New Mars Forums

Obviously, GW is the guy for a reply, but I will offer this:

Query: "Did the Falcon 9 cargo capacity increase over time?"

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So, nothing guaranteed, but there is hope.

Your argument against Starship would have been appropriate for Falcon 9 in the beginning, but it would have been a disgrace for comments such as yours to have killed Falcon 9 in its infancy.

Ending Pending :-)

There are things in existence on Earth that are already in the family: https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/r … &FORM=VIRE  Quote:

A device on the Moon that uses mobilizable "Sand", may have some relationship to these things.

We might imagine a Farm Silo that also has characteristics of a Thermos Bottle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo
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From Mexico:

Grain Silo's:
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Some of the solutions for "Flowing" grain might apply to flowing "Sand".  During flow it may be possible to expose the flow to the direct heat of Lunar sunlight or to output from concentrating Mirrors.

Here I would be imagining unpressurized systems It might be possible to pressurize a system with Oxygen, water vapor, or CO2.  It might be worthwhile to import Carbon for this purpose.  In such a system you may be able to have means to vacuum the "Sand" up from the bottom, and present it to a heating method and then deposit it on the top of the Silo. 

Of course these methods may be subject to "Jams", and so robotics are desired to substitute for a human to work those lose, or to repair the mechanisms.

I am starting to work on the notion that some form of silo might also offer radiation protection to humans and electronics.  Of course, high heat is in conflict with habitats, but if you arranged silo's around a habitat, they may offer some protection without overhating the habitat.

With a vacuum barrier, it may even be possible to keep a hot sand on one side of the gap and a habitat wall on the other side of the vacuum gap.

But this needs some more evaluation.  Perhaps there are things to discover in that area.

So, yes I think Sand Silo's on the Moon may be useful.

Ending Pending :-)

So, yes, the idea of a sand battery for low gravity worlds.  As an alternative to pyramids as I previously mentioned.

On the Moon "Sand" must be extracted from regolith as a certain size, I suppose.  In its natural state it will likely be jagged and not rounded.

The Moon is not generous in gasses to use in it if a gas were to be used.  Water Vapor, Oxygen, and maybe CO2.  I think it might be worthwhile to import Carbon to create CO2.

So, how does a sand bath work in low G?

I suppose that what I am thinking of is only a bit like a sand bath: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_bath

In the ones I am familiar with the sand can be fluidized by flowing air up though it.  Quite hot possibly.

The Sand Battery is also something like what I am after: https://www.howtogosolar.org/sand-battery/

The Finns have been working on such: https://polarnightenergy.com/sand-battery/

I believe that they may heat with electricity.  I want to heat with direct or indirect solar, a Laser Beam, or Microwaves.

I am imagining "Sand" that moves, circulates from a point of heating to a point of storage, and then the means to make use of the heat as it leaks or by drawing it off from the sand battery.

I am anticipating low gravity as an advantage to fluidize sand so that it can flow.  Vibrations, a gas or perhaps a type of venturi pump may facilitate it.

I also see an advantage on the Moon of vacuum.  After all Thermos Bottles can hold heat of hot Coffee rather well.

I am also considering if it is possible to store energy in "Sand" and at the same time block radiation from shelters for humans.  That may be possible.

I think I will sleep on it.

I do think that massive sized "Sand Batteries" on the Moon could be very useful for places where the nights are very long, especially.

Ending Pending :=)

I guess I can be an "Other Thinker".

There is something I want to expose in this post elsewhere: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 56#p241556

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I believe that this can be used in seeing societies as being ordered by contraction/extraction or expansion/creation.

I will argue that some parts of the MAGA movement are of the expansion/creation nature, and that much of the rest of the world is of the contraction/extraction nature.  It is very simply a situation where a part of a society in hierarchy becomes cannibalistic in that it feeds on the other parts, and does not create an offsetting benefit for that other part that they extract from.

While Communists have claimed that the Capitalists are the cannibals, it is to be noticed that the major thing they want to do is seize the means of production.  So, I consider them to be the same thing as kings and dictators.

A king could be benevolent and useful, but they certainly can be cannibalistic in their behaviors.

I think a root of this problem is the adoration of verbal skills and the ability to manipulate the direction and magnitude of violence.

The Verbal and Violent, if allowed will consume all other talents to the point of destruction of a society or for a society to become as a prison camp.

This is why I will turn my back on all Globalist Thinking and favor MAGA as one possible treatment for the problem of the Verbal and Violent.

A society that has been excessively modified by the Verbal and Violent will be very poor.  I believe I see examples of this in the Middle East.

Without having secured oil wealth by Verbal and Violent means these people would be completely in poverty.  I expect that their genome has been severely damaged by allowing a culture of lust and greed determine who will breed.  This then will displace other talents than Verbal and Violent ones.  I do not blame them as especially evil, but rather that they have a very old civilization which is like a zombie.  Seeking fresh cultures to violate and do the same damage to.

I see the British as pandering to this process at the expense of new cultures, which I hold against them.  It is a sort of Judas move.

Ending Pending

I have another version of a Heliostat Heated Pyramid:

At the top of a shaft is a heated "Bucket" into which you put Sand/Regolith/Pellets.  The materials are heated.  Materials are removed from the bottom of the shaft and dumped into the "Heated Bucket" repeatedly.

So, this is a method to use a fluidized flow of fluidized particles.

This I think could work on the Earth, Moon, Mars, Mercury, other worlds.

Post #11 has materials about Infrared Solar Panels.  It is my intention that the dark brown casing of the pyramid will be such.

This video also will suggest how a layer of strained Silicon and such infrared solar panels could harness the heat put into such a pyramid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inoFpSyrPCc
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I will pause to review it again myself.................

The fluid is of particles, a Hourglass may demonstrate a similar process to what is in my drawing: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view … ajaxserp=0 Image Quote: 

So, not exactly the same process but similar.

Fluidization of "Sand" could be assisted by vibrations.  Both Earth and Mars have wind created sand dunes.  Such sand is not suitable for concrete, as the particles are rounded, but may work very well for this purpose.

On the Moon sieves might be used to extract a suitable quantity of proper sized particles for this use.  Also, it is possible that pellets could be manufactured for the purpose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taconite
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Pellets might jam up, but they might be considered, of a certain size.  Sand might be possible to vacuum up into the heating bucket from the base of the device.

So, if the infrared solar panels can be made, they will be relatively protected from weather conditions, such as UV light, impactors.  Although I don't know if they will be harmed by hail on  Earth.

The only electricity to power this device is for the Heliostats and also for the method of materials return from the bottom of the column to the top where the heating bucket is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
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So, then add a pyramid.  This may require that the heliostats be in modified locations, but it should be workable.

On the Moon, the interior of the pyramid may be of slag blocks with spacers.
On Mars the abundant clay may fill the interior, but it might be good to put cast basalt piping in that material to allow for forced heat flow from the interior to the outside.

On Earth, various options may be practical.

Perhaps you could use Carbon Blocks if you could keep Oxygen away from the Carbon.  It might be a good way to sequester Carbon., and Coal Deposits will be worth some actual value.

Perhaps the Carbon Blocks could be wrapped in some kind of fire proof material.

I think that this has great potential.

These might be distributed in the countryside to provide charging for electric vehicles on any world.

Ending Pending :-)

I have thought further about this matter.  Such a Pyramid might have multiple shafts with robotic insulated doors, allowing the more effective distribution of heat into it from laser sources:

From a Mountain Top or Crater Rim position, it might be possible to distribute power to such Pyramids.

And temperatures higher than 400 degrees C might be attainable, if the infrared solar panels and shocked/compressed Silicon of the casings can endure it.

Faceted Mirrors that the laser beams might impinge on might split the beams, allowing distribution of the heat between the blocks and sets of blocks that would make the interior of such a pyramid.  As I have said before, these blocks would probably have spacers between the blocks to allow radiant heat transfers withing the whole interior of the body of the Pyramid.

The doors that would allow the laser beams in would be robotic and operate in concert with the laser system source.  The doors could block heat from radiating out of the portals when closed.  However, if a transparency that can endure the laser beam becomes possible, then that also could block radiating of heat though the portals.

