Solid fuel Moon rockets (was Economics)

>
>> 4FeTiO3 + Concentrated Sunlight -> 4Fe+ , Ti+, 3O+
>>
>> Why not build parabolic mirrors and heat the compounds until they
>> disassociate into their constituent elements?>>>
>
> [snip] The biggest problem with this process would be finding
container materials that can withstand temperatures in excess of
3400C. Even carbon melts at 3527C! <

I thought one of the advantages of the O'Neill system was that the
lunar materials could be processed in orbit, where a container is not
needed.

Also, regarding using CO to strip an O off FeO (I think that was
mentioned earlier in this thread), the CO can be regenerated from the
CO2 by high-temperature gas phase electrolysis. This is done by
passing the CO2 over a hot ceramic membrane with an electrical
potential across it. Of course, the main problem with this is not
losing too much carbon via leakage.

--JohnWheeler