Method of extracting oxygen from lunar soil successfully tested in low gravity - Polidicks

Space colonization: +1 [url=http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/48938/Key_process_for_space_outpost_proved_on_vomit_comet_ride.html]Source[/url] [quote]The celestial body has no atmosphere like Earth's, holding the precious element just a breath away. But, oxygen to breathe, grow food, create water and burn rocket fuel - to make a space outpost a reality - is trapped in its soils. Scientists from NASA and Case Western Reserve are designing and testing components of an oxygen generator that would extract the element from silicon dioxide and metal oxides in the ground. They have designed sifters needed to produce a consistent supply of oxides. But, how would the sifters work in the moon's gravity, which is about one-sixth as strong as the Earth's? To find out, Katie Fromwiller, a senior civil engineering student, and Julie Kleinhenz, an assistant research professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, spent two days flying in high arcs off the Texas coast last month. Ten seconds of footage are at the following link: [url]https://rcpt.yousendit.com/743953075/9f4507f4f7a88cf014ea8b1b237f421b[/url] Several minutes of high-res video of the scientists working their experiment in low gravity, floating in zero-gravity and more are available. This was Fromwiller's first trip on the plane, which space researchers refer to as the "vomit comet," due to the unsettling ride. Inside the plane, the pull of gravity approximated the moon's weak gravity during the rapid drop in each arc. The riders felt twice the pull of the Earth's gravity on the way back up. During two runs, they floated in zero gravity. "Not in a million years would I have ever expected to do something like this with NASA," said Fromwiller, who is also a member of the Case Western Reserve women's soccer team and the Voices of Glory chorus. But, the space agency wants to learn how to work with the soils, and Fromwiller's focus is geotechnical engineering. She teamed with Kleinhenz, a veteran of more than 1,000 hours on the vomit comet. "It was as if they were working on the moon, 20 seconds at a time," said David Zeng, Frank H. Neff Professor and Chair of Civil Engineering from the Case School of Engineering and one of the principal investigators of the study. NASA engineers were testing other components of the oxygen generator on the same flight. NASA, Kleinhenz explained, has plans to build a system that includes a rover that would dig, carry and dump moon soil into a hopper or holding vessel. Sifters would separate particles by size, collecting those that can be converted most efficiently. The particles can also be separated by composition. For example, an electrostatic charger can be used to isolate iron oxides from other soil materials. The wanted particles would then be blown into a reactor with hydrogen and heated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. At this time, the oxygen released from the oxides would attach to the hydrogen and be collected. While in flight, the pair tested two kinds of devices, a vibro-sieve and a sifter. As the plane reached lunar gravity, Fromwiller switched on a vibration table that shook a sieve, similar to a perforated pan used to pan for gold. As on Earth, the process worked. Kleinhenz worked a sifter that operates much like a flour sifter. It, too, was able to separate particles in low gravity. Zeng and his team are continuing to analyze data produced over the two days. Ultimately, NASA will decide which kind of device to use in the oxygen generator. Funding for the continued project may be in jeopardy now that a White House advisory panel concluded NASA would need an additional $3 billion annually to return to the moon by 2020 and the funding might be better used elsewhere. But, the panel also said Mars should be the ultimate destination for manned missions. "The technology is useful outside the lunar system," Kleinhenz said. "It's applicable to Mars." Case Western Reserve University [/quote] Now, this is awesome and everything, but I do hope they seriously consider other options than NASA. NASA is a bastion of inaction and bureaucracy and it hasn't done anything remotely impressive except blow up since the 1960s. We are now thankfully entering an age where space exploration is becoming a serious commercial interest, but if these scientists wait around for NASA to utilize their technology they'll be old before its first mission.

I'd honestly rather have a fucking private company do this then NASA.

Must have been annoying getting their equipment to do their job in that window of time

Time to terraform the moon.

[QUOTE=FunnyBunny;17563375]Time to terraform the moon.[/QUOTE] The moon can't hold any atmosphere, it doesn't have enough mass.

we shall make it bigger

[QUOTE=SeamanStaines;17563396]The moon can't hold any atmosphere, it doesn't have enough mass.[/QUOTE] The moon has no magnetic field, it has enough mass to hold an atmosphere.

