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Lunar Oxygen Source

 Massive Solar Collectors melt Moon rock to create oxygen
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I saw an article (see link) go by about an extra-solar planet that is so close to it's parent star that the atmosphere is composed of vaporized rock. If I recall, the temperature on the sunny side was about 2600 degrees Kelvin (4220 degrees Farenheit). The admosphere would seem to be combosed of "Sodium, potassium, silicon monoxide and then oxygen — either atomic or molecular oxygen."

How many mirrors would it take to concentrate enough sunlight to vaporize moon rock and free significant quantities of oxygen for breathing? It would have to be inside of some kind of transparent enclosure that would not melt yet would keep the generated gas from escaping.

—mzellers, Sep 30 2009

Planet with bizarre atmosphere http://www.physorg.com/news173458073.html
Cloudy with a chance of pebble showers: Simulation suggests rocky exoplanet has bizarre atmosphere [mzellers, Sep 30 2009]

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       At least seriously pre-heated in science fiction. The extraction of significant quantities of oxygen by furnace from the Lunar or Martian surface shows up fairly frequently.
—MechE, Sep 30 2009
   

       Yeah. Too bad it's impossible.   

       (...I think...)
—DrWorm, Oct 01 2009
   

       I think the moon's small gravitational field (because of its small mass) prevent any atmosphere from forming.
—xaviergisz, Oct 01 2009
   

       //I think the moon's small gravitational field (because of its small mass) prevent any atmosphere from forming.//   

       I hope the poster of this idea is well aware of the fact, and therefore includes a transparent airtight enclosure in which to melt the rocks... presumably to harvest the resultant oxygen for use in what is generally refered to as a "lunar Habitat." Since the idea of the lunar habitat is widely discussed in other fields, I presume the author did not feel specifying this to be necessary.
—ye_river_xiv, Oct 01 2009
   

       i must agree this simply is not a new or even somewhat obscure idea. The described mechanism is ho-hum and overall i give it one and one half stars.
—WcW, Oct 01 2009
   


 

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