Electric vehicles might be charged at such Pyramids, and so may not have to climb up and down in elevation as much due to the electricity sourced in relatively accessible locations.

Such Pyramids might even be built in areas where the sun seldom or never shines.

Ending Pending :-)

I wasn't going to post today, but stumbled on this: https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/r … &FORM=VIRE
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But I have also been thinking about the materials of Post #9 further: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 13#p241413
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I am now wondering if there can be ways to heat the interior of this device directly with sunlight from Heliostats during the Lunar Day.

I feel that one of the strengths of such a system is that solar cells that work with infrared, may be more durable than solar cells directly in sunlight, exposed to UV and impactors.

I want to avoid the use of fluids for now and try to work with vacuum compatible methods.

So, the idea is to spill light off of a collection of heliostats on the Moons surface to heat a pile of slag blocks, and to allow the infrared from those heated blocks to produce electricity even during the night.

For now, the pile of slag blocks would be similar to a pyramid in the greater part.  Fiber Optic's could be suggested, but I would rather be more primitive than that.

OK, here is my first try:

So, presuming heliostats with mirrors are easy on the Moon, and that the Moon makes them a bit simpler by hot having very pronounced seasons, perhaps concentrated light can be conveyed to the sphere inside the protective insulated shroud, some amount of the heat might travel into the pyramid by infared radiation.

The stacked slag blocks will have spacers so that "Vacuum Gaps" will allow the radiation to equilibrate over time into various locations in the Pyramid.

The dark brown casing, will inhibit the movement of infrared radiation out of the structure except that it passes through it by Phonons and the out of it into space as radiation.

In the night the protective shroud will have doors closed to reduce thermal losses though the collector mechanism.

If you have glass that will tolerate large thermal shock, then perhaps the doors will be windows.

A Heliostat that is east of a pyramid may also be west of the next one in a line about the equator or a longitude of the Moon.  But they also could be somewhat north or south of the Pyramids.

The heated bulb could be Stainless Steel, but higher temperatures might be suggested by the following:
Query: "Highest temperature metal that does not melt?"
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I expect to lose a lot of energy from the Heliostats, but feel that it may be relatively cheap to have a lot of heliostat mirror space.

Anyway, this is a first try.

I think it would be good to sleep on it and see if better could emerge.

Ending Pending :-)

In case I seem to be getting "Off Topic" realize that if you are going to travel on the Moon or between Earth and Moon, you need energy.

Ending Pending :-)

It appears that the intention of Tesla and SpaceX are converging.  But also, I wonder if the plans of Japan may be implemented in parallel to what these companies might do with the Moon.

https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/02/japan-p … ound-moon/
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Just including Tesla electric vehicles and robots with Japan robots and other tech and then SpaceX notions of a Mass Driver, I think movement could occur in all these directions.  And of course the Artimis grouping and the China/Russia grouping would have to be included as well.

All those efforts could make the Moon a part of the economies of Earth.

And I am wondering about this: "Can electron beams be used to accelerate payloads in space?"
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Could electron beams from the Equator of the Moon be used to influence the orbits of objects/payloads?

The distances would be much shorter so the methods could be a bit different.

And I wonder if we could create energy storage devices that would be helpful during the Lunar night.

Processing regolith, probably using some heat, some parts may be extracted and the remainder, a Slag, might be cast into blocks which might be made to compose Pyramid like structures.

If you have vacancy channels in the structure you might heat the structure with Lasers or Microwaves.  If it is hot then it might be used to generate electrical power.  400 degrees C might be a good target.

Previously, elsewhere I have discussed a possible way to extract energy from such a "Pyramid": https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 56#p241356
"Index» Terraformation» Orbital Platforms"
Post #13 deals in part with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inoFpSyrPCc
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It may also be possible to heat the Pyramids with a fluid flowing though internal piping, but that is going to be some greater amount of trouble.  Imported Carbon could allow Carbon Dioxide as a working fluid, or perhaps a metal such as might be used in a nuclear reactor might work.  Perhaps a metal like Sodium.

