MMW Habitat Design Issues
Here we will concentrate on the actual habitat design.
Remember that the goal of the project at SGC is a competition for the public and to raise awareness about lunar exploration (see other forum topic for discussion about the contest itself).
We are talking about a manned base on the moon. There are no limitations on the design yet but you will have to decide on a direction where to go in the time leading to the congress when defining the competition outline in detail.
In order to be able to do that you should do your "homework" and get a good idea about current exploration initiatives and lunar base scenarios. Also check the resource links for more information. If any of you have other links of interest, don't hesitate to post them there, so the other group members can benefit from them as well.
Now, feel free to post your ideas and comments about the habitat design here.
Alex
The objective of many early lunar bases was to get material into orbit so that products and services could be sold to support outer space development. Some studies had the lunar base making components on the surface of the Moon and blasting them up into space.
Surface manufacturing capabilities for the purpose of building up a lunar base using in-situ materials is a more efficient technique and could be used to make steel and glass-ceramic structural items.
A mobile solar reflector oven could make the landing/launch pad, road surfaces, dome roofs, etc. Most of a lunar base, in terms of weight, will probably be produced on-site from local materials, not blasted up from Earth, achieving the same goals for far less cost.
A lunar base will need a landing/launch pad, a power plant (perhaps a solar cell array for daytime "peak" energy and a small nuclear power plant for night time), base construction equipment, a spare parts and maintenance garage, a central control and communications center, housing for the people on-site, and life support systems.
To be constructed, it will also need mining and manufacturing equipment such as flailers or front end loaders and haulers, and a solar oven to be used in materials processing.
Lunar bases can be characterized by the following five design terms.
Location
• Base site, environmental condition adaptations: 1/6 gravity, vacuum, lunar dust/regolith, solar winds, cosmic radiation, temperature extremes, fortnightly day/night cycle, etc.
Architecture
• Buildings, machines, roads, industries, laboratories, observatories, equipment, rovers, etc.
Personnel
• Quantity; rotation; mix; ages; medical concerns; psychological needs; etc.
Activities
• Life support, astronomy, lunar science/geology, manufacturing, power systems, communications, transportation, etc.
Governance
• Government, management, capitalization, funding, policies, etc.
do we have a list of the minerals and other material at the proposed site
lunar dust is composed of many elements
we could probly use electricity to
isolate the elements we need
but we need a list of the materials
can anyone get these
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one kind word can warm 3 winter months
japanese proverb
lets start from base one by one. what should b our first focus, i mean what to construct initially, then we wud figure out what are our needs for same and thereafter could we met these needs from available material in lunar dust.
give it a start, i assume a material collection center and life supporting system at lunar wud be first needed, only than we can construct anything.
Inflatable technology is of great interest nowadays because of the volume and weight characteristics. Thus;
this kind of technology or re-usage of lander fuel tanks as habitable volume is another issue to be considered. This can be done by assessing all the aspects as early as from Phase A and B.
The first step should be to create an adaptive environment; an environment shield of from moondust, extreme temperatures, lack of oxigen,... so robots & humans can quickly get working without extra conditionel problems. Inflatable technology seems excellent for this.
The next concern should be equipment for robots; but certainly food, energy and medicin for the humans on the base. These are the basic needs that must be taken care of. Once we have a stable environment, the research development can be guaranteed. Powerplants will probably be no problem with all the sunlight (much more than on earth because of the absence of clouds);
food is more difficult: you have to have information of how plants can grow in the 'moon climate'; regular supply form earth is to risky.
Medicin is the most tricky because you have to build up a basic stack, that should be adapted to the present people, with always a docter and 'ambulance to earth' available for extreme situations.
Certainly not to forget is enough safety regulations. Escape possibilities: out of the base, as away from the moon.
I think we should well consider the time aspect. You don't just go up there to fix something when it goes wrong, or not as planned. A good and clear time structure with lots of back up plans is needed.
In reaction to Pieter (and because I'm still not sure if we have a life science project @ SGC 07 :-) ). A very experienced doctor will always be part of the crew: there's no quick transportation to earth. Research is going on develop procedures/devices/etc. to be able to do the most necessary operations in the habitat itself. And pls don't forget a greenhab ;-) !
So far my very short medicine-intervention ;-) !
Hello Pj.
I dont understand what you exactly meant by 'whether we having a life science project on SGC'. When we talk about habitat on moon we definitely need a life science project to consider.
