I read through the article and was rather disappointed in it. The author must not have looked very hard for Lunar ISRU studies. I've got stuff in the Lunar Library (http://www.outofthecradle.net/categories/lunar-library/) that dates back to the 60s.
Tom's right in that the economic development of the Moon is not going to leapfrog to aluminum cans and microchips. It's going to be a step-wise process involving first commodity type goods such as bulk oxygen and not-so-bulk hydrogen. Then will come simple value-added goods that take advantage of local abundances. These could be metal structural elements and solar cell arrays. Eventually, as machine tools and best practices accumulate the Moon will climb the technology ladder to increasingly sophisticated value-added goods.
Some areas might be accelerated by discoveries, such as by materials scientists. So, for example, foamed vacuum-pure titanium mave prove a sufficiently high-demand item that it makes sense to rapidly accumulate the tools for its production on the Moon. Who knows?
I'm also in favor of accelerating the integration of flora and fauna into the life-support cycle. The Moon is the kind of place where you can have small meat-bearing animals like guinea pigs running around, much more so than a space station, and we're still a ways from space habitats.
Mr. Rapp needs to do a little more homework, in my estimation, and perhaps talk with some folks outside the space sector.
Space/Science » in reply to Was wondering how long it would take for them to notice.
re: Weak article
The whole thread (38 posts)
- The problems with lunar ISRU
- Was wondering how long it would take for them to notice.
- re: Weak article
- The problem with Mars ISRU
- Was wondering how long it would take for them to notice.