[QUOTE=Gunner th;17563423]The moon has no magnetic field, it has enough mass to hold an atmosphere.[/QUOTE]interestingly enough Mars and Venus have both

[QUOTE=Gunner th;17563423]The moon has no magnetic field, it has enough mass to hold an atmosphere.[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field_of_the_Moon[/url] Oh alright then mr science

[QUOTE=Gunner th;17563423]The moon has no magnetic field, it has enough mass to hold an atmosphere.[/QUOTE] Never ever say something you think to be a fact until you Wiki it.

[QUOTE=Fables;17563481]Never ever say something you think to be a fact until you Wiki it.[/QUOTE] which is a somewhat humorous statement in itself but it's mostly true so proceed

Terraform mars now pls and colonize.

It's GLASS DOME time :science:

Oh shit this is lunar soil only nvm then [editline]11:50PM[/editline] Yay I rated myself bad reading!

[QUOTE=Max of S2D;17563499]It's GLASS DOME time :science:[/QUOTE] I think this, but not glass. :v:

[QUOTE=SomeRandomGuy18;17563505]Oh shit this is lunar soil only nvm then[/QUOTE] Read the last sentence [quote]"The technology is useful outside the lunar system," Kleinhenz said. "It's applicable to Mars."[/quote]

[QUOTE=KaIibos;17563512]Read the last sentence[/QUOTE] I just realized that. I was too goddamn lazy to read the whole thing so I just skimmed.

[QUOTE=SomeRandomGuy18;17563520]I just realized that. I was too goddamn lazy to read the whole thing so I just skimmed.[/QUOTE] For shame >:| I'm gonna just not post quotes anymore, I'll force people to actually read the source. That'll teach em, heeeehehehehaHAHUHAHAHAHA

I want to live on Mars. :downs:

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;17563450][url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field_of_the_Moon[/url] Oh alright then mr science[/QUOTE] You might as well consider it nonexistent seeing as it's so weak that any atmosphere would surely be torn off by solar radiation anyway. It's not a 'proper' magnetosphere anyway if you read the article. Our own magnetosphere is a proper one, generated by the rotation of the Earth's core. The moon's core is dead, though (or so we believe).

[QUOTE=SomeRandomGuy18;17563560]I want to live on Mars. :downs:[/QUOTE] This documentary might interest you then. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3REZZWeWcU[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiPU6Xvrq44[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHhp1aLiSio[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLfFnK8w0Wc[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-XKNK2Eja0[/media]

At this point it may just be more particle to wait 20-50 years until nanobot technology is advanced enough that they can self replicate; so nanobots could be made to do the same thing. At this point the ammount of time, money and effort needed to actually get a device significantly large enough to mars to try and do anything with it would be totally out of the question. Makes a bit more sense for the moon, but still...

Self-replicating nanobots would at some point be created so fast that it would approach the speed of light. Why not make several more robots make more robots and then make them build self-replicating factories which would make more robot and then make them go to other planets. That way we would expand the human knowledge at the the speed of light, going out from where we are now.

They should build a massive sphere around the moon to hold in atmosphere, and then paint the outside of it to look like the Death Star. "That's no moon..." "Yes it is"

[QUOTE=Mattz333;17566688]They should build a massive sphere around the moon to hold in atmosphere, and then paint the outside of it to look like the Death Star. "That's no moon..." "Yes it is"[/QUOTE] No they shouldn't.

the thought of space colonization scares me :tinfoil:

It would be cool, and useful, since much less air would have to be shipped from the earth to the moon to establish a mining base.

[QUOTE=Max of S2D;17563499]It's GLASS DOME time :science:[/QUOTE] Glass isnt airtight

[QUOTE=Mattz333;17566688]They should build a massive sphere around the moon to hold in atmosphere, and then paint the outside of it to look like the Death Star. "That's no moon..." "Yes it is"[/QUOTE] If we were gonna build a "massive sphere" around anything it would most likely be the sun, to capture a reasonable portion of the 382 600 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 J of energy released from the sun every second.

Hmmmm, useful.