MMM Classics Year 7: MMM #s 61-70

nitrogen, and carbon from the biosphere (the oxygen and sulfurbeing no problem). But up to 5% available metal oxides havealso been used successfully 3 to modify the final color frombrown hues to orange. Greens and grayed yellows should alsobe easy to affect. So our proposed plyboard might not have toretain its natural yellow. In addition, we might subtly affect thefinish hue by staining the fiberglass component [see “Color theMoon” in MMM #63]. Finally, we could give the surface othercolors with paints of metal oxides in a waterglass suspensiondoubling as a protective armor coat.As a substrate material, SIF plysheet could serve as ageneral construction ‘carpentry’ material as well as panel to becovered with fragile materials like foils, fiberglass fabrics, andfiberglass wall carpets used for sound-deadening. It may servetoo as a suitable backerboard for ceramic tiles, even in wet areaapplications like showers and sink backsplashes.Perhaps thinner corrugated sandwich SIF boards couldbe fabricated to serve as a lunar cardboard substitute out ofwhich to make boxes, packing separators etc. SIF ‘cardboard’might also work as a canvas for painters using metal oxidewaterglass suspension paints. And if we can find a workablelunar-sourced paper substitute for the pages, this lower densitySIF board might do as book “hard cover” material.Other Uses of Moonwood or XanthiteSIF Moonwood could be a welcome new option infurniture making, for interior framewall systems (both studsand panels), for room trim (Xanthmill? or Xanthwork?),and for arts and crafts applications - especially if it is an easiermaterial to work, carve, saw, drill, shape, and glue than the allglasscomposites. Even if nailing and screwing are out, pegjoints can be set with a cement of hot sulfur which is already inuse as an anchoring cement to set iron posts in concrete.Dense, impervious oxide-tinted formulations of thismaterial could be fabricated as paving tiles, drain tiles, andbasins, even tanks and hulls not exposed to the sun. Since it canbe more easily fabricated on site than glass composites, SIFmight be the material of choice for making very large planterbeds, pools for swimming or fountains, drainage basins, and forsimilar large size custom-fabricated applications, either as theprincipal material or as a coating for a construct of other Madeon Luna materials. It is perfect for on-the-spot repairs ofleaking pipes and other water containers.Where you come inPerhaps this speculation is naive and simplistic, basedas it is on a layman’s knowledge lacking real familiarity withwhatever manufacturing or performance limitations suchmaterials may exhibit. MMM would welcome comments fromthose more knowledgeable. And we especially wish toencourage ‘Young Turk’ experiments by those who have the[access to the] equipment necessary to perform them.Let’s hear from you!References:1 Meyers, op. cit. [Sulfur article preceding), p. 314.2 Pawley, op. cit. [Sulfur article preceding], p. 9. A house madeof newsprint core beams and newsprint panels was coated witha thin layer of sulfur and glass fiber to retard corrosion.3 Meyers, op. cit. p. 318.The Fast Road to Lunar Industrialand the “Substitution Game”by Peter Kokh“MUS/cle” is a mnemonic acronym we coined in aprevious article on Lunar Industrialization strategy in MMM #18, SEP ‘87 pp 3-4. The first syllable MUS endeavors to pointout the type of products it is appropriate for a small lunaroutpost to try to make in an effort to cut down on the tonnageof imports needed to support its existence. “M” stands formassive items and components, “U” for unitary items or thingsmanufactured in large quantities, “S” for items that are fairlysimple in design and manufacturing process. Sometimes anitem will be M, U, and S all at once, sometimes not.The “cle” syllable, usually in small letters to getacross that this suite of items represents much less aggregatetonnage, endeavors to point out the type of things that are bestleft to Earthside manufacturers because they are “c” relativelycomplex in assembly and require sophisticated manufacturingfrom a host of parts and subassemblies supplied by a largenumber of diversified subcontractors, and/or “l” lightweight, atleast by comparison, and thus much less burdensome for thesettlement to upport out of Earth’s gravity well. Such itemsoften include “e” electronic components or assemblies.Such a MUS/cle strategy for deciding what the youngsettlement should try to self-manufacture and what it shouldrest content to upport is absolutely necessary. Space advocatestalk frequently about settlements becoming self-sufficient orable to pay their own way. But the cold fact is that while insimpler ages, now irretrievably long gone by, smaller townscould make most of what they needed, in today’s increasinglytechnical civilization, it is estimated that a city has to have atleast a quarter of a million people (250,000) to be able tosupport an industrial base sufficiently diversified to satisfy95% of its own needs. Self-sufficiency is an asymptotic goal,of course, one which (like the elusive speed of light) requiresexponentially more heroic effort to continue closing the gap thecloser one gets to it. Thus, for example, a more modest goal of60% self-sufficiency might be achieved by a town of only25,000, just 10% as large (to grab a figure out of the air).While the law of diminishing returns must eventuallystep in to make further efforts at self-sufficiency unrewarding,it will make an enormous difference in how we plan, or fail toplan, expansion and diversification of the lunar industrial base.“MUS/cle” gives us a serviceable rule-of-thumb guideline.Following this guideline, we need first to look at thelist of material items our settlement will need in terms of grosstonnage per item. Obviously shelter is at the top of the list. Butincluded in the upper ranks are many other things that can bemade of the same indigenous “building materials” suite neededto make shelter (metal alloys, glass, glax, ceramics, Lunacrete)namely tankage for volatiles, vehicle body parts, furniture,utility system components, etc.Moon Miners’ Manifesto Classics - Year 7 - Republished January 2006 - Page 35