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p1t1o

By p1t1o
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kerbiloid

kerbiloid

Posted
Posted

The unexpected real reason of the coming Second Moon Race.

As it's known, the resource which is expected to be being mined on the Moon are lantanoids aka rare-earth metals, which hypothetically form deposits in the greatest craters done by the asteroid impacts.

But why do we need these lantanoids, and why is it so critically important?

This!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_striker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinderbox

Spoiler

1280px-Tinderbox.jpg

The firesteel.

In the dark old time the firesteel was made of iron.
But the iron is hard.

So, since the early XX they make firesteel out of mischmetal, i.e. lantanoid (mostly cerium) alloys.
(Btw in the lighters, too).

We need the Moon to get the fire!

The Battle for Moon is the Battle for Flame!

P.S.
As the microelectronic chips are made of same mineral as the Stone Age handaxes, i.e. silicon, that's not funny.

Also look at the Rods From Gods project and the Asteroid Bombardment.
What is this if not a stone throwing done by the most advanced hi-tech?

Since early days till future times the human tribes are competing for better stones.

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ColdJ

ColdJ

Posted
Posted

Helium-3 (3He[1][2] see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron (the most common isotope, helium-4, having two protons and two neutrons in contrast). Other than protium (ordinary hydrogen), helium-3 is the only stable isotope of any element with more protons than neutrons. Helium-3 was discovered in 1939.

Helium-3 occurs as a primordial nuclide, escaping from Earth's crust into its atmosphere and into outer space over millions of years. Helium-3 is also thought to be a natural nucleogenic and cosmogenic nuclide, one produced when lithium is bombarded by natural neutrons, which can be released by spontaneous fission and by nuclear reactions with cosmic rays. Some of the helium-3 found in the terrestrial atmosphere is also an artifact of atmospheric and underwater nuclear weapons testing.

Much speculation has been made over the possibility of helium-3 as a future energy source. Unlike most nuclear fission reactions, the fusion of helium-3 atoms releases large amounts of energy without causing the surrounding material to become radioactive. However, the temperatures required to achieve helium-3 fusion reactions are much higher than in traditional fusion reactions,[3] and the process may unavoidably create other reactions that themselves would cause the surrounding material to become radioactive.[4]

The abundance of helium-3 is thought to be greater on the Moon than on Earth, having been embedded in the upper layer of regolith by the solar wind over billions of years,[5] though still lower in abundance than in the Solar System's gas giants.[6][7]

KSP2 should have He3 mining to power interstellar ships.

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kerbiloid

kerbiloid

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

The abundance of helium-3 is thought to be greater on the Moon than on Earth, having been embedded in the upper layer of regolith by the solar wind over billions of years,[

The places which they call "deposits" have 1 g of 3He / 100 t of lunar ground.

The places which they don't call so, don't.

35 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

one produced when lithium is bombarded by natural neutrons

It's produced when lithium is bombarded by neutrons of any origin, say from a deuterium fusion reactor.

Also the D+D reaction gives a 3He with 50% probability.
Another 50% of probability gives T, which decays into same 3He with the 12 year halflife.

So, as the lunar helium is anyway proposed for usage together with deuterium, there is no need in on the Earth it at all.
The Earth oceans are full of D and Li to produce 3He in by orders of magnitude greater amounts than mined on the Moon.

The neutrons of D+D are also not a problem.
1. They can force the natural uranium fission in a hybrid reactor (the uranium is also contained in the ocean in much greater amounts that in ground).
2. They can burn into hydrogen and helium all radioactive wastes if put them into the deuterium reactor.

43 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

the fusion of helium-3 atoms releases large amounts of energy without causing the surrounding material to become radioactive

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneutronic_fusion

There is a number of the fusion reactions give low-to-none neutron emission, and 3He is the worst of them because it's excessive for a pure deuterium reactor at the coastline, but non-storable for spaceships (which would better use 11B+H fuel.).

The only place where the 3He usage makes sense is the Moon itself, because there is no much water there, and the reactors at the same time should be compact.
So, the lunar 3He + D (from the ice) is the way to build ompact lunarreactors to mine and refine the hypothetical lunar lantanoids to make the firesteel.

48 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

KSP2 should have He3 mining to power interstellar ships.

KSPI-E mod has the 3He and aneutronic fusion stuff.

***

Actually, any hydrogen bomb creates and burns more 3He than a lunar facility could extract from 1 000 t of regolith.

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Gargamel

Gargamel

Posted
Posted (edited)
13 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Okay, I’ll play along, I assume it’s a play on a brand/manufacturer name 

For use in a cryo lab? :cool:

Mitutoyo makes arguably the best measuring tools around. 
And Froyo makes frozen yogurt.  

Edited by Gargamel
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kerbiloid

kerbiloid

Posted
Posted (edited)

And btw about the nutrition.

Do the adepts of the "paleolythic" and other "natural" diets together with the "rare steak" lovers realize,
that when you are a semi-sapient pithecanthropus,
who just got to know the fire from eating the semi-burnt animal corpses after the wood fire,
it is much more obvious and natural not to "stick the meat onto a stick, set it on fire, and eat semi-raw because you are too hungry to wait".
but to "bury the killed piglet under the smouldering embers, and wait until they get warm" ?

So, the most natural and healthy steak is the "well-done steak", while all those "blue", "rare", and "medium" ones are just a fancy kink.

As well, did the medieval kings eat wrong, by cutting the sheets of meat from the impaled piglet on fire, instead of eating it whole semi-raw?

Edited by kerbiloid
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Hotel26

Hotel26

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

it is much more obvious and natural

No doubt nothing was obvious and people found out the hard way after a lot of trial & error.

I can guarantee you one thing, though: "the very first person who suggested 'medium-rare' got burned at the steak for his bloody suggestion...".  But nowadays, all gourmets know this is the right way.

So it goes with invention: only the last inventor of a valuable concept lives to get credit for it.

Edited by Hotel26
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  • 2 weeks later...
Gargamel

Gargamel

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

I think I’ll make this old measuring tool into a sword or dagger. I shall call it….

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Ex-Caliper :cool:

 

I have some broken ones I could donate.  
 

but yes, my eye twitched a bit at this one. 
 

EDIT:    Just ran over to a coworker with my broken calipers and made this joke.     His eye twitched too.  

Edited by Gargamel
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