REM@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU (Robert Elton Maas) (02/17/86)
R> Date: 4 Feb 86 23:09:01 GMT R> From: ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!hropus!riccb!rjnoe@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Roge r J. Noe) R> Subject: Re: Remotely Controlled Manipulators in Space R> ... R> What, you just drop it on the lunar surface and it installs itself? R> That would be multiplying the complexity of the thing considerably. R> And of course you build in a Junior Alchemy set so that it can transform R> lunar soil into titanium. Oh, not impossible maybe, but certainly R> a couple centuries into the future. And many quadrillions of dollars. Don't be an ignorant smartass! Surveys from the Apollo sampling expeditions show lunar soil to be quite rich by earth standards, if I recall correctly a few percent? With abundant sunlight for energy, abundant free soil to process, and abundant unused real-estate to dump the unwanted portions (mostly oxygen silicon and aluminum if I remember correctly), we could set up a titanium production plant within ten years if we had funding. We can be very sloppy, recovering only half the titanium in the soil and dumping the rest with the waste materials, thus simplifying the engineering and chemistry. There's no need for alchemy, simple inorganic chemistry and electrolysys will do it.
space@ucbvax.UUCP (02/21/86)
Instead of spending millions to make the system fully automated for all those little problems that can occurr, why not include some people to help out? A small team could help set up the equipment in a couple of days and return to the space station to monitor it. Then when something breaks, they can go fix it. It should be relatively cheap to make a few updated lunar modules for temporary visits to the Moon. All you need is a lunar ferry (you'll need that anyway to return the titanium). Dave Newkirk, ihnp4!ihuxl!dcn