You are not logged in.
This is an interesting link on surface inflatables:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/ … 65477.aspx
I think it shows Bigelow are well on top of the problem. They are fully aware of the dust issues and have strategies for coping with that.
They are also using regolith protection for the inflatable. They're not saying how they are going about that. On the Moon, my trench solution, may well not be practical, given the powdery nature of the regolith.
They are a bit coy about how they are going to get it around the inflatable.
It sounds innovative - so I am guessing some sort of compartmentalised shell . They then blow the regolith powder up in to the compartments with a sort of reverse vacuum cleaner, filling them up and closing them off until they have a complete shell. Sound feasible?
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
Offline
Like button can go here
A machine capable of boring multiple explosive holes would speed things up a bit without requiring the complexity of a full TBM.
I cannot remember the name of the thing or find any references, but I will keep looking.
thats interesting
Offline
Like button can go here
This is an interesting link on surface inflatables:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/ … 65477.aspx
I think it shows Bigelow are well on top of the problem. They are fully aware of the dust issues and have strategies for coping with that.
They are also using regolith protection for the inflatable. They're not saying how they are going about that. On the Moon, my trench solution, may well not be practical, given the powdery nature of the regolith.
They are a bit coy about how they are going to get it around the inflatable.
It sounds innovative - so I am guessing some sort of compartmentalised shell . They then blow the regolith powder up in to the compartments with a sort of reverse vacuum cleaner, filling them up and closing them off until they have a complete shell. Sound feasible?
Sandbags full of lunar regolith compacted material would easily do it.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
Offline
Like button can go here
Grypd -
Yes, that could be a good solution. Quick, easy and effective. So, we take special plastic bags with us ready for use.
Yes, I'm prepared to give up the entrenchment idea on the Moon at least, given the regolith appears far more powdery.
So presumably the Ecodome concept could be adapted to this (see link):
http://www.calearth.org/EcoDome.htm
Either we could have more rounded inflatables or we could adapt the ecodome approach so that there was an arched cover or we add a roof support. I'd like to avoid a roof support. So I think we would go for an arched cover.
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
Offline
Like button can go here
A tunnel boring machine also takes an incredible amount of manpower and spare parts to operate on Earth. It will be a long time before one is functioning on the moon.
The total automatization of tunnel construction in Earth is now under investigation to make superstructures like build larger and deepers tunnels where is difficult to grant the air at construction time.
Offline
Like button can go here
Total automatisation? Then that just means more spare parts and more scope for things to go wrong.
Tunnel boring may be appropriate at some stage but not, I would suggest, as part of the initial colonisation effort. Why wait all that time to bore your tunnel, check it out for safety and line it (you can't have an unlined tunnel)? In a couple of days you can put up your inflatable/expandable structure and stack sandbags to provide radiation and micrometeorite protection.
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
Offline
Like button can go here
Total automatisation? Then that just means more spare parts and more scope for things to go wrong.
Tunnel boring may be appropriate at some stage but not, I would suggest, as part of the initial colonisation effort. Why wait all that time to bore your tunnel, check it out for safety and line it (you can't have an unlined tunnel)? In a couple of days you can put up your inflatable/expandable structure and stack sandbags to provide radiation and micrometeorite protection.
Tunnel Boring Machines can cut through rock pretty quickly. The time it takes to move enough Regolith to cover an inflatable with sandbags/regolith is not much different from the time it would take to drill a simple tunnel and seal it.
While each inflatable structure would required to be launched from Earth and would require repairs, A TBM could be constantly reused to dig more and more tunnels.
Inflatables maybe fine for initial landings, but if we want a larger, durable and more permanent structure suitable for a colony and industrial activity, a TBM would be the way to go.
Offline
Like button can go here
This topic was started after the great crash...
We took a stance that we could use the moons insitu resources to make the cost lower just like we would do for Mars....
Offline
Like button can go here