MMM Classics December 2003 - November 2004
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“Expanding the Human Economy through Off-Planet Resources” & T Year 18: MMM #s171-180 MMM Classics December 2003 - November 2004 This year, as always, we A perennial favorite MMM covered a wide range of topics. topic is how pioneers can learn One of these was the need to to be “at home” on the Moon. approach the Moon and/or Mars Included are our 2nd and 3rd with both frontiers in mind. “Black Sky Blues” essays on Both worlds have more in looking at skylights, and how we common than either has with can create an illusion of a Earth. The advantages tof going bright blue sky for cross-lunar- to Mars “by way of” an effort travel. Landscaping tips, Lunar to open the Moon are shown to National Parks, Nature Trails, be considerable. Tom Gangale and homegrown bever-ages were contributed an impassioned list topics of new original articles. of reasons why humans should Another page from the “Lunar go to Mars, while we wrote City Yellow Pages” enterprise about the advantages of dune ads was published. fields as Mars settlement sites, Another frequently revi- and ways to play up its Arizona- sited topic is how to expand out like views. We even added a of a first lunar base. “Passing page out of the “MarsPort from Outpost to Set-tlement,” Yellow Pages.” an easy way of road building by Continuing to expand on use of “Marsten Matting,” our vision for the future were modular “container factories” “MMM’s Platform for the Moon” sent from Earth and ready to in MMM #171 nd in the next hook up and run, and different issue, a Space Frontier Founda- kinds of storage needs we will tion Vision for the Moon. have to consider in laying out Dave Dietzler contri- the outpost periphery “ware- buted many articles this year. housing” area were explored. One was a proposal for silane/ A Lunar economy built on powdered metal lunar rockets. dedicated reuse of used pro- He also shared with us his ideas ducts and waste byproducts, on processing elements out of reusing both materials and the Lunar Regolith by “zone energy will be much more effi- refining” and wrote about Lunar cient and lead to greater diver- production of nuclear fuels, and sification. Attitude is vital. much much more. Looking far And we talked about easy forward, he gave us “A prospec- ways to simulate moon/mars tor’s Tour of the Solar System.” bases for kids whose imagi- and a Grand Tour by Solar Sail. nation can fill in the detals. # Moon Miners’ Manifesto Classics - Year 18 - Republished January 2008 - Page 1 • Novel building materials (glass-glass composites, MMM #171 - DEC 2003 alternative alloys, cast basalt, etc.) • Synthetic chemical feed stocks • Hybrid hydroponic/geoponic food production systems • Mini-biospheric technologies Industry/Enterprise-funded efforts are also appropriate for on location (on the Moon) demonstrations of: • Helium-3 Harvesting methods • Illmenite Oxygen, Iron, Titanium Production methods • Glass-glass composites manufacturing systems • Cast Basalt products manufacturing Where next is a critical decision. We must get it right! • Sintered iron product manufacturing The Bush Administration is considering which path • Gas scavenging and separation methods to take in a NASA rededicated to going somewhere. The • Silicon solar cell production Moon first, say some. Mars first, say others. We all stand • Site grading methods to lose if the answer is not “to Mars by way of the Moon,” • Shielding emplacement methods with needed equipment optimized for commonality on both • Dayspan/nightspan energy management systems worlds. Read “MMM’s Platform for the Moon,” and “The • and more! Moon as a Stepping Stone to Mars,” below. Space Organization-funded efforts are appropriate to: • Outline potential Spin-up” business plan opportunities MMM’s Platform for the Moon and publicize them to would-be entrepreneurs We start another year of Moon Miners’ Manifesto • Found an Institute of Lunar-appropriate industrial with a comprehensive look at where we should be going, and design and/as-part-of a University of Luna-Earthside what projects (government, private enterprise, and societal) • Define and list potential masters and doctoral Theses we should be supporting to advance the realization of our Topics in various fields that could advance our state of vision of integrating the Moon into Earth’s Economy. knowledge and preparedness to open the lunar frontier Government funded missions are appropriate to answer • Define (and pre-design) Return Moonbase Improvements questions about the Moon’s over the Apollo Lunar Module (room to sleep prone, walk, • Origin and evolution, Geology and typography, lounge, exercise; capacity to overnight (full-sunth Composition and mineralogy mission capability, missions long enough to grow plants to harvest); recycling of human wastes (directly or indi- Economically significant resources (Sudbury analogs) rectly); demonstration plant design; design of experi- Priority government/agency-funded Missions include: ment tinkering