Scientists want to make moon roads by blasting lunar soil with sunlight

[Admin]

Lunar dust can be a hazard for off-world rovers — so scientists are suggesting we create a road system on the moon.

Scientists want to make moon roads by blasting lunar soil with sunlight : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

This seems like a good idea.

But I am not thinking it will have much value in controlling the dust. Although there is no wind, the dust still apparently moves around some, probably due to its electric charge helping suspend it and the effects of the light terminator sweeping across the surface every 2 weeks. And, since it sticks to a lot of our artificial infrastructure, it will probably be "tracked" onto these paved surfaces by vehicles and feet that move on and off the paved areas, anyway.

What we probably need to develop is some sort of electrostatic dust repulsion system. That would not only help on the Moon, but also with robotic devices sent to other places like Mars and maybe even asteroids, where dust needs to be removed from solar cells to keep the devices working.

 

[motie]

The day/night thermal cycling will probably destroy pavement in short order.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Yes, they should put some of their test samples on the ISS to see how they handle thermal cycling in real space before they transport a huge glass lens or dish to the Moon to make them there.

One large, solid sheet of fused material is very likely to crack. But cracking still might leave a useful surface. I doubt it would just turn to dust.

Creating a tiled surface with joints would probably help. Creating layers of tiles might help a lot.