Lunar BoomTown/Lunar LOX Facility Design Study

Needed:

• Production volumes
• Installation schedule
• Location, deliverables requirements, and volume of specific customers.

Design Study Approach

• Review existing technical literature and applicable terrestrial facilities and technologies
• Detail assumptions/projections of representative customer base
• Line out major facility requirements and components sufficient for business planning

Deliverables:

• Project Customer and Facility site maps.
• Major subsystem and equipment list
• Logistics plan, quantities, transport methods, etc.
• Operations plans, who works where when responsibilities etc.
• Projected operations costs and production capacities

Notes

"Several processes have been suggested (Criswell, 1980) for accomplishing this, including reduction of raw soil by fluorine (which is recovered) or reduction or iron-titanium oxide (ilmenite) hydrogen (also recovered). Preliminary laboratory studies have verified the concepts behind some of these processes."[1] Mirwin 20:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/spaceres/V-1.html

This report summary by Criswell has estimates for a "Lunar Supply Base" adequate to support 80s vision of orbital manufacturing for boot stepping. Might be useful in projecting expansion increments of initial NASA base into an industrial boomtown. Has projections for staff and power.

Facilty design approach one

"Solar furnace pyrolysis of lunar basalts in vacuum, as proposed by Elbert A. King and me (1983), is considered another highly promising process for nonterrestrial oxygen production. It does not require reagents imported from Earth. King (1982) demonstrated the process on Earth using terrestrial basalts and samples of the Murchison meteorite heated to approximately 3000°C in a furnace with a solar mirror 2 meters in diameter. Residues of metallic iron and oxides of aluminum, calcium, and titanium indicated the evolution of oxygen and volatile oxides of other elements. A bench-level research program is required to characterize, quantity, separate, and capture the oxygen and other volatiles liberated by the process. Residues of the process include metals (iron), semimetals (silicon), ceramics (AI-Ca- Ti oxides), and feedstocks rich in aluminum oxide for aluminum electrolysis." from http://www.nss.org/settlement/nasa/spaceresvol3/pt2benm.htm Mirwin 21:35, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Applicable information resources

• http://www.hq.nasa.gov/webaccess/CommSpaceTrans/SpaceCommTransSec39/CommSpacTransSec39.html

Contains estimated pricing and quantities for commercial lunar lox facility ... useful as check on our estimates.

University of Wisconsin course notes "Lunar Base Activation"

• http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/neep602/lecture22.html
• http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/neep602/FALL97/LEC24/lecture24.html

• http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/spaceres/toc.html