XPost: sci.space.policy
From: ulrich.schreglmann@t-online.de
"Gordon D. Pusch" wrote in message
news:gi8yjjh1km.fsf@pusch.xnet.com...
> The mars-sized body that whacked into the proto-Earth to create the cloud of
> superheated debris that re-condensed into the Moon was already
differentiated;
> most of its iron and siderophiles had already sunk down to its own core.
> During the "Big Whack," most of the mantle of the impactor and a good bit
> of the proto-Earth's mantle were vaporized, and the bare core of the
> impactor merged with the proto-Earth, leaving the result of the merger
> with the abnormally large iron core the Earth has today. Meanwhile,
> the cloud of superheated mantle debris re-condensed into a short-lived
> unstable ring whose particles rapidly coalesced to form the Moon.
> Hence, the Moon is composed almost entirely of the most refractory
> fractions of pure "mantle" material, with almost no remaining iron,
> and at most a minuscule iron core.
> So if you want to know where the Moon's iron went, you need look no further
> than straight down about 6000 km... :-/
Hello?! The maria are rich in iron! What's more important, when you
produce oxygen out of the volcanic glass and basalt there, metallic
iron will be an inevitable by-product!
Your assessment of the situation would be true if it weren't for the
fact that the Moon's core was still hot and liquid during the Moon's
early years while the mantle had already cooled. And when at that
stage the bombardment of meteorites continued, large craters formed
that filled up with lava from deep down inside the Moon--with iron and
everything. (Because this happened on only one side of the Moon it
also became unbalanced and went into a tidal lock with Earth, with the
heavier maria-side facing down.)
The practical upshot of all this is that there's plenty of iron oxide
available where we need it--at the surface. All you need in order to
get the metallic iron is heat and hydrogen and a closed system. The
hydrogen, which is scarce, can be recycled and re-used again and again
for this.
What's more, you also get titanium oxide, which is great for cheap
heat insulation in a vacuum, being highly reflective in the infrared
spectrum, and if you make metallic titanium it can also be used for
extremely temperature-resistant alloys.
There's all sorts raw materials for making great stuff lying around
right on topsoil--rocket fuel, containers for it, solar collectors for
making *more* soil processing equipment, everything...!
--
__ "A good leader knows when it's best to ignore the __
('__`> screams for help and focus on the bigger picture." <'__`)
//6(6; İOOL mmiv :^)^\\
`\_-/ http://home.t-online.de/home/ulrich.schreglmann/redbaron \-_/'
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