symboom
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Building a moon base using chemistry
So the moon contains many materials
including titanium dioxide which is what the buildings could be coated in protects from solar flares titanium could also be made easier because the
metal is already in a vacuum so no worrying about the metal reacting.
Artificial atmosphere
if there was a good molten electrolte oxygen could also be produced but wear would we get nitrogen the moon has trapped helium in the ice so maybe a
breathing mixture and chemically generating nitrogen.
And the required minerals for growing plants the lunar soil is stongly ionized so the soil would have to be deionized
The moon contains alot of energy that it catches from the sun
Which could provide a lot of power especially if humans can harness the power of a solar flare.
Lunching to mars from the moon
https://amp.space.com/21588-how-moon-base-lunar-colony-works...
[Edited on 10-8-2018 by symboom]
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j_sum1
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The moon is not really that rich in usable resources. Even if all the desired elements can be found, there will always be serious obstacles to
manufacturing. Large scale projects will be a difficult trade-off between earth construction + launch and in-situ manufacture with robitics in highly
non-ideal conditions.
It is very relling that on earth the limiting resource is often energy. While in space, even though energy supply is two orders of magnitude more
difficult, this is often the simplest resource. Notably absent in lunar and martian environments is water, gasseous oxygen, gasseous nitrogen and
accessible forms of carbon. Construction is tough without those
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AJKOER
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"Waterless Concrete for the Moon", see http://thefutureofthings.com/6233-waterless-concrete-for-the... .
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CycloKnight
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I wouldn't worry too much about cement or concrete on the moon, a solar sintering device could make the blocks, and CNC machined for tighter
tolerances.
Solar sintering has already been applied for 3D printing, although this tech is similar to conventional metal sintering 3D printing that's been around
for a while now. I reckon there's lots of potential there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptUj8JRAYu8
As far as energy sources go, I think once established, a moon base would have no problem generating energy from solar, by a myriad of means.
PV panels will generate more electricity due to higher UV, and thermodynamic based systems (such as Stirling cycles, closed loop thermodynamic
turbines, etc) can make use of the cold shade for IR radiative cooling. The Carnot efficiency is determined by the ratio of absolute (hot/cold)
temperatures * 100%, so the hotter the hot side, and the cooler the cold side - then the greater the theoretical efficiency. The Carnot efficiency
cannot realistically be achieved (due to non-ideal circumstances, internal friction, heat transfer "dead zones" and other inefficiencies) but the
rules still apply to the likes of Stirling motors and other thermodynamic driven generator cycles.
The hot side temperature would be largely limited by material science, transparent ceramics (currently being developed) could be used to insulate the
solar collectors and allow Stirling cycles to operate at very high efficiency. The solar panels could be designed similar to solar ovens, possibly
multilayered to achieve extreme temperatures. (multilayered for greater thermal insulation). Simple energy balance dictates that maximum temperature
achievable is where energy in= energy out, material science permitting, obviously.
Without air, there is no convection, so its possible for said solar collectors to operate at even higher temperatures than are practical on Earth. So
its not all bad news for a Moon base.
Theoretically, the maximum temperature that could be achieve using solar collectors is around 5000 C (sun surface temperature, beyond which the
collector would just be reflecting radiation back to the sun), much higher than any motor can handle (yet) so plenty to keep the engineers busy for a
while.
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barbs09
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Just a thought, but owing to the moon being essentially tectonicly dead due to a too cool a mantle, a lot of the geological processes that occur on
Earth to create ore bodies-ultimately through heat-driven differentiation of different elements, might not occur on the moon (or at least not since it
cooled down after it was created). So perhaps less likely to find certain rich mineral deposits on the moon??
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SWIM
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Buildings on the moon sound like more work than just digging your home.
Don't they do that in some opal mining regions somewhere?
You can get a nice thick roof that way for insulation. It gets a little cool at night thereabouts, and a little hot noontimes, so the thick roof could
even things out quite a bit and save on your heating/AC expenses.
It would also be a comfort during meteor showers.
EDIT: In re: below
Yeah, that must be what I heard about.
Thanks; bits of information like that really help me in my efforts to feign knowledge and competence.
[Edited on 6-9-2018 by SWIM]
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barbs09
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Coober Pedy, in South Aussie, is the opal mining region I suspect you refer to SWIM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coober_Pedy
Dug in houses would do a fair bit towards reducing your total dosage of cosmic and solar radiation as well!
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j_sum1
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There are lava tunnels on the moon which are candidates for accommodating human activity. I don't know how you would seal them properly.
One persistent problem on the moon is the prevalance of dust. It is extremely fine and, due to lack of water erosion, very sharp and abrasive. It will
rip everything to shreds eventually if you do anything outside. And preventing it being transported inside is not trivial.
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