Anyways , yes you are right , we need a doctor there but he should also understand the affects of gravity on human body which is a part of biomedical science and worked upon exhaustively at National Space Biomedical Research Center, US.
We will need more than a doctor :)
Thank you Peter.So as you listed we can actually think of start at moon. About food that u asked , I suppose we cannot trust the soil there to grow. So the options could be;
1. Aero farming ( but in regulated environment)
2. Quorn ( its Fuzarium graminarium) if m right:) Its a mycoprotein, cultured and eatable.
So this way we can establish a basic life support for human and robots on moon , which is actually a groud need to do anything further.
So now lets move on what to start technically. I mean supposing we carried robots and humans there and also we are able to grow food enough for them to leave.
what next???
suggestions...how to start a habitat.
Can any one talk about,
1.How will human be protected from solar flares?
2.What could be the affects of 1/6 gravity on human body, what exercise would be needed to remain in balance?
3.How long a man can stay in such gravity?
4. What will be the affect of gravity on plant growth? though i believe products like Quorn is better for there protein content and all, and of course easy to culture than to grow plant.
5.What technical aspects we should first focus on ? Lets decide our first target for being on moon in real sense of working.
When we talk about space, best way is of course the solar panels with reflecting mirrors and all.To cut down the cost of putting the solar panels up there, instead of making the solar cells from the slab of silicon, cells will better be made by painting the conduction foil with semiconductor nanoparticles, these nanoparticles self assemble to create a semiconductor surface.
This results into a very light , flexible solar cell material 60 times thinner than the conventional panels.
By the time solar panels could be constructed, we have to depend on other source of power generation:
1.Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator- This is a simple generator which obtains its power from radio active decay. The material that can be used here are, Plutonium 238, Curium 244, Strontium ().
Of these Plutonium 238 is best because of its longest half life, practically no radiation shielding and large energy production per unit mass.
2.Fuel Cells- It produces electricity and water from an external fuel supply of hydrogen and oxygen.
Having written papers on radiation shielding, you do not want a magnetic field for many reasons, but one is that you have a field that is either positively charged or negatively charged and it repels radiation that is of the opposite charge as the field.....the problem is that is accelerates radiation that has the same charge as the field which makes that radiation more dangerous.
Kevin,
Earth itself is nominally protected from the solar wind by its magnetic field, which deflects charged particles. Thats how we leave safe from solar wind.
Now looking in same phase at moon. Do moon have strong enough magnetic field ?
Having written papers on radiation shielding, please suggest some measures of radiation protection on moon surface.
Actually, earth is protected by several things, magnetic field, atmospheric density, and more. Moon has no magnetic field due to lack of any liquid layer or dynamo type motion.
Cheapest and easiest thing to do on the moon or Mars is to bury your your habitat under 2-5 meters of lunar regolith.
Dear Kevin,
We would be really pleased if you can guide us in respect to building habitat on or under moon surface.
I am trying to search what NASA is working on. Please share if you have any details or links we can explore for the same.
Regards,
Swati
We will need a waste treatment plant. It will be used to mix solid waste and used water and thereafter treated with microorganisms. After treatment, we wil get nutrient free solids ( which will be incinerated) and nutrient rich water(which can be used for agriculture by hydroponics).
As said before we can have three options for food production-
1.Agriculture using hydroponics. But one need to figure out the affect of gravity on plant growth.
2.Fish Culture
3.Single Cell protein production using microorganisms, like Quorn production. Its relatively easy and nutrient.
I am trying to sum up from the vary basic, the ground requirements for habitat
We will need-
Transportation Control Unit
Robotic Control Unit
Power Regulation Unit
Atmosphere setup unit(may be required in many cases)
Network Regulation Unit
Waste Management Unit
Research Activity Control Unit
Agriculture Regulation Center
Any more??
Hi,
I was wondering if the issue of the design and ergonomics of the Habitat by itself is something to concern with. There have NASA designs but i would like to ferret out details if they are meant to be for extended periods of time. I am sure lessons can be teased out of ISS. But how different would that be if the habitat is under-ground on the lunar surface?
What kind of facilities should be available on the Habitat? Should we talk on this?
Hello Jaganath,
It would be great if we can discuss about ergonomics. As far as theres a point of having habitat under surface, as Kevin mentioned, we need to figure out the places and all he talked NASA working on. Lets divide the work, this way we will be able to gather more information and can suitably merge to have a meaningful outcome in end. I will try to see what all these places are where NASA is working upon and it would be really appreciable if you can figure our ergonomics details and their growth on moon, considering the environment and gravity etc.
