View Single Post
  #6  
Old May 31st 17, 09:47 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Fred J. McCall[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,018
Default Mining the moon for rocket fuel to get us to Mars

William Mook wrote:

On Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at 4:09:40 PM UTC+12, David Spain wrote:
On 5/28/2017 10:21 AM, Jeff Findley wrote:
First, this isn't my "subject", it's the title of this article:

Mining the moon for rocket fuel to get us to Mars
May 14, 2017 8.04pm EDT ?Updated May 18, 2017 9.01am EDT
http://theconversation.com/mining-th...-to-get-us-to-
mars-76123

I saw this article (or a variation of it from another online
publication) on Twitter. I replied something to the effect that this
article glosses over all of the hard stuff, like the fact that the lunar
soil and rock is horribly abrasive and that mining equipment isn't
anything like the lightweight rovers that NASA/JPL has flown in the
past. For crying out loud, JPL keeps using ALUMINUM for the rover
wheels to keep them light, even though they're wearing holes in the
things after less than 100 miles. Mining equipment can't be that weak!
Anyway, I replied that mining equipment is *really heavy* because it's
made of steel and hardened steel.

The response by one Twitter follower was along the lines of, "That's why
the mining equipment will be built on the moon from local materials".


At that point, "I couldn't even". I mean WTF?


There is quite a lot of "exercise for the student" type problems here.
There is a lot of work & study needed about lunar industrialization for
sure including mining.

One factor that may get some consideration down the road is the idea of
what I'd call incremental industrial "densification". The idea being
that lightweight gear is first sent up
that has limited capacity for manufacture of the "heavy gear". Heavy
feed stock ( steel, etc) would then be sent
up subsequently for lunar manufacture. Enabling a heavy mfg. capability
via bootstrapping. At this point my conjecture
is pretty much a total hand wave, but I could at least see it as a
possibility. Would need some math to determine if
this would be preferable to just shipping up the heavy equipment
directly. I suppose if the scale is massive enough
the bootstrap approach might be the only really feasible one. Further
study needed....

But no, we'll do it all with SLS. Why waste money on studies?


Composite Tank Studies


Another thread MookJacked...

snip MookSpew


--
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is
only stupid."
-- Heinrich Heine