The easier thing though if solar power is to beam power to Earth using Microwaves and Lasers would be to pump heat into the pyramids by passing energy into provided channels in the blocks of Slag that might be what the interior of the Pyramid would be composed of.

Quaise has a drilling method that if modified might be suitable.
https://geothermalinsider.com/learn/quaise-energy/
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While the idea of a solar ring around the equator of the Moon is very interesting, it implies conducting electricity from the day side of the Moon to the night side.  It could be interruptible by a impactor, or a malicious entity.

Pyramid Batteries, may be useful and may be functional way before the whole ring is created.

And if power is to be there why not also put data bases on the Moon?

SpaceX wants a Mass Driver and Sun Synchronous Satellites, which is fine, but why not also build AI on the Moon?

Thermophotovoltaic panels as the casing of the Pyramids, and under that Strained Silicon with a pinch of Aluminum might be practical on the Moon.

Ending Pending

Referring to the previous two posts, it is hard to reconcile "Long Sleeve" which might host human activity from those that might be a sort of power supply.

So, a linear version could have segmentation for the two uses or parallel "Long Sleeves".

I desire to continue to see this as a very open archetecture.

Parallel Long Sleeves would give mutual protection each to each other, with the one in the center the most protected.  The outer parallels might have internal temperatures 100, 200, 400 C.

If there are Parallel sections then the parts in the center protecting humans does not have to do as much of the work of protection.

Generally, I do not see these things as being pressurized, but "Never say Never".

These structures might primarily be composed of excess amounts of Calcium Oxides and Silicon Oxides and any other scrap materials.

I feel this set of notions may work well for the materials of the moons of Mars.

Then later perhaps in the Asteroid Belts.

Ending Pending

I guess I might use this (th), or you can move this post as you wish: https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/r … &FORM=VIRE Quote:

I do understand that this is "Tooting America's Horn".

Usually these claims are about China.  I value what China and others invent, but this video has quite a few new important items!

Adding a substance "Cerium" to Aluminum, raises the melting point quite a lot it seems, that is one.
Cerium seems to be a byproduct of obtaining "Rare Earths".

There are several items like that in this video.

Ending Pending :-)

There already exists a idea that is similar but operates at a higher temperature: Query: "Solar Storage with Hot Carbon"
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https://cleantechnica.com/2025/11/11/gi … sil-fuels/
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So, indeed those are good.  But it needs Carbon and very high temperatures.

For the Moon, Carbon is not available on the Moon, and for Mars, Clay is super abundant.

Also, I think the Carbon storage is relatively short term storage, and probably not that much help in a global dust storm.

For Earth?  Well most of the land is already used for something, and we do not have global dust storms or a 2 week Lunar night.

Ending Pending :-)

If stony asteroids are processed that are in elliptical sun orbits, the "Tailings" might be useful to incorporate into a thermal storage system.  This would allow the storage of energy when closer to the sun and the discharge of energy throughout the sun orbit.

Ending Pending :-)

Pyramid Batteries on Mars.

In another topic I have been working on this: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 63#p241363
"Index» Terraformation» Orbital Platforms" Post #14.

I feel I see an opportunity for Mars in this.  Mars has lots of clays it seems and it is said that you can compress the soil into a brick-like object.

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https://www.zmescience.com/science/mars-brick-is-cool/
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So, now we can pile up soil and compress it into a pyramid shape.

As this is created, we might embed Cast Basalt pipes in a network, inside of it.
https://www.basaltlinedpipe.com/abrasio … asalt.html
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
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We might put a tower on top of the Pyramid and focus heliostat mirrors on it to produce a heated Fluid, perhaps compressed Mars atmopshere.

The faces of the pyramid may be encased in special panels of utilizing Strained Silica with a bit of Aluminum, and some Infrared solar panels.

A relatively simple process to heat the interior of the pyramid with a fluid heated at the apex, of the Pyramid/Tower.

Referring to post #13 of https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 56#p241356
Reference to the type of panels is given.

The heat leakages providing a continuous electrical power for some time even in a dust storm, I think.

This may allow for the utilization of relatively cheap solar thermal power, and not using turbines.

There would be lots of raw materials to do this type of creation, I expect.

Ending Pending :-)