andrew@cadomin.UUCP (10/20/86)
In article <211@apple.uucp> Michael Smith writes : >>> 3. From what we know of the history and geology of the Moon, we can >>> expect rich ore bodies to be much less common there than on Earth. >> >>Sure, but so what? The energy to smelt the stuff is free, and the supply >>of raw materials is basically limitless. Who cares if your efficiency is >>only 10%? > >Sorry, but nothin's for free. Sunlight on the earth surface is 'free' too, >but the structure to recover it costs. The energy density per square metre >may be greater in space, but the recovery devices cost plenty. I guess the point here is : do the recovery devices cost more than shipping the stuff from Earth would? Once you reach a certain capacity, the answer is no. Given current costs to even *orbit* material, it will probably be economic to send a simple manufacturing facility quite early in any serious industrialization attempt, rather than shipping construction materials from Earth. > >As to limitless supplies... ever hear of transportation costs? We have >lots of ore on earth that is 'basically limitless'. One small problem, >you have to dig it up and move it some where. Both operations take capital. Yes, you have to dig it out of ore veins and ship it to a smelter. But on the Moon there probably *aren't* any ore veins like we find on Earth, any refining activities will just use lunar regolith. You can put the smelters and whatever anyplace you like : you basically don't have transportation costs for raw materials because they're right in your backyard. The result is that *you don't have any mining or transportation costs* other than the cost of a few vacuum-operable front-end loaders. This is about the same if you do your processing in space and launch the raw materials using a mass driver. Once that thing is built, you just dig up a convenient area of the lunar surface. Remember : on the moon and in space you don't have to worry about land rights, access to transportation or water, pollution requirements, and all the constraints that on Earth determine where the most profitable place for a factory is going to be, or if that facility is going to be built at all, or if some ore body is worth mining. > >The real question is: Given the greater energy available in space and the >particular transportation costs on the lunar surface; is it cheaper/better >to make products there rather than here? I guess it depends on the product. Simple construction materials, yes. Jet engines, no. > >E. Michael Smith ...!sun!apple!ems What's really needed is a lunar Landsat to survey the geological and chemical properties of the Moon and answer some of these questions. I remember reading that the Russians have one on the drawing boards for launch in the mid 1990's, and that NASA has (had?) plans for one, unfortunatly about number 35 on their list of "Missions We Would Like To Do If We Had The Money". -- Andrew Folkins ...ihnp4!alberta!andrew The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Arthur C. Clarke's Law : It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.