some in,
but you can then recycle it essentially forever.

:
: :
: :You will not be doing any smelting on the moon. :
:
: Horse manure.
:
:By definition, smelting is the process combining carbon and metal oxides,
:heating it up, and getting metal and carbon dioxide.
:
:No carbon, no smelting.
:

No, that is not the definition of 'smelting'. That's the process
typically used for it on carbon-rich earth, but other smelting
processes are available.

: :Yes. You get 2X the solar energy on the moon than you do on Mars. :
:
: You get 2X *at best*. It's usually much lower than that. Now further
: deduct for that atmosphere you're so proud of, dust, etc.
:
:Irrelevant. Given that there is liquid water found on Mars, it is
ossible to tap into the temperature difference on the surface (which is
:quite cold) and easily obtain large amounts of "geothermal" energy on
:Mars.
:

You can do the same thing on the Moon. In fact, without the
atmosphere the temperature differences will be even greater between
shaded and unshaded regions.

:One of the wonderful things about this geothermal process, is that it
:doesn't violate treaties to bring nuclear power to space and it doesn't
:require large amounts of equipment, like solar would.

A parabolic mirror is not "large amounts of equipment".

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn