Lunar ISRU: An Evolutionary Approach
The goal of this paper is to provide the reader with a vision of the individual steps required to bring ISRU from the current technological readiness level of lab experimentation, to large...
Engineering Implications of Levitating Lunar Dust
In this paper an attempt is made to provide a physical understanding of these various phenomena and their long-term effects on the lunar environment. This understanding is then applied...
A Generic Inflatable Structure for a Lunar/Martian Base
The first steps in the human expansion into space, which inevitably will occur during the next century, consist of the establishment of a human-tended base on the Moon followed by human...
Lunar Oxygen Production - A Maturing Technology
Research on oxygen production from lunar rock and soil has made significant progress in the past two years. An extensive series of experiments on natural and synthetic analogs has concentrated...
Oxygen Generation from Synthetic Moon Soil Using a Plasma Reactor
A series of experiments were performed to evaluate the potential for generating oxygen from silica powder, alumina powder and a synthetic moon soil powder. A non-transferred arc plasma...
Lunar Oxygen Production in a Hydrogen Cold Plasma
This paper examines the concept of oxygen production from unbeneficiated lunar regolith using a non-equilibrium or 'cold' hydrogen plasma. An experimental investigation has indicated that...
Carbon Formation Theory for Space Oxygen Processes
Production of oxygen from the Martian atmosphere or lunar soil and the recovery of oxygen in manned space environments may include carbon formation from CO as a unit process. Thermodynamic...
Oxygen from Lunar Soil via Fluorination
This paper considers oxygen extraction from lunar soil via fluorination, for reasons of its high effectivity of oxygen release from most silicates. In addition to theoretical investigations,...
Sintering Bricks on the Moon
Sintering of full-scale 'bricks' from lunar soil simulant materials can be accomplished by radiant heating to 1100?C for approximately 2 hours, followed by slow cooling. Small-scale precompaction...
Efficient Path Planning Strategies for Unmanned Rover Vehicles
Path planning strategies are studied using an optimization model. Four main sub-models are discussed that contribute to the computing of minimum energy vehicle path planning. These are:...
A Minimum Mars Mission Approach
The purpose of this paper is to identify the mission architecture required to perform a human exploration mission to Mars using a minimum amount of resources. This mission will send three...
Onboard Image Processing With Transputers
A transputer based onboard computer for planetary vehicles is being designed in the KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics (RMKI), Budapest, Hungary. In this paper we...
Fiber Optic Chemical Sensors on Mars
A fiber optic chemical sensing instrument is described that will measure the reactivity of the martian soil and atmosphere. The self-contained instrument monitors reflectivity changes...
Transfer Vehicle Sizing for Missions to Mars
The purpose of this study is to analyze the interactions between mission and vehicle design parameters, and determine how the selection of a particular trajectory and transit time affects...
The Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope Experiment (LUTE)
The Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope Experiment (LITE) is a feasible scientific payload which could initiate a unique ultraviolet (UV) sky survey from the lunar surface prior to our manned...
Puerto Rico Privatizes the Roads
The opening of Puerto Rico's Teodoro Moscoso Bridge in San Juan early in 1994 will usher in a new era of privately financed toll roads. The first product of the 1989 Private...
A Dome For the 21st Century
Putting a circular dome on a square building--the classical architectural design challenge--takes on new proportions at the Federal Building and Courthouse in Charleston, W. Va. The 170...
Debating Steel - Connection Design
The debate about responsibility for structural-steel-connection design is among the hottest engineering disputes of our generation. Meetings have been held on the subject, articles written...
Preserve and Protect
Historic and landmark structures constructed of unreinforced masonry and stone are among the most vulnerable to strong ground shaking and are often subject to possible collapse. For the...
Safety Assessment of a Chemical Reactor Vessel
The potential explosion loadings on a chemical reactor vessel is described in this paper. The potential loads presented provide a basis for designing spherical storage vessels which will...
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