Re: Delta Vee Map

Quadibloc <jsavard@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

:Fred J. McCall wrote:
:> Quadibloc <jsavard@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
:
:> :Instead, I think we should do something simpler: go back to the Moon,
:> :and with an underground base there, and robots on the surface, do what
:> :we may later do on the asteroids - mine for material to build orbital
:> :habitats. We shouldn't make all this more difficult than it needs to
:> :be.
:>
:> I tend to agree, but why robots? We don't use robots to mine on
:> Earth. Why not just use the same equipment with only those changes
:> required to make it work on the Moon?
:
:Well, I should have noted that I didn't necessarily mean "robots" in
:the sense of autonomous machines, but was including teleoperated
:devices.
:

But still, why the extra expense of teleoperation?

:
:I don't think that mining can or should be conducted the same way on
:the Moon as it is on Earth; it's so expensive to put people on the
:Moon, having lots of them mine with pick and shovel would be very
:inefficient.
:

Yeah, it would. It's why we don't generally do it that way here on
Earth.

:
:Instead, we start with a minimum complement of personnel
:and equipment, and manufacture mining machines on the Moon as much as
:possible.
:

Any lunar mining is going to be open pit. There will be no need to
start with gigatons of output. Think open pit mining with shape
charges and diesel equipment scooping stuff up and dumping it into a
separator feeding a solar furnace. And handful of guys can do all the
work with no teleoperation required.


--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw
.

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