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Old May 31st 17, 10:24 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Fred J. McCall[_3_]
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Default Mining the moon for rocket fuel to get us to Mars

JF Mezei wrote:

On 2017-05-31 00:09, David Spain wrote:

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


There is a problem with that. It is quite possible that the hardware
needed to produce the steel and then build the mining truck is heavier
than the mining truck. So you might has well ship the truck.


That's not a 'problem' unless you only ever need the one truck.


When you look at North America, France initially shipped all goods to
its new territory (and saw it as export market for its own businesses).


France wasn't interested in colonization.


It wasn't until the colony was large enough that it started to build its
own stuff and ceased to be dependant on France. (big difference is that
there was plenty of raw materials like wood here).


So you think France was shipping prefab houses?


The only material available in large quantities easily in Mars is sand.


That's rather like saying that the only material available in large
quantities on Earth is dirt.


So it is far more likely that the first stuff produced on Mars will be
something like concrete and structures more likely to look like homes on
Tatooine than some pre-fab Fibreglass shiny structures.


Well, since EVER building the latter would be sort of insane given the
surface radiation environment, yeah, structures are unlikely to look
like that EVER.


Linings (to make walls airtight) and windows would have to come from
earth for a very long time before they can be manufactured locally.


What the hell do you need either of those things for? You think given
'Marscrete' and power that achieving something airtight is difficult?


--
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