Year: 1984
Type: article
Abstract: The microwave processing of lunar materials holds promise for the production of either water, oxygen, primary metals, or ceramic materials. Extra high frequency microwave (EHF) at between 100 and 500 gigahertz have the potential for selective coupling to specific atomic species and a concomitant low energy requirement for the extraction of specific materials, such as oxygen, from lunar ores. The coupling of ultra high frequency (UHF) (e.g., 2.45 gigahertz) microwave frequencies to hydrogen-oxygen bonds might enable the preferential and low energy cost removal (as H/sub 2/O) of implanted protons from the sun or of adosrbed water which might be found in lunar dust in permanently shadowed polar areas. Microwave melting and selective phase melting of lunar materials could also be used either in the preparation of simplified ceramic geometries (e.g., bricks) with custom-tailored microstructures, or for the direct preparation of hermetic walls in underground structures. Speculatively, the preparation of photovoltaic devices based on lunar materials, especially ilmenite, may be a potential use of microwave processing on the moon. Preliminary experiments on UHF melting of terrestrial basalt, basalt/ilmenite and mixtures show that microwave processing is feasible.
Institutions: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Duke University
Language: English
Subfield: Organic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1588509583