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How Do You Build on the Moon? Start with Lunar Dust
space.com ^ | August 27, 2018 02:09pm ET | y Doris Elin Salazar,

Posted on 08/27/2018 10:34:01 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Many programs have recently tested out the habitability of lunar bases. In May 2018, Chinese student volunteers in Beijing completed a one-year test living in a simulated lunar lab. In October 2017, the International MoonBase Summit (IMS) convened in Hawaii to discuss building a mock structure to examine how a human settlement on the moon would work. And for two weeks in August 2017, six mock astronauts lived inside a simulated moon base in Poland.

But how would you build a base in the first place?

Their idea is to try to break reliance on earthy construction materials, according to an Aug. 20 statement issued by ESA.

To get an idea of how one might make bricks from moon dust, researchers analyzed volcanic material near Cologne, Germany, where eruptions happened 45 million years ago. This volcanic powder is a good match for what lunar dust might be like, according to ESA officials, because the moon's surface is made of basaltic material called silicates that are common near planetary volcanoes.

And lunar dust may also support human missions in another way, too:

"One of the great things about the lunar soil is that 40 percent of it is made up of oxygen," Cowley said. Researchers on another EAC project are studying how to extract the oxygen within moon dust so that astronauts may extend their stays on the moon.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: moon; moondust

A 1.5-metric-ton building block produced as a 3D-printing demonstration of lunar soil.

Credit: ESA


The British architectural design and engineering firm Foster+Partners devised this weight-bearing "catenary" dome design for the European Space Agency's 3D-printed lunar base concept, seen here.

Credit: ESA/Foster + Partners

1 posted on 08/27/2018 10:34:02 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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And just because it’s a great song...

Lera Lynn - “Standing on the Moon”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eze74encNRE


2 posted on 08/27/2018 10:37:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

If you smash your thumb in space, no one can hear you scream.


3 posted on 08/27/2018 11:06:22 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: BenLurkin

You’d better get a clear land deed title where you want to build. Some half-assed attorney will sue on behalf of Selenites re trepassing and illegal building without the proper permits.

[Selenites - Look up Jules Verne]


4 posted on 08/27/2018 11:52:58 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: BenLurkin

Actually, I think using moon dust would have some very unique and dangerous properties for building, if even possible.

https://www.spaceanswers.com/solar-system/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-moon-dust/

https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/5axinh/eugene_cernans_left_glove_worn_on_the_lunar/


5 posted on 08/28/2018 1:28:06 AM PDT by wbarmy (I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.)
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To: BenLurkin

It is glass. Go grind a coke bottle into a fine powder.

Then breathe it in. Your lungs will shred.


6 posted on 08/28/2018 2:15:30 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: BenLurkin

The lunar equivalent of a mud hut.


7 posted on 08/28/2018 3:22:41 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
You’d better get a clear land deed title where you want to build.

You can start by talking to this guy:

https://www.businessinsider.com/man-selling-real-estate-on-the-moon-2013-3

8 posted on 08/28/2018 3:45:12 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Yo-Yo

Why didn’t I think of that?


9 posted on 08/28/2018 4:11:57 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: BenLurkin

I’ll raise you “Walking on the Moon”.

https://youtu.be/zPwMdZOlPo8


10 posted on 08/28/2018 4:20:39 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: rightwingcrazy

Looks more like an igloo.


11 posted on 08/28/2018 4:39:23 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: rightwingcrazy

The early settlements at Jamestown, Plymouth and other places weren’t much more advanced.


12 posted on 08/28/2018 8:28:08 AM PDT by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: rightwingcrazy

The early settlements at Jamestown, Plymouth and other places weren’t much more advanced.


13 posted on 08/28/2018 4:28:43 PM PDT by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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