Resource Availability at Taurus-Littrow
Abstract
Early lunar technologies will probably use a common lunar material as ore. They will be robust to minor fluctuations in feedstock composition and will not require appreciable feedstock beneficiation such as rock grinding or mineral concentration. Technologies using unprocessed soil and indifferent to its composition will have the advantage. Nevertheless, the size and grade of the ore body must be confirmed for even the most indiscriminate process. Simple uses such as heaping unprocessed lunar soil for thermal insulation or radiation shielding onto a habitat require that we know the depth of the regolith, the size distributions of its soils, the locations of large boulders, and the ease of excavation. Costs of detailed site surveys trade against restrictions on site selection and conservative engineering design to accommodate unknown conditions of a poorly explored site. Given the above considerations, we consider briefly some abundant lunar materials, their proposed uses, and technologies for their preparation, with particular attention to the Taurus-Littrow site.
- Publication:
-
Geology of the Apollo 17 Landing Site
- Pub Date:
- December 1992
- Bibcode:
- 1992ga17.conf....9H
- Keywords:
-
- Beneficiation;
- Cost Analysis;
- Excavation;
- Lunar Bases;
- Lunar Geology;
- Lunar Resources;
- Lunar Rocks;
- Lunar Soil;
- Minerals;
- Radiation Shielding;
- Thermal Insulation;
- Depth;
- Lunar Landing Sites;
- Regolith;
- Site Selection;
- Size Distribution;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration