Lunar regolith cement and concrete technology

[R1]

what's the current status on some kind of contest to see who could develop the best use for<br />rogolith or the best propellant or something?<br /><br /> This was probably years ago, its been a while.<br /><br /><br />can the powdery surface be mixed with soemthing like elmers glue in plastic box containers to make <br />radiation shielding brick buildings?<br /><br /> or some kind of radiation shield tiles for the next space station? or any spacecraft<br /><br /><br />What kind of cement technology can help? <br /><br /> If you added some kind very small silcone bubbles full of air to the mixture would it make it more thermally insulating?<br /> <br /> lighter to carry away from the moon,and within the mooncamps?<br /><br />could you add lead and aluminum powder and make the bricks more radiation resistant?<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bpfeifer]

Hi, I can't answer all of your questions, but I do know what's going on with some of them.<br /><br />Probably the best way to harden regolith, is not to mix it into cement, but rather to microwave it. It cooks a bit and hardens into solid shape. Some have suggested using this method to pave a landing pad or making roads by dragging a microwave emitter sled/cart over the surface. You could also dump regolith into a box, and mirowave it into a brick. These two methods will give you some very versitile building materials, and certainly can be used for metorite proteection. Aluminum oxide is already a component of regolith, so it might make a decent radiation shield as well.<br /><br />You might also be interested in teh MoonROx competition. It is part of the Centennial Challenges program sponsored by NASA. MoonROx is a competition to generate breathable oxygen from Lunar regolith. <br /><br />You should also check the Regolith Excavation Challenge. This is another Centennial Challenge and is for teams building autonomous digging machines for use on the Moon.<br /><br />You can find information about both of these at: http://exploration.nasa.gov/centennialchallenge/cc_index.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Brian J. Pfeifer http://sabletower.wordpress.com<br /> The Dogsoldier Codex http://www.lulu.com/sabletower<br /> </div>

 

[vogon13]

IIRC, lunar regolith can be microwaved into a product similar to cement blocks.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[R1]

in reply to both posts, I don't<br />understand how in the world would we cook a moon brick with microwave?<br /><br /><br />If its aluminum oxide content blocks radiation and makes it a good shielding brick,<br /> aren't they being reflected by the surface, so that its interior couldnt cook to begin with?<br /><br /><br />and I have a feeling that it would not be very thermally resistant in strength, I don't<br />remember if I read that somewhere or what, but in case it breaks easily from the<br />bright side being extremely hot and the cold side being way below zero, would miniaturized<br />silicone spheres (beads) full of air mixed in the brick help any thermal problems with its strength?<br />It might make them thermally insulating at least. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[R1]

yes, I see in this article, for example that microwaving it may be better<br /><br /><br /><br />http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/HumanExplore/Exploration/EXLibrary/docs/ISRU/07Constr.htm<br /><br /><br />Since the lunar atmosphere contains small amounts of carbon dioxide and water,<br />wouldn't the simplest solution be to just simply vacuum all that atmosphere immediately,<br />before the sun and solar wind ionizes it and blows it away?<br /><br />and save it in tanks up there so that wehn people get there it would be alot easier to <br />extract water, oxygen and methane from the storage tanks?<br /><br /><br /><br /> a cheap manless mission could dump some self filling tanks and start collection of the lunar atmosphere<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[dragon04]

I think this approach is backwards.<br /><br />The best way would be to boost a couple of 400 ton TBM's to the Moon in pieces, and assemble them in situ with a workforce living in Bigelow Habs.<br /><br />Or even better, drilling and blasting tunnels to create subterranean habitats and bases. To me, that would be the KISS approach.<br /><br />Going underground circumvents the process of building on the surface, and would provide radiation shielding as well.<br /><br />Even better, if water ice deposits were found in polar impact craters, it would be a matter of boring into a crater wall right where the water is. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[bpfeifer]

The idea is not to build a habitat of regolith, but rather cover a more conventional habitat with regolith as impact and radiation shielding. This would work well in combination with inflatables like Bigelow is constructing, and would be simpler than digging underground tunnels.<br /><br />Another concept I read on one of the threads was to make regolith "sandbags" to cover habitats. I like it because it's such a low tech approach. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Brian J. Pfeifer http://sabletower.wordpress.com<br /> The Dogsoldier Codex http://www.lulu.com/sabletower<br /> </div>

 

[R1]

yes, I read that too, I suppose the sandbags might be the most economical. I wonder though, would they last in<br />such harsh environment? or would they go bad every 10 years or so and degrade the shield too?<br />whatever the case I just hope its economical. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bdewoody]

As long as the bag material is made from something that is resistant to radiation deterioration there's not much else on the moon that will degrade them. There is no wave or wind motion, just solar radiation and the occasional micro meteor. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[bpfeifer]

You have to worry about thermal variation as well as radiation resistance. You should also make them puncture restant as moon rocks can be rather sharp. Even taking all of these into account, it's still a trivial engineering task compared to most of the other methods.<br /><br />I wouldn't worry about it lasting more than 10 years. As it is, most people have to replace their roofing shingles every 7-10 years. And since the bags are so simple and small, you could pack a few hundred extra in on-board storage and add a few new ones as the old ones deteriorate. Still, I suspect a 10-20 year expected lifespan is a reasonable goal. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Brian J. Pfeifer http://sabletower.wordpress.com<br /> The Dogsoldier Codex http://www.lulu.com/sabletower<br /> </div>

 

[R1]

yes, the temperature goes up higher than 200 degrees F, then the sun sets and it gets terribly cold,<br />almost -250 degrees F its an awful 450 degree F change.<br /><br />(But I think the surface temperature about 1 meter deep is about a<br />constant -35 C )<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>