Sources of Hydrogen and Oxygen for settlements

From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of makenamicro

> If heated in a vacuum, it gives off Hydrogen.

I'm sure the amounts of hydrogen would be relatively minor. Worth
hanging onto if given off in the course of extracting other desired
elements, certainly, but probably not worth doing for its own sake.

But before I leave the subject of lunar hydrogen: I've heard interesting
comments on that science paper disputing lunar ice. I heard one
scientist say that the press briefings where not as carefully qualified
as the paper itself. The paper doesn't dispute the presence of ice,
only the existence of thick slabs of ice. He said that was a bit of a
straw man; nobody had really expected it to be in the form of thick
slabs. Fine grains of ice distributed in the soil is a much more likely
form, and cannot be ruled out based on the radar returns. That hydrogen
detected from two different probes has to be coming from somewhere.

I heard one commentator say that fine grains of ice is actually a better
outcome from a retrieval standpoint, saying that thick slabs would not
be as easy to break up as the kind of ice we're used to on Earth, since
it would be at cryogenic temperatures.

> By launching these into Earth orbit from the surface of Luna,
> it will require only 1/36 the fuel that launching from Earth
> would require.

True, but even more significantly, since the lunar surface is in vacuum,
horizontal launch off the surface via EM forces becomes practical,
offering significant savings over chemical rockets.

> Lunar mines would sell materials for the first true space station
> to be built in earth orbit. The station would in turn offer ship
> construction as well as scientific returns.

Lunar mining would probably only make sense in the context of
construction programs measuring into the megatons, which is why SPS
construction is usually the main industry proposed in conjunction with
lunar mining. On the other hand, in any situation where lunar materials
were being used to make SPS, and we additionally also wanted to build
large space stations and manned ships for exploration, no doubt the
existing infrastructure would be used to build these from lunar
materials as much as possible. I'm only cautioning that building a few
space stations and some exploratory ships would probably not by
themselves fully justify lunar mines, mass drivers and catchers, and
orbital ore refineries and manufacturing centers.

Regards,

Mike Combs