Closed eco-systems

--- In spacesettlers@y..., Ryan Healey wrote:
> NH3 should be avilable in asteriods so you could get it from there.
>
> I suspect that space colonies, particulary the early ones won't be
fully
> self-sustaining and will still require quite a bit of technology to
regulate
> the environment. We don't need to go to full closure stright away
we could do
> it in steps getting closer and closer to fully closing it off with
extra
> knowledge. Projects like Biosphere II are a good idea and CELSS is
something
> that should be studied but you don't have to try to get it
completely
> independant, it's OK to have to get a few things from outside.

According to this site at the University of Wisconsin Madison:
http://silver.neep.wisc.edu/~neep533/neep533.html there are good
supplies of Nitrogen and Hydrogen in lunar soil, that would be
released by heating them. Since we have to heat them to get oxygen
and the metals out, it should be easy to collect enough to establish
colony atmospheres and if need to make ammonia and phosphorous based
fertilizer. See Lectures 13 and 21 on the page above for details.