There are a few great points here.
1. The ISS is a marvelous example of short-duration mission habiation design but it is clearly a caravan-style equivalent to the type of home/laboratory/colony/base ideas that will be required for long-duration off-Earth habitation.
The design ergonomics for long duration must consider the mission operation requirements and human factors requirements in new ways. Many of these factors are unknown and unparallelled by prior research but there are many base line indicators that we can draw upon (such as the ISS, Arctic/ Antarctic and Underwater Analogues). The main priority should be to protect and support the physical and psychological health of the inhabitants. Secondly, the utalitarian function of the architecture and the lifesupport system as a whole. Since the architecture must play a critical life-sustaining and life-protecting role, I like to consider it as a body. Each system and architecture can be parallelled to the main systems of the body: Nervous, Respiratory, Digestive etc... and it must perform as a whole unit with a natural growth cycle and a realistic life cycle of components.
2. There are significant differences between surface and underground lunar habitats and there are advantages and dissadvantages of each. Insitu resource utilisation should be a major factor for deciding on the habitat location. For example, the design solution could consider using the lunar regolith to provide protection from the Sun's radiation; the energy or operational requirements of the habitat could determine how to harness sites with areas of eternal darkness/cold and eternal light/heat, and consideration should be given to the use of lava tubes as pre-existing architectures for construction and protection saving infrastructural time and money.
The design concept should balance risk by using existing or near term solutions as the baseline while recommending research on areas with a potential to improve feasibility and reduce cost, mass and schedule...and more importantly protect and preserve life on all levels. The shell/membrane should provide protection from radiation and lunar dust and the mechanisms within/through the architecture should provide basic life support needs i.e. fresh air, water, food, an environment to sleep, manage waste and psychological wellness factors such as designing for the social and personal needs of the inhabitants.
3. In order to address the issue of facility it is important to consider some of the habitat functions by asking what is its purpose? Are we considering a tourism hotel, a scientific laboratory or a military base for rotating personnel who are there to perform mining operation, construction or survey work? What are the constraints and objectives here?
4. We should definately talk on this.
Life support systems on the any planet must not only supply oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the cabin's atmosphere, but also prevent gases like ammonia and acetone, which people emit in small quantities, from accumulating. Vaporous chemicals from science experiments are a potential hazard, too, if they combine in unforeseen ways with other elements in the air supply.
Most people can survive only a couple of minutes without oxygen, and low concentrations of oxygen can cause fatigue and blackouts. To ensure the safety of the crew, the ILWS will have redundant supplies of that essential gas.
The primary source of oxygen will be water electrolysis, followed by O2 in a pressurized storage tank. Most of the station's oxygen will come from a process called "electrolysis," which uses electricity from the ILWS solar panels to split water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas. Each molecule of water contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Running a current through water causes these atoms to separate and recombine as gaseous hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2).
Hydrogen that's leftover from splitting water combines with excess carbon dioxide from the air in a chemical reaction that produces water and methane. The water would help replace the water used to make oxygen. Various uses for the methane are being considered, including expelling it to help provide the thrust necessary to maintain the Space Station's orbit.
In absence of electrolysis of water astronauts uses breathed oxygen from "perchlorate candles," which produce O2 via chemical reactions inside a metal canister.
Hi Ashish,
Its a really nice proposal for carbon dioxide elimination and oxygen generation :)
Reaction of Co2 and hydrogen take place in either of two ways,
2Co2+H2 = 2C + 2H2O
or
Co2 + 4H2 = CH4 + @H2O + Energy
and they occur at high temperature, so we will need energy for that also.
And artificial means of generation of oxygen can be either water as you mentioned or it can also be carbon dioxide itself.
Besides gasious composition, we will be required to maintain temperature of 298K and relative humidity ~40-70%.
We can use Condensing Heat Exchangers to remove moisture and heat form the atmosphere.
Passed air will be filtered inside it and then cooled below its dew point forming water vapours. Condensed water vapours will be carried to the outlet and be used as drinding water or for agriculture.
Hello Swati,
Sure. I will try to get a more concise view of the issue before i send in a post. I am sure the NASA Moon-Mars mission report and the National Space Society's space future report has some technical analysis in place. Let me see what info. i can bring out of it.
For smooth running good communication system is indespensible, so let us have a look...
Internal Communication : We can have both wired ans wireless communication.
