Scientists analyze best ways to build spacecraft landing pads on the moon and propose melting lunar soil with microwaves as the most cost-effective method.
The construction process would entail having rovers scoop up lunar soil, sort it using magnetic fields, then put the soil back on the surface and melt it with microwaves.for more details on their work. The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and flow.Professor Metzger: For the microwave sintering, you first need the ability to do site preparation, including bulldozing and grading the surface.
Magnetic sorting of the soil before microwaving is a patented invention we innovated here at the University of Central Florida. It can reduce energy needs by 70 to 80 percent, which is huge. The device that does that process would need to scoop up a layer of soil, maybe 20 cm thick, and run it over a large magnet, so the soil grains fall into different bins according to their magnetic susceptibility.
Fourth, you will probably need to roll a device over the soil to compact it more, but further research is needed to see if this step is needed. Fifth, you use a simple microwave device, which could be very similar to the one you have in your kitchen, to direct microwaves down onto the soil until it slightly melts. And that is it!The size of a landing pad depends on the size of the spacecraft you plan to land on it.
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