0191-9067/8(V040281-07$02.00/0 Copyright c 1980 SUNS AT Energy Council EXTRACTION OF OXYGEN AND METALS FROM LUNAR ORES N. JARRETT, S. K. DAS and W. E. HAUPIN Alcoa Technical Center Alcoa Center, PA 15069 Abstract — Consideration of the lunar environment suggests modifications of the Bayer- Hall approach leading to a conceptual process for extracting aluminum and oxygen from lunar soil. The process consists of electrowinning aluminum-silicon-iron-titanium alloy and oxygen from unrefined soil in a bipolar fluoride type cell with inert electrodes. Aluminum and other elements would be recovered from the alloy by vacuum fractional distillation. The silicon produced would be used to produce solar cells for additional electrical power. 1. INTRODUCTION Energy is the major factor that encourages us to consider space industrialization. Terrestrial energy needs have increased to such huge levels that serious consideration is being given to constructing large solar power stations (SPS) in space to convert solar energy into microwave power and then beam microwaves to the earth for reconversion to terrestrial electricity. Solar energy is clearly available continuously to do work in space and space industrialization is technically feasible. However, the development of a space materials economy or space industrialization is strongly inhibited by the extremely high cost of transporting matter from earth with which to work in space. The moon is a primary source of raw material for large scale use in space. The motivations for use of lunar materials are: 1. The moon is the largest source of matter near the earth. We possess considerable general knowledge of the entire moon and extremely precise knowledge of the specific areas of the moon. 2. Terrestrial technology can be transferred to the gathering of lunar materials and the processing of raw lunar materials into industrial feedstock. Devices and tools have been identified that can allow us to obtain materials from the moon for large scale use in space at considerably lower cost than will ever be possible by transporting materials into space from the earth. Because the lunar escape energy is five percent of that of the earth, the cost of lunar ejections (by means of electromagnetic launchers) could be in the order of a few cents per kilogram. In addition, the moon has no atmosphere to cause drag and frictional heating. 3. The moon offers a large supply of the elements with which industry has experience in working and producing the broad range of goods that sustain our present style of life. About 92% of chemical elements used on the earth, exclusive of fossil fuels, can be obtained from lunar soil. The economically significant elements, like
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