Bootstrapping - Step Four

> 4.) Assemble vehicles for landing on the lunar surface. These are
> made of copper, barium, vanadium, molybdenum, cobalt, nickel,
> chromium, Zirconium, Niobium, etc (metals not found on moon).
> These landing vehicles stay on the moon and in the future are
> broken down for their metals. Surely, the craziest spacecraft ever
> fabricated.
>
> Just catching up for Saturdays one post :)

This shows just why a group like this is valuable. This is an idea
that seems overwhelmingly obvious, but I've not heard anybody else
suggesting it. The ideas that can flow from an informed public are
truly a valuable resource.

> Now I'm thinking that rather than sending all of these elements to
> the moon in the future, why not have the landing craft do double
> duty. Afterall, what good is the special purpose vehicle we send
> to the moon to land our preliminary equipment going to be after
> it's completed its mission?

The Apollo ships will be protected historic sites. These later
ships, yeah, canabalize them. Makes sense.

> This way the copper can be used for electrical wiring in the
> future base,

Somebody suggested using the abundant calcium for this. Was that
you, TangoMan?

> the barium and niobium can be used for superconducting wire to
> support the operations of the mass driver, the cobalt nickel,
> chromium and Zirconium can be used as additive in future steel
> refining. Usually these steel additives add up to less than 1% of
> weight.

So... a ton of each of these translates to 400 or more tons of
steel, given another ton or so of carbon. Plenty of iron in Lunar
regolith.

> Also add in carbon fiber (for the carbothermal steelmaking
> process), plastics, and other materials.

I likes.

> TangoMan

Xenophile (who sees something important here that probably will NOT
have been already done on any industrial scale)