labs; etc.; • South Pole-Aitken basin [SPA] farside sample return • Hold contests to design and develop best teleoperated • Nearside central peak sample return (mantle material) shielding methods, etc.; moonbase outfitting & layout, • Polar cold trap “ground truth” sampling missions (ice?) etc.,; the time-delay limits of teleoperation, etc. • Orbital & impact lavatube detection & mapping Individually undertaken and funded efforts [MMM #105 pp • Optical Wide-array telescopes 1-2 The “Man in the Mirror” Strategy for Opening Space] • Farside Radio Telescope installations are appropriate for: Industry/enterprise-funded missions are appropriate to: • writing theses on various topics that advance our state • Map, quantify and qualify resources with near-term of knowledge and preparedness to open the Moon development potential • writing books about the Moon and about the prospects • Do on site teleoperated demonstrations of element of lunar development and life on a future lunar frontier production, building materials manufacturing, and other to help broaden the base of public support near-term product and technology development • help pre-develop lunar-appropriate art & craft media • Up close high resolution photography for use in film and Joint Projects for Moon-focused & Mars-focused Societies: other audiovisual productions Moon-supporters should realize that it is in their • Test transport equipment for near-term tourism use greater interest to maximize the design of any facilities Industry and Enterprise-funded efforts are appropriate for: and equipment that would also be useful on Mars, for pre-development, for the sake of profitable terrestrial commonalities of parts and systems. applications, of technologies that will be needed to open the Mars-enthusiasts should realize that any systems space frontier (Spin-Up.) See MMM 132 pp 1-4 needed on Mars that would also be needed on the Moon, if • “Poor ore” mining technologies designed and developed to maximize commonalities of parts Moon Miners’ Manifesto Classics - Year 18 - Republished January 2008 - Page 2 and systems, if deployed, tested, and debugged on the Moon Hydrogen Storage Materials first, would greatly reduce the risks of failure, setback, We want a lot of hydrogen per unit volume. The tragedy and catastrophe in the opening of Mars. hydrogen economy industry (hydrogen powered cars, fuel Given these shared interests, Moon-focused and cells, etc.) has an interest in storing large amounts of Mars-focused societies should do what they can, jointly, hydrogen per unit volume, and with little "parasitic" mass within their budgets and abilities to raise special project (non-hydrogen mass). Cryogenic and pressure vessels are funds, to insure that any government/agency designed possible storage systems, but the better systems are systems, whether meant for the Moon, Mars, or both hydrogen storage materials. These special materials can worlds, are optimized for commonalities of parts, systems, reversibly store hydrogen a number of times within the etc. material. Further, Moon-focused societies should work on The first solid-state, hydrogen storage material I identifying early lunar industrial products that might have a forced myself to remember is LaNi5. It could hold more market on the Mars frontier. Any effort to make the lunar hydrogen per unit volume, than was found in liquid hydrogen. frontier pay for its own expansion will have a better chance But on a mass fraction basis, this material stores very little of succeeding if the potential market is expanded beyond hydrogen. (Since liquid hydrogen and solid hydrogen have Earth-based and Earth-orbit based consumers. about the same density, it doesn't really matter which we This is MMM’s Platform for the Moon. It is not an compare it to. Liquid just happens to be more convenient.) impossible plan. It does demand swallowing of pride and a This material started research into hydrogen storage cessation of the “let George (government) do it” mentality. materials. Hydrogen Storage Materials - 2002/2003 NRA-03-OBPR-07: Research Opportunities There are now many different families of materials for Ground-Based Research in which are being investigated as hydrogen storage materials. For the hydrogen economy, you would like for it to be easy and Space Radiation Biology Space to get them to release the hydrogen as well as having large Radiation Shielding Materials capacity. For shielding, we would just as soon have the by Gordon Haverland, P.Eng., Matter Realisations release of hydrogen be restricted. < [email protected] > Nov 19, 2003 Lithium Nitride The above is the proper title for a NASA program that I learned of on 2003/11/04. The latest information I have on these materials, is Background that the current record holder is Li3N (lithium nitride) at Cosmic rays are a particle radiation from space. In 11.4%. Lithium nitride has a density of 1.38 g/cm3, so if you terms of number, the largest component are protons, such filled it with hydrogen you should have about 0.171 grams of as from the solar wind.