Fibre Optics- Wired communication on fibre optics will have many advantages, No data loss, Fast communication. Bandwidth will vary according to system load.
WLAN(Wireless Local Area Network)or WIMAX - It can provide wireless communication upto 50 km. Multiple frequency range will be required to be decided.
External Communication that is inbetween Earth and Moon-
Now here, the distance is long. I came across using Laser Technology for communication . Its good in data rate transfer, power requirement, portability.
So, for this we will have two laser communication equipped satellites with laser transmitters, receivers and radio communication capability and all communication will be done with its help.
Suggestions ???
Considering both Moon-to-Earth (M2E) communications and Moon-to-Moon (M2M) communications, I recommended the definition of a common standard of operation, data collection and information transfer system. This should extend to all:
* Geophysical Network Instruments
* Navigation and Positioning Systems
* Local Communication and Information Systems
* Mission Documentation
I am also a big advocate for the installation of an Interplanetary Internet Network (IPN). This requires further research and development for effective, robust solutions related to:
Installation nodes & endpoints
Time stamping and synchronisation
I have included arguments for these approaches in Luna Gaia: a closed loop habitat for the moon, Final Report First Edition 2006, SSP06, Strasbourg, France, International Space University. It is too large to upload to this site but all 168 pages is available online at http://ssp06.isunet.edu/ I will find some websites for the two teams I know of dedicating research to this. Do we have a growing reference list somewhere?
Google are also moving to the NASA Ames Research Center site in the Bay Area. It would be worth talking to Google about their Lunar communication plans too. Anyone working on Lunar Google?
I find it helpful to acknowledge where we are at with technology today so that we recognise the advantages and limitations of our current visions with the view to inspiring new possibilities for the future. It is my feeling that we can be much bolder...
NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission, is based in an underwater laboratory called Aquarius situated five kilometres of the coast of Florida. Mission 12 is transmitting the video required for interactive robotic telesurgery experiments using the hai1000 MPEG-4 AVC multi-stream low latency video codecs. See NASA & NOAA sites.
"The telesurgery experiments will use the HaiVision hai1000 codec to transmit multiple video streams from Aquarius including those from a stereo video camera enabling precise control of the robot by surgeons over 1000 miles away. In addition, the hai1000 will support bi-directional audio video communications. The high performance network video will be transported over the internet.
The hai1000 uses the latest MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 video compression allowing multiple video channels to be transmitted and received synchronously. MPEG-4 provides a 60% savings in bandwidth historically required by MPEG-2 to achieve the same DVD quality video. The hai1000 as well provides extremely low end to end latency, about 160 milliseconds.
Sustained extreme low latency is important for communications such as telepresence, but is essential while trying to maintain hand-eye coordination while using a surgical robot remotely, states Dr. Timothy Broderick, a NEEMO 12 crewmember and Associate Professor of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. HaiVision has developed products that are ideal for advanced medical applications and has dedicated excellent engineering support to advance our research in telesurgery. Broderick also serves as is the Director of the University of Cincinnati&#s Advanced Center for Telemedicine and Surgical Innovation (ACTSI).
Datasheet Link - www.haivision.com/products/hai1000/. "
ref. http://www.prnewsnow.com/PR%20News%20Releases/Technology/Multimedia/HaiV...
Accessed May 17, 2007.
Can anyone talk about construction material.
We can use compounds like Aluminium, Titanium, Lunar Glass, Lead Glass, Silicon. They would partly be available on Moon, Earth, Phobos, Deimos.
Though i feel all construction should be done with material available on moon.
Dive in!!! What material is available on moon, there chemical nature and could we use any of them for shielding, support, structure, windows, panels any many more things.
When we are talking about habitat here, lets consider here few more things....
Think about types of robots, transportation vehicles, types of jobs.
And if one day human is supposed to live there, we need a list of lots of non-technical stuff like amusement parks, place for kids, education and...
IMAGINATIONS HAVE NO LIMITS !!!!
INDEED!!
We need to factor the pscyhological wellness of future lunar inhabitants in unison with the physical health requirements. Careful, creative and innovative solutions that seek to prepare, adapt, process and counter, the effects of long-term effects of lunar habitation are needed. Solutions that may address the personal, social, group utilitary and behaviour-shaping of the entire system could include conventional solutions in:
Training; Monitoring; Therpary, Architectural design; Pharmacological intervention; Physical programs; Public/Private Space consideration; Communications systems; Incorporating Earth-based comforts in the new 'home' and so on. Some ideas may include:
* Dual use comms systems - set up as Cinemas for entertainment screening movies, broadcast and telecast of sporting and cultural events, continuing Earth-based education...and chats or teleconference to family & friends on Earth.
