D
dryson
Guest
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 ... water.html
If there is not any water on the Moon then why can we not create a still by using the many thousands of small craters pocketing the Moon's surface? It would not be that difficult to build a solar still.
I have enclosed a scan of a method of collecting water from a survival handbook. The resolution isn't very good but the picture is more then enough to convey the idea. Although the process of using a drinking cup to collect the water and a sheet of clear plastic would not work on the Moon, the theory of how the process works can be applied to the Moon. What would need to be done is too engineer a film or sturdy plastic covering with a heavy weight at the center of the overall diameter of the crater to pull the center of the plastic down into the center of the crater bowl. The bowl could be lined with a flimsy yet sturdy milar/kevlar liner that would trap the water as it condensed off of the plastic sheeting. The water would then be harvested and used for drinking, irrigation, and the production of reactants for use in engine's that would then transport crew and equipment from the Moon to the ISS and then onto Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt where even more solar stills could be built to facilitate the production of potable water for drinking, irrigation and reactants.
This could be a good time to get a contest going using the idea above to come up with working theories and models of the solar still.
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/1143/scan0001zuu.jpg
If there is not any water on the Moon then why can we not create a still by using the many thousands of small craters pocketing the Moon's surface? It would not be that difficult to build a solar still.
I have enclosed a scan of a method of collecting water from a survival handbook. The resolution isn't very good but the picture is more then enough to convey the idea. Although the process of using a drinking cup to collect the water and a sheet of clear plastic would not work on the Moon, the theory of how the process works can be applied to the Moon. What would need to be done is too engineer a film or sturdy plastic covering with a heavy weight at the center of the overall diameter of the crater to pull the center of the plastic down into the center of the crater bowl. The bowl could be lined with a flimsy yet sturdy milar/kevlar liner that would trap the water as it condensed off of the plastic sheeting. The water would then be harvested and used for drinking, irrigation, and the production of reactants for use in engine's that would then transport crew and equipment from the Moon to the ISS and then onto Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt where even more solar stills could be built to facilitate the production of potable water for drinking, irrigation and reactants.
This could be a good time to get a contest going using the idea above to come up with working theories and models of the solar still.
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/1143/scan0001zuu.jpg