What would be required to mine Lunar ice, melt it and split it into hydrogen and oxygen?Well, if the ice is bound into lose regolith, the regolith could be scooped up and transported to a solar concentrator, where the water would be evaporated, captured and electrolysed. The "slag" regolith would be dumped into a nearby crater. But what about ice sheets, 100% pure water ice and other volatiles, which might exist in the permanently shadowed Lunar craters? How would you mine and process that? Cut blocks of ice and transport them to the solar furnace? Or melt into the ice sheet using a nuclear-heated "straw", which would capture most of the evaporating ice?
Not much N2, mind you. It will be a problem in creating the atmo for the base, which should be as close to a normal atmo as possible, not as close to human extremophile living as possible.Where does the nitrogen come from?
Nah, you want to run basically pure O2 at about 5psi; otherwise it's too much of a pain to do EVA's. Witness what a pain in the arse it is to do an EVA at ISS; meanwhile, the Apollo boys were going out every day.
Quote from: Warren Platts on 09/28/2011 06:45 pmNah, you want to run basically pure O2 at about 5psi; otherwise it's too much of a pain to do EVA's. Witness what a pain in the arse it is to do an EVA at ISS; meanwhile, the Apollo boys were going out every day.Isn't that an extreme fire hazard?
Quote from: Hop_David on 09/29/2011 07:47 pmQuote from: Warren Platts on 09/28/2011 06:45 pmNah, you want to run basically pure O2 at about 5psi; otherwise it's too much of a pain to do EVA's. Witness what a pain in the arse it is to do an EVA at ISS; meanwhile, the Apollo boys were going out every day.Isn't that an extreme fire hazard?It's the same amount of O2 that's in the current atmosphere. So the partial pressure is the same, or the amount of oxygen per cubic meter. It does require acclimatization. And I'm not sure the long term effects on health are studied well enough.
Quote from: JohnFornaro on 09/28/2011 03:17 pmNot much N2, mind you. It will be a problem in creating the atmo for the base, which should be as close to a normal atmo as possible, not as close to human extremophile living as possible.Where does the nitrogen come from?Nah, you want to run basically pure O2 at about 5psi; otherwise it's too much of a pain to do EVA's. Witness what a pain in the arse it is to do an EVA at ISS; meanwhile, the Apollo boys were going out every day.
Quote from: Hop_David on 09/29/2011 07:47 pmQuote from: Warren Platts on 09/28/2011 06:45 pmNah, you want to run basically pure O2 at about 5psi; otherwise it's too much of a pain to do EVA's. Witness what a pain in the arse it is to do an EVA at ISS; meanwhile, the Apollo boys were going out every day.Isn't that an extreme fire hazard?It's the same amount of O2 that's in the current atmosphere. So the partial pressure is the same, or the amount of oxygen per cubic meter.
Quote from: baldusi on 09/29/2011 09:12 pmQuote from: Hop_David on 09/29/2011 07:47 pmQuote from: Warren Platts on 09/28/2011 06:45 pmNah, you want to run basically pure O2 at about 5psi; otherwise it's too much of a pain to do EVA's. Witness what a pain in the arse it is to do an EVA at ISS; meanwhile, the Apollo boys were going out every day.Isn't that an extreme fire hazard?It's the same amount of O2 that's in the current atmosphere. So the partial pressure is the same, or the amount of oxygen per cubic meter. Incorrect. PPO2 in the current atmosphere is around 3 psi, not 5.
Quote from: Jorge on 09/30/2011 01:07 amQuote from: baldusi on 09/29/2011 09:12 pmQuote from: Hop_David on 09/29/2011 07:47 pmQuote from: Warren Platts on 09/28/2011 06:45 pmNah, you want to run basically pure O2 at about 5psi; otherwise it's too much of a pain to do EVA's. Witness what a pain in the arse it is to do an EVA at ISS; meanwhile, the Apollo boys were going out every day.Isn't that an extreme fire hazard?It's the same amount of O2 that's in the current atmosphere. So the partial pressure is the same, or the amount of oxygen per cubic meter. Incorrect. PPO2 in the current atmosphere is around 3 psi, not 5.At 5 psi you can have some buffer gas I used to think it would have to be helium on the Moon but the LCROSS data shows this is unnecessary as the Moon does have sizable nitrogen deposits.
N 6.6000%
QuoteN 6.6000%Pure O2 wouldn't be good, both for the fire hazard as well as the stark difference from Earth's atmo.
My feeling is that the base should be as familiar an environment as it can be, and that atmo is a key factor here....The EVA issue will sort itself out, I believe. They will be minimized.
They just said above that Skylab used a N2/O2 mixture at 5 psi.
Having humans on the base vastly increases its functionality.