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Moon bricks could keep the lights on and the heat up in Lunar colonies – TechCrunch
There may be no “dark side” of the Moon, but when and where it is dark, it’s dark — and stays that way for two weeks. If we’re going to have colonists up there, they’ll need to stay warm and keep the lights (among other things) on for the long lunar night. Turns out bricks made of Moon dust could be part of the solution.
Of course they will use the readily available solar power during the lunar day, and you might think that they could just charge up some batteries to last them through the night. But batteries are large and heavy — not the kind of thing you want to pack for a trip to the Moon.
How else could lunar colonies store energy? The European Space Agency partnered with Azimut Space to find out whether a sort of improvised geothermal energy solution would be feasible.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday July 26 2019, @05:09AM (10 children)
You'll always have sunlight.
But WTF? Who wants to live on the moon?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Friday July 26 2019, @10:30AM (6 children)
Have you been living under a rock for the past 50 years? Bunch of people do.
And of course, there's a bunch of people who already live and want to live in some pretty crazy environments on Earth.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Friday July 26 2019, @02:32PM (3 children)
While, I get that it's a popular idea. I'd guess that most people aren't thinking of it as the next wild west. Sure, the wild west was tamed, but lots and lots of people died accomplishing the feat. We've barely had a single incidence of death on the road to the moon. As opposed to the trail being littered with bodies as you make your way there. We like the idea of it, but we're not willing to accept the risk. Of course, if it didn't cost multiple millions or billions of dollars to get there. Maybe there would be a lot more pioneers.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Friday July 26 2019, @05:42PM (2 children)
Any manned space program today is going to be stupid expensive, as is anything based on SLS. Falcon Heavy could be a bit more affordable, but it's far from ideal.
With Starship, cost per head can be dramatically reduced. Gigantic payloads can be put in LEO or on the Moon (in-orbit refueling required for best results, so that still needs to be demonstrated).
So by 2030 or so, building a Moon or Mars base will be a lot cheaper and easier. If the effort is privately funded, that might keep costs down by keeping Beltway bandits out of the loop (SpaceX will just give you a ride, you procure the necessary equipment). Luckily, NASA is at least doing/funding things that will be useful to a colony/base effort, like Kilopower or Mars Ice Home.
As far as risk to humans is concerned, Musk has said that some people will have to die. How realistic is that? Nobody knows. But if the plan is to send tens of thousands of people on hundreds of flights, that's an unprecedented amount of manned space activity and it seems likely something will go wrong. And even if you don't blow up, you end up in a completely inhospitable place (Moon/Mars) with little chance of rescue (especially Mars).
We don't need full scale colonization efforts right away. Funding a small base of researchers staying up to a few months at a time is a good start. So more like ISS, less like Apollo. But Starship brings a Wild West scenario closer to becoming a reality. Asteroid mining too, which would be much more viable with Starship (being able to wrap chunks in a heat shield [soylentnews.org] and slam them into a desert would also be nice). And there are a few ideas [nextbigfuture.com] floating around that could make launches even cheaper than Starship. Maybe something bigger like 12-meter ITS could also be cheaper than 9-meter Starship.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Touché) by fustakrakich on Friday July 26 2019, @05:54PM (1 child)
Living on the moon would be like living in a trailer on a construction site. The first thing you will need to open is a saloon/casino/brothel.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday July 27 2019, @02:33AM
...on the Moon!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday July 26 2019, @06:07PM (1 child)
Bunch of people do.
They have no idea...
But, whatever, just take lots of condoms and lube...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday July 27 2019, @11:57AM
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 26 2019, @10:37AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2uTFF_3MaA [youtube.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Monday July 29 2019, @01:29PM (1 child)
but you won't always have sunlight. that is the whole point of the article, what to use while you are in the dark phase of the moon's 4-week day-night cycle.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday August 01 2019, @09:41AM
It's one of those posts where you have to read the title as well as the text. GP is referring to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_of_eternal_light [wikipedia.org]