From: "Combs, Mike"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 5:55 PM
Subject: RE: [spacesettlers] Could a Mass Driver launch from Lunar Poles to
L2?

[snikt]
> And as regards to Zubrin's skepticism, it has always struck me as being
> highly selective wrt locations.
>

By the way, I am finally reading "The Nutcase for Mars" (I could use no
other title after reading with my own eyes Zubrin's arguments against the
High Frontier ;-) and at least one of Zubrin's cons against Moon exploration
hit home, albeit only partially: he hinted that the process for making solar
cells *necessarily* needs hydrogen, and so the whole proposal of using lunar
regolith for making solar arrays is seriously flawed.

Of course there are yet-to-be-determined amounts of lunar ice and there are
water-rich NEOs - however, getting hydrogen in those sources would likely
increase the costs of lunar solar cell manufacturing. So, I would like to
know: is hydrogen really a indispensable element in the process of
manufacturing silicon crystals? Or are there alternative ways of doing that
and Zubrin's argument is yet another selective exposition (and hiding) of
facts?

> Regards,
>

Regards,

> Mike Combs

Lucio Coelho