[FWD] Apollo veterans to get moon rocks (sort of)

David Sander wrote:

The purpose of JSC-1 (and MLS - another regolith simulant) was to assist
researchers in determining how regolith could be utilized by lunar
explorers or colonists. For quite a while now the Shimizu Corporation
has been looking in to all sorts of uses for regolith, from construction
blocks for buildings to metal extraction for fabrication/manufacture.


It was supposed to make a pretty decent concrete, wasn't it?

Pat

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 19:49:21 GMT, Bruce Palmer
wrote:

I wonder if the old quarrantine procedures we used for the Apollo sample
returns will be done away with when we get back to the moon. Haven't
they proved harmless?

....They're harmless to us, but our atmosphere is harmful to them,
having been in a vacuum for a Sagan or so(*). It's one of the many
myriad reasons for keeping them quarantined.

(*) One Sagan = Billions and Billions of Years

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

Pat Flannery wrote:

David Sander wrote:

The purpose of JSC-1 (and MLS - another regolith simulant) was to assist
researchers in determining how regolith could be utilized by lunar
explorers or colonists. For quite a while now the Shimizu Corporation
has been looking in to all sorts of uses for regolith, from construction
blocks for buildings to metal extraction for fabrication/manufacture.

It was supposed to make a pretty decent concrete, wasn't it?

An important property to be sure. Getting the water there to mix with
it is very expensive though. Perhaps there are other methods to utilize
it. As an early step would you use that to construct a lunar lean-to of
sorts, or start digging out a cave in the side of a hill?

--
bp
Proud Member of the Human O-Ring Society Since 2003

Bruce Palmer wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:

David Sander wrote:

The purpose of JSC-1 (and MLS - another regolith simulant) was to assist
researchers in determining how regolith could be utilized by lunar
explorers or colonists. For quite a while now the Shimizu Corporation
has been looking in to all sorts of uses for regolith, from construction
blocks for buildings to metal extraction for fabrication/manufacture.

It was supposed to make a pretty decent concrete, wasn't it?

An important property to be sure. Getting the water there to mix with
it is very expensive though. Perhaps there are other methods to utilize
it. As an early step would you use that to construct a lunar lean-to of
sorts, or start digging out a cave in the side of a hill?

AIUI lunar concrete is made using heat instead of water. I believe the
best option was to set up a production line using a heliostat as a heat
source, fusing regolith into solid blocks. How those blocks would be
moulded (rammed into shape? held in shape using a ceramic mould?) I'm
not sure, but with the blocks, you can build everything from igloo
shaped surface structures to barrel vaulted ceilings lining lava tubes
for subsurface volume.

IIRC fused regolith blocks making walls about 40cm thick provide
excellent radiation shielding and thermal insulation. They are also as
strong as granite without the brittleness. I do not know what
suggestions were made that covered the issue of air proofing (so
structures can be pressurized). I'd assume sheets of plastic or welded
metal lining the inside would provide that surface, since the blocks
would have no grout or mortar (made to interlock though).


David
--
per aspera ad astra

(Eric Chomko) wrote:
Well don't act like this is a first for the government. In the case of
money, at one point you were allowed to coin your own money.

In fact, you are still allowed to do so today, with the provisos that
it's value is tied to the US Dollar and that it will be freely
converted upon demand back into US Dollars.

As a last mention of coins, if you own a 1964 Peace Dollar, do not show it
to anybody. To this day it is illegal to own and the Secret Service has
reserved the right to confiscate any and all samples that were made that
may not have been destroyed. Period!

Technically, it's illegal to own *any* US currency that has been
withdrawn from circulation.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

Derek Lyons wrote:

(Eric Chomko) wrote:

As a last mention of coins, if you own a 1964 Peace Dollar, do not show it
to anybody. To this day it is illegal to own and the Secret Service has
reserved the right to confiscate any and all samples that were made that
may not have been destroyed. Period!

Technically, it's illegal to own *any* US currency that has been
withdrawn from circulation.

Gee - and I thought *philately* was tough...

;-P


David
--
per aspera ad astra

In article ,
Bruce Palmer wrote:
I wonder if the old quarrantine procedures we used for the Apollo sample
returns will be done away with when we get back to the moon. Haven't
they proved harmless?

The quarantine procedures were abolished for Apollo 14 and later, after
examination of the Apollo 11 and 12 specimens established -- as expected --
that there was no sign of lunar life.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

Derek Lyons ) wrote:
: (Eric Chomko) wrote:
: Well don't act like this is a first for the government. In the case of
: money, at one point you were allowed to coin your own money.

: In fact, you are still allowed to do so today, with the provisos that
: it's value is tied to the US Dollar and that it will be freely
: converted upon demand back into US Dollars.

How so?

: As a last mention of coins, if you own a 1964 Peace Dollar, do not show it
: to anybody. To this day it is illegal to own and the Secret Service has
: reserved the right to confiscate any and all samples that were made that
: may not have been destroyed. Period!

: Technically, it's illegal to own *any* US currency that has been
: withdrawn from circulation.

Not the same as the 1964 Peace Dollar. Gold coins after 1933 is what you
are talking about. But that they could never enforce. A 1964 Peace Dollar
is another story.

Eric

: D.
: --
: Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 03:22:17 GMT, (Henry Spencer)
wrote:

In article ,
Bruce Palmer wrote:
I wonder if the old quarrantine procedures we used for the Apollo sample
returns will be done away with when we get back to the moon. Haven't
they proved harmless?

The quarantine procedures were abolished for Apollo 14 and later, after
examination of the Apollo 11 and 12 specimens established -- as expected --
that there was no sign of lunar life.

....No, but for a really brief period when the hunt for AIDS Patient
Zero was on, quite a few researchers - some of whom didn't work for
tabloids - came across the reports that a 9-year-old kid died in 1969
of the same symptoms as AIDS, and that initial testing of the blood
samples taken by the attending physicians in hopes of one day
determining what killed the kid showed that the recently identified
HIV virus was present. This led to a couple of wild speculations that
AIDS was something that A11 brought back from the Moon.

That is, until someone pointed out that the kid died in March of 1969.

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

(Eric Chomko) wrote:

Derek Lyons ) wrote:
: (Eric Chomko) wrote:
: Well don't act like this is a first for the government. In the case of
: money, at one point you were allowed to coin your own money.

: In fact, you are still allowed to do so today, with the provisos that
: it's value is tied to the US Dollar and that it will be freely
: converted upon demand back into US Dollars.

How so?

Exactly as I stated. Google up on "community currency". (Sadly the
best site on the topic has chosen to get overly involved in politics.)

: As a last mention of coins, if you own a 1964 Peace Dollar, do not show it
: to anybody. To this day it is illegal to own and the Secret Service has
: reserved the right to confiscate any and all samples that were made that
: may not have been destroyed. Period!

: Technically, it's illegal to own *any* US currency that has been
: withdrawn from circulation.

Not the same as the 1964 Peace Dollar. Gold coins after 1933 is what you
are talking about. But that they could never enforce. A 1964 Peace Dollar
is another story.

No, I am talking about all US currency.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.