Related papers: Tall Towers on the Moon
The Peaks of Eternal Light (PELs), that are largely unshaded regions mostly at the lunar south pole, have been suggested as a source of solar power for mining the water and other volatiles in the nearby permanently dark regions. As mining…
Theory and computations are provided for building of optimal (minimum weight) solid space towers (mast) up to one hundred kilometers in height. These towers can be used for tourism; scientific observation of space, observation of the Earth…
Water ice is thought to be trapped in large permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) in the Moon's polar regions, due to their extremely low temperatures. Here, we show that many unmapped cold traps exist on small spatial scales, substantially…
The observed presence of water molecules in the dayside lunar regolith was an unexpected discovery and remains poorly understood. Standard thermophysical models predict temperatures that are too high for adsorbed water to be stable. We…
The most pragmatic first step in the all-but-inevitable 3rd-millennium V\"olkerwanderung of humanity throughout the Solar System is the establishment of a permanent human presence on the Moon. This research examines: 1. the human,…
The long-term prospect of building a hadron collider around the circumference of a great circle of the Moon is sketched. A Circular Collider on the Moon (CCM) of $\sim$11000 km in circumference could reach a proton-proton center-of-mass…
While the floors of deep lunar craters are largely shielded from solar radiation and thus provide an ideal thermal environment for water ice accumulation, meteoroids on highly inclined orbits can easily access permanently shadowed regions…
The Outer Space Treaty makes it clear that the Moon is the province of all mankind, with the latter ordinarily understood to exclude state or private appropriation of any portion of its surface. However, there are indeterminacies in the…
Carbon is one of the most essential elements to support a sustained human presence in space, and more immediately, several large-scale methalox-based transport systems will begin operating in the near future. This raises the question of…
Several lunar missions are planned ahead and there is an increasing demand for efficient photovoltaic power generation in the moon. The knowledge of solar cell operation in the lunar surface obtained during early seventies need to be…
Kick-starting the space economy requires identification of critical resources that can lower the cost of space transport, sustain logistic bases and communication relay networks between major nodes in the network. One important challenge…
Normally a passive object launched from the Moon at less than the escape velocity orbits the Moon once and then crashes back to the launch site. We show that thanks to lunar gravity anomalies, for specific launch sites and directions, a…
The amount and distribution of water on the lunar surface are related to the input and production of water by solar wind and meteoroid bombardment, balanced by photodestruction and mobility across the surface. Using the Stratospheric…
Here we critically examine the geophysical and geochemical properties of the Moon in order to identify the extent to which dynamical scenarios satisfy these observations. New joint inversions of existing lunar geophysical data (mean mass,…
Due to its absence of an atmosphere and relative geological inertness, the Moon's surface records past impacts of objects from the Solar system and beyond. We examine the prospects for discovering extrasolar material near the lunar surface…
Numerous missions planned for the next decade are likely to target a handful of smal sites of interest on the Moon's surface, creating risks of crowding and interference at these locations. The Moon presents finite and scarce areas with…
It is widely accepted that the surface potential of the lunar dayside is "on average" several to 10 V positive due to photoelectron emission in addition to the solar wind plasma precipitation. Recent studies, however, have shown that an…
We propose using the temperature gradients between the Moon's surface and the soil at a certain depth to power an Organic Rankine Cycle that could supply a permanent installation, particularly at night, when solar power is not available.…
Utilizing locally available materials is a crucial step towards sustainable planetary habitation. Lunar regolith has gained tremendous interest in additive manufacturing in the past decades. However, due to the constrained manufacturing…
The physical state of the lunar soil in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon is inferred from experimental investigation. The permanently shadowed craters do not undergo the same thermal cycling experienced by other parts of the…