3 ms·
Aluminum is also probably better because it’s easy to source on the moon - many of the surface rocks are made of aluminum oxides. Copper, on the other hand, wou
by skykooler 4y ago
Aluminum is also probably better because it’s easy to source on the moon - many of the surface rocks are made of aluminum oxides. Copper, on the other hand, would need to be entirely transported from Earth.
- ben_w 4y agoIndeed. I wonder, how hard is it to make aluminium from the oxide if you're bootstrapping and in a vacuum? I know the normal process is "melt it with added cryolites and apply current for electrolysis", but if the goal is low mass rather than good energy efficiency, can you do it a different way? Like, what happens if you focus sunlight and just melt it, does the oxygen bubble out in a vacuum, or is this just going to do vapor deposition of sapphire on all nearby surfaces?
- skykooler 4y agoI believe molten alumina does not separate naturally - you’d still need to electrolyze it. This can be done without cryolite although at higher temperature and correspondingly higher energy usage. Otherwise the aluminum and oxygen would remain bound while they evaporate.