[X] My Assistant

[Phil Stooke]

The idea of using wenches to move the lander is certainly a novel one.

Phil

[paxdan]

Hmm i'd sign up for that technical position

"Once landed, a lunar technician in a self contained wench truck"

[RNeuhaus]

Don't you think that the advantge to have a base close to a Pole would be that the solar panels would have quite an angle and not horizontal? I'm not sure of this because this doesn't take in account the behavior of the dust. Does it stick even on inclined solar panels? Any thought ?

Yes, the South polar has a very good place to set up a base inside of one of three craters close to South pole called: 1) Scott (103 km radius), 2) Amundesen (101 km radius),3) Malapart (69 km radius). The solar panels would have set up on a crest of mountain where these will receive Sun energy round all year and have electrical wiring to the base. That place, on the bottom of the crater, is supposed to have a permanent ice since the Sun rays never strikes on that zone.

For more details, visit the following topic: Moon Landing Zones, Which are the best?

Rodolfo

[djellison]

And those solar panels would have to rotates 360 degrees every 28 days.

Doug

[ElkGroveDan]

And why do you need or want a huge landing pad?

Vehicles built with friction-free bearings and tires tend to roll a very long way upon landing (especially if they are built with friction-free brakes).

[djellison]

I can't imagine why you would land with unbraked wheels, now or even in this blue sky 100 years from now bulldozers on the moon sci-fi plot.

Doug

[ElkGroveDan]

I can't imagine why you would land with unbraked wheels, now or even in this blue sky 100 years from now bulldozers on the moon sci-fi plot.

Doug

I hope everyone knows I was joking...

[helvick]

I can't imagine why you would land with unbraked wheels, now or even in this blue sky 100 years from now bulldozers on the moon sci-fi plot.

You would never land with any significant horizontal velocity on the moon, there's no practical way to scrub it off safely so you _have_ to come in vertically if you want to survive. So coming in on wheels even with brakes is very silly.

[Lunar Optimist]

Yes, you're right, it was a long post, but sometimes you have to stir things up and look in other directions for the answers.

Many people keep thinking along the paths of building Lunar habitats out of Earth materials, sending up sufficient aluminum panelling, structural members, etc., to build some grand Lunar habitat. That's the pipe dream. Expense wise and in every other way this is a ludicrous idea. We could never send up and safely land sufficient materials to build even a small sized Lunar habitat, whether publically or privately funded.

We have to look outside the box and think along the lines of using strictly Lunar materials in their natural environment, which without fanfare means using whats available on the Moon. We may even, at some future date have to consider salvaging the materials of the landers and rovers that we have already sent, regardless of their historic value.

We need to envision manufacturing techniques that are may be possible not just now, but in the future. Actually looking along the lines of constructing Lunar foundries using Lunar materials and resources. Using a Lunar still to melt soil and form it into useable shapes. Instead of using an aluminum panel, using formed glass panels and girders manufactured on the Moon. It may sound Sci-Fi, but consider Jules Verne's atomic submarine.

I may be a romantic, but to me human life is precious. I would never send a human being into a dangerous situation that could be handled more efficiently by a robotic device. So we need Lunar rovers and robotic devices capable of operating in that environment to perform routine manufacturing functions. It may be as simple as sending up a single lunar module that accepts lunar soil on one end and spits out glass panels and girders on the other. This to me seems a lot more feasible than sending up load after load of Earth materials.

[paxdan]

We could never send up and safely land sufficient materials to build even a small sized Lunar habitat, whether publically or privately funded.

Sorry, but you're wrong. It's been done six times in the 60s and 70s.