Lunarpedia:Outline draft/WHERE TO

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PRELUDE

WHERE TO

Major Challenges to Settling the Moon

Dayspan Heat - Nightspan Cold

  • The thermal problem as a superficial one in absence of a heat convecting atmosphere
Shading joints, lubricated areas, material interface areas
Development of cryo-lubricants
Operations management issues
Using materials with near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion
Using materials that are both heat- and cold-hardy

Dust Control Problems

  • Exploring electrostatic dust repulsion systems
  • Turtle back spacesuits & conformal airlocks* (*also minimizes airlock cycling losses of oxygen, nitrogen, water vapor)
  • Biodegradable suit and boot coverings
  • Paving or sintering vehicle and pedestrian approaches to airlocks
  • Covering joints and lubricated areas to minimize dust problem

Power Options dayspan

  • Solar concentrators
  • Solar panels
  • Circum global solar powered supermagnetic belt
  • Solar arrays distributing beamed power by relay sats
  • L4, L5, L1, L2
  • Lunar polar power tower global networks
  • Nuclear
Waste treatment
Waste disposal
Lunar nuclear fuels industry
Scavenging nuclear wastes from Earth
A lunar nuclear fuels industry based on the thorium 232 > uranium 233 cycle

Power Options nightspan

  • Nuclear (see subcategories under Power Options Dayspan)
  • Potentiation cycles - storing potential energy
Water-oxygen fuel cells
Flywheels
Storage rings
Hydroelectric loops
Magma pools
other
  • Operations management
Energy intensive dayspan tasks
Energy-light nightspan tasks

Site Type Pros & Cons

Polar Sites

  • Pros
Both poles have "peaks of eternal sunshine" for power generation
Thermal conditions do not vary greatly through the sunth (lunar month)
Both poles are in the center of extensive coldtrap or permashade areas where we expect to find water-ice deposits
  • Cons
Both poles are rugged highland areas in which construction may be difficult
The sunlight always comes in at, just above, or just below the horizon sibility and location identification problems
The high amount of total tonnage needed to erect a solar power tower system
Expected polar ice-deposits are of unknown quantity, concentration, and difficulty of extraction
All our efforts mastering the challenges of the polar areas, will not prepare or enable us to set up outposts elsewhere on the Moon
The polar highlands do not offer all the resources needed for industrialization
Solar wind hydrogen, with which to make water, is available anywhere on the Moon

Mare-Highland Coast sites

  • Locations of Interest
Mare Anguis
  • Pros
Access to both major regolith suites
Some coastal sites are also ilmenite rich
Some coastal sites may involve potassium and phosphorus rich KREEP deposits
Some coastal sites involve subsurface lavatubes
Maria provide extensive areas of obstacle free transit
Some coastal sites are much closer to the nearest circumpolar coldtraps, than either pole itself is to the nearest coast
other
  • Cons
Extreme dayspan-nightspan temperature swings are a challenge to vehicle and structure design, as well as to lubricants
The need to store up enough power during dayspan to get through the lunar nightspan
Counterpoint: mastering these twin challenges will allow us to set up shop and settle anywhere on the Moon.


THE RETURN

BREAKOUT AGENDA

SETTLEMENT GROWTH

TRADE AND THE BOTTOM LINE

HEALTHY CITIZENS

UNIVERSITY OF LUNA

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