* Creating recreation spaces - public/social and private for individuals/couples/families
to congregate, share conversation, share intimacy, groom, sleep and dream.
* Incorporating chance, change and unknown factors or suprises in systems and architectures. While reliability and dependability will be important for a sense of security this will need to be balanced. Breaking up the routine and allowing for the 'natural' process of change, evolution and cycle that our already programmed into our psycho & biobodies is paramount.
* Designing for care. By this I mean factoring the human need to care for the young, elderly, injured and infirmed. No human will be invincible or infalable under such conditions and therfore the requirement to "be human" and not machine will be magnified in the group. This may include preparations that design or cater for the need to adopt and/or personifying machines, VR and/or lifeforms as "pets", companions, mascots or confidants.
* Providing architectures for physical stimulation and exhileration i.e. Slippery dips/ slides or ski/rollerblading down craters, inflatable jumping bag games, bungee challenges
* Encouraging team games and sports: rover races, ball games focusing coordination, team work, social contact, competition and physical countermeasure...
There is also a need for more innovative solutions that provide a space and opportunity for the lunar inhabitant to play, to dream, to create, to converse, to relax and unwind much less formally. These factors will play a critical human factors role and may include:
* Acoustic Therepy (Constant streaming of the latest hits or oldtime favs!)
* Hydrotherapy (This is my pet project: bathing, swimming and diving in space has multiple phsycial and psychological benefits... Watching water fall, flow and light through water or fish in water is also very theraputic. More to come.)
* VR and Neuro Gaming (Allowing the imagination to switch gear - to be enertained, stimulated and engaged with another kind of reality or fantacy is really important - this can also link to personal psychometric profiling and diary functions to self-help and document the effects of long duration Off-Earth habitation)
* Aromatherapy (Smelly old CO2, methane and 21day-old socks could literally build up and get up someone's nose! These kinds of constant irritations could, over time, cause all sorts of behavioural and social problems. An opportunity to smell things from Mother Earth would be a welcome relief and a powerful trigger of memory and connection with 'nature'.)
* Communication through Art & Drama (having the freedom to communicate the personal inner world without the pressures of mission objectives will be critical for longduration. It will be important to be 'able' or 'allowed' to be nostalgic, to process the new perception of space and self, to document the views of the new world and to play with the new kinds of choreographies and performance behaviours learnt or experienced through exposures to altered gravity conditions during EVAs for example)
* Aesthetics i.e. considering human needs in terms of architectures and fixtures to stimulate, sate and comfort the lunar inhabitant through pleasing colour, light, texture, pattern and spatial dynamics.
well lets start:
glass:SiO2
largley availible
crystaline structure
uses:
structures
tile (windows)
light focusing
lunar telescopes
etc.
problems:
when forming the structure of glass, its strucure is delicate when cooling
purifying silicate from lunar dust
formation of vats for large processing of silicate
energy (heat) for processing silicate
large heat varyance on the moon (thermal expansion may cause cracks)
positives:
forming a crystal in zero-g make crystals clearer w/o doping with lead
(the lead stabalizes the crystal in formation)
make indigenous telescopes to the moon
make high pressure atmosphere capable room
(for future scientific use)
windows for colony
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one kind word can warm 3 winter months
japanese proverb
So, we have good account of ifs and buts of using glass for habitat design :)
We can face all the problems listed as same work is dome here on earth without much difficulty.
( I would suggest writing 'microgravity' instead of zero-g ).
I would like to discuss, 'How to construct high pressure atmosphere capable room?'
initially the idea of having inflatable habitats can be very good and feasible. these self independent habitats will protect the initial work force from radiation and dust . for food and water these habitats might rely on the stored food initially.
the initial workforce might include a bunch of engineers ,scientists, health experts pilots and some technology including mining machines and automation for the movement and control of inflatables. the technology will include various instruments to obtain the exact data of the places for the construction of habitats regarding their terrain and the amount of winds or radiations there.
another very vital thing would be setting up of mining base on that planet to obtain the material required for the initial construction of that habitat. this base might include the portable mining equipments initially which will be subsquently followed by assembly of other equipments brought in from earth or ISS. we can use new techniques for mining such as BIO MINING, which can prove very usefulsince it is very difficult to move such heavy existing mining equipment to moon etc.
