Lunar Surface Mine Feasibility Study
This paper describes a lunar surface mine, and demonstrates the economic feasibility of mining oxygen from the Moon. The mine will be at the Apollo 16 landing site. Mine design issues...
Lunar Surface Mining Equipment Study
In response to the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), a large number of lunar base scenarios have been proposed by various members of the research community. The National Aeronautics...
Ropeway Material Handling Systems for Lunar Mining Sites
The establishment of permanent lunar sites will be a requirement for future space explorations during early missions into space as well as long term. During all stages it will be necessary...
On the Beneficiation and Comminution of Lunar Regolith
A major concern in the area of planning for future lunar missions and for establishing a lunar base is the selection of a chemical process for liberation of oxygen from lunar regolith...
Beneficiation and Comminution Circuit for the Production of Lunar Liquid Oxygen (LLOX)
A complete lunar beneficiation and comminution circuit has been designed that requires no air or fluid locks for feed introduction or egress, with the exception of a vapor pyrolysis station....
Transfer of Terrestrial Technology for Lunar Mining
Terrestrial mining equipment was evaluated for development of concepts and their application to lunar-based mining operations. The major operational differences between terrestrial and...
Spiral Mining for Lunar Volatiles
Lunar spiral mining, extending outward from a periodically mobile central power and processing station represents an alternative for comparison with more traditional mining schemes. In...
Preliminary Design of an Underground Lunar Mine
This paper presents a mining engineering viewpoint on the design and construction of an underground lunar mine. Upon completion, the facility will serve as a lunar habitat. Ore removed...
Design Criteria for an Underground Lunar Mine
Underground excavation and construction techniques have been well developed terrestrially and provide an attractive option for lunar mining and habitat construction. The lunar mine, processing...
Lunar Mining?Surface vs. in Situ?A Comparative Study
Surface mining and in situ mining are briefly reviewed and compared. It is verified that the inherent advantages of in situ mining over surface ruining point out that in situ mining should...
Sintering of Lunar Glass and Basalt
Sintering of the regolith has been proposed as a method for producing construction materials from local resources at a lunar base. Applications for lunar 'bricks' include road beds, foundations,...
Vacuum Melting and Mechanical Testing of Simulated Lunar Glasses
Lunar silicate glasses may possess superior mechanical properties compared to terrestrial glasses because the anhydrous lunar environment should prevent hydrolytic weakening of the strong...
Strength and Fracture of Glass in the Lunar Environment
Due to the lack of water on the moon, the effects of hydrolytic depolymerization - stress corrosion cracking - will be nonexistent in glasses produced and used on the moon. This would...
Mechanical Properties of Compacted Lunar Simulant Using New Vacuum Triaxial Equipment
Mechanical stress-strain-strength properties of Arizona Lunar Simulant (ALS) are investigated by using a newly developed vacuum triaxial device that allows compaction under different initial...
Explosive Forming of Aluminum-Lithium Alloys
This paper proposes the use of explosive forming to form large, near net shape components for HLLV propellant tanks and structures in meeting this need. Combining with high strength to...
The Effect of Multiple Compliant Layers at the Fiber-Matrix Interface on Residual Thermal Stresses in Metal Matrix Composites
The large mismatch in thermoelastic properties of the fiber and matrix phases in advanced metal matrix composites, coupled with high consolidation temperatures, produces severe residual...
Measuring Vibration in an Advanced Composite Beam with Localized Internal Fiber-Optic Strain Sensors
Two optical fibers embedded with different configurations were used separately as strain sensors to measure the natural frequencies and modal amplitudes of a cantilevered graphite/bismaleimide...
The Analysis Related to the Impact of Composite Panels
In analyzing experiments under impact loading, a dynamic model is needed to solve for the deflections and strains as functions of time. For composites, where shear deformation can be very...
Composite Materials for Structures on Planetary Surfaces
Development of structures for planetary surface environments depends upon the use of the most appropriate materials. Advanced composite materials are apparently the best candidates for...
Comparison of Micromechanical Models for Elastic Properties
The effective elastic properties for unidirectional composites, as predicted by several analytical micromechanical models are compared for glass/epoxy and graphite/epoxy. A brief review...
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