[Mars] production plant - was - Re: Post conference

[Mars related topics]

Hi again

Mars related topics wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm afraid my efforts on this will also be slow-moving.  I'm involved 
> volunteering as well.  I'm working on organizing a rocky mountian semi-final
> for the ISSDC - www.spaceset.org...


Great, I've thought about doing things in the schools, but lack the time 
and don't know where to start.

<big snips to shorten this up...>

>>But first we need a design...
...
>>>All the published work I have seen is 5-15 years old, the next step
>>>should be to find the latest info, so we don't re-invent the wheel.
>>>Zubrin may help with this.  I will take the action to contact him to
>>>discuss our interest in building a prototype to test at MDRS.
>>
>>Great, what was his response?

Was Zubrin contacted yet? if not I can take that up.

>>>I guess the next step is to define what our initial project will be,

We seem to have reach agreement that:

* it will be the air harvesting, fuel making unit roughly as mentioned 
in The Case for Mars.

* it will start with the most core parts.

* non-core parts will be simulated in the easiest way so as to prove out 
the core parts.

* once the core parts or working, one at a time the non-core parts that 
have been simulated will be rebuilt to be more appropriate.

As for H2... for now, simulated it will a bottle of compressed (not 
liquid) hydrogen, which can probably be purchased at a welding supply or 
we can make it ourselves by electrolyzing water... I already did that as 
a kid, it is simple.

This thus avoids the sticky issues of cryogenic gases, which can be 
address at a later time after the core unit is working.

> Maybe a bit of research first as to the containment/containment of 
> gasses - especially hydrogen?
> 
> again - much can be gleaned from R&D already done for hydrogen based
> alternative fuel vehicles on how to transport and contain the hydrogen.

Excellent idea.

> Yes - so the important parts/sectons to start with are:
>   - separation

For simplicities sake, let's simulate the separation by starting with 
already separated feed stocks.

recombination...

This is definitely first.

>   - transport (from sepapration to storage)

Probably just pumps and tubbing, but can be ignored until the 
recombination section works.

>   - storage

Storage can be simulated (ignored) until there is something to store.
Initially any product can just be dumped, this keeps down cost and 
complexity and keeps the focus and the most core parts.

> Also important - when developing "phase 1" or even "phase 2" type 
> projects, often the case is that processes, products, etc (I'll call it "fallout")
> is developed that can also make money.

Definitely, though I see this as down the road a long ways.

It is interesting to note that I work at Sun Hydraulics, one of the 
biggest manufactures of hydraulic valving in the world... once we have a 
design and know what we want, I might get them to donate valves and 
such? don't know for sure, but it seems likely.

In conclusion it seems that the place to start is to build the barest 
possible apparatus that can take an input of CO2 and H2 both from 
bottles (non-liquid compressed gas) and produce methane and oxygen which 
initially will be just dumped for simplicity.

The next step will be to store the methane and oxygen...


I will re-read parts of The Case For Mars, in particular the section 
MAKING PROPELLANT ON MARS starting on page 148. This is where he talks 
about specific reactions.  I will try to extract from this the best info 
for us and report it back here on the list.

Make it a great day

-- 
Terry Mackintosh <terry at mackintoshweb.com>
http://www.mackintoshweb.com/mars/ Mars Society, FL chapter.
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