BIOMINING is the concept in which a concortium of microbes is put in the already drilled holes and these microbes will assimilate the compound and ultimately this mass can be brought out by pressure through valves as in sulhur mining. the details of this swati might know.
another aspect which needed to be considered at is the transportation network to contructed for the movement for various purposes on the planet itself. i suggest that it can be sort of temporary transport rather than the permanent types such as using rails etc. we can use various fuel powered vehicles with large capacities.
initial power can be derived through either the portable nuclear power plants brought in from earth or it can be large solar panels generating power since silicon is easily available on any planet for the manufacturing of these panals.
the power at the latter stages of the project can be developed from the various alternatives including power from biomass.
There are many people who would welcome the opportunity to use bioengineered bacteria to liberate oxygen from the regolith however the techniques, risk, cost and productivity of this option should be further evaluated and demonstrated. For example, further research into materials handling, contamination proceedures and containment equipment should be reevaluated since we already know that lunar dust corroded everything on the Apollo missions. Furthermore, we should be prepared with policy, protocol and mechanisms to minimize any possible harmful effects, in the instance that a life form, or mutation be discovered.
Hi,
I would suggest visiting http://www.quest.arc.nasa.gov/lunar/outpostchallenge/final/mckinsey2.htm...
Its one of the designs submitted against NASA's Lunar Station Design Challenge in Dec'06.
This link talks about station on lunar pole supported by real facts...please have a look.
http://world.std.com/~reinhold/lunarpolar.html
Its the excerpt from a paper titled 'Technology demonstrations and flight experiments validating an optical energy infrastructure for Earth–Moon space'.
We identify four technical advances that appear necessary to producing an optical power infrastructure in Earth–Moon space
as well as specific experiments and demonstrations designed to validate those technical advances.
The four advances are:
(1)the ability to concentrate sunlight to an integrated power density per unit area that approximates the saturation intensity for a useful laser transition (e.g., 4 kW/cm2 for Nd:YAG) in a volume that matches the lowest order Gaussian mode of free space in a near confocal resonator of practical dimensions (e.g. a resonator a few meters in length) having a cross sectional area adequate to produce substantial coherent output power (e.g., 100kW or more);
(2) provide a means of removing waste heat from the laser gain medium in a manner that reduces thermally induced distortion and stress to acceptable levels;
(3) identify a specific realizable near confocal resonator of practical dimensions that will selectively and efficiently couple the solar pump power into a lowest order Gaussian mode having the needed cross sectional area; and
(4) provide detailed design requirements for a photovoltaic receiver that will transform monochromatic optical power in space into electrical power at efficiencies that approach the theoretical maximum allowed for such devices (e.g. >90%).
Average composition of major materials on the lunar surface (percent by weight)
Element Amount (wt%)
0 43.4
Si 20.3
Mg 19.3
Fe 10.6
Ca 3.22
Al 3.17
Cr 0.42
Ti 0.18
Mn 0.12
H while hydrogen is present in surface soil at approximately 50 ppm by weight, it is a major soil component in high latitude (near polar) craters only.
In some places, the soil also contains sodium, potassium,and rare-earth oxides. The exact composition varies from site to site, and possibly from sample to sample at a given site.
On Earth, the most commonly produced glass is soda-lime glass. The typical proportions are SiO2 75%, Na2O 15% and CaO 10%, plus 2–3% other materials. Soda lime glass is produced in large amounts on Earth because its low melt temperature makes it easy to work with. Unfortunately, sodium is not a common material on the Moon. A second disadvantage of soda-lime glass is that it has a very high thermal expansion coefficient, making it vulnerable to the temperature excursion of the lunar day–night cycle.
An alternative glass to use would be fused silica, which consists of silicon dioxide plus trace components. While silicon is abundant on the Moon, the melt temperature of fused silica makes it extremely difficult to work with. Typically, laboratory silica is mixed with other components to lower the working temperature.
A useful laboratory glass is borosilicate glass, such as Pyrex, where boron oxide B2O3 is the primary additive, however, boron is also not a commonly available material on the Moon.
the main reason for glass to be doped with other elements is because of the termal expansion proerties of the glass
being in space would allow for the crystal to form in 0-g (micro-g for the moon)
and the process would be more efficient (as long as it cools consistantly)
since the only elements in 0-atmoshere would be the glass
then the heat would be radiated at an equal rate
SiO2
--------------------------------------
one kind word can warm 3 winter months
japanese proverb
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Joined: 2007-01-13