Choosing a settlement site: hazards like no other!
In the proposals for a lunar settlement site, perhaps the most recent target has been the slope of Malapert Mountain at the southern pole. Prior options included locations both in and out of craters, but nearly all locations advocated to date have been focused on earth-facing, surface sites. In the past decade or so, scientists have also advocated sending robots to bury the habitat unit(s) with regolith as a shield from radiation.
But this could be put in jeapardy by the findings of a recent spate of NASA simulations. According to an article in Science Daily:
"We found that when this massive cloud of plasma strikes the moon, it acts like a sandblaster and easily removes volatile material from the surface," said William Farrell, DREAM team lead at NASA Goddard. "The model predicts 100 to 200 tons of lunar material -- the equivalent of 10 dump truck loads -- could be stripped off the lunar surface during the typical 2-day passage of a CME."
Wikipedia states that "Near solar maxima the Sun produces about 3 CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima there is about 1 CME every 5 days." (Article Link)
In a worst case scenario, trying to live on the moon's surface could be near impossible. The effect of the solar wind could impact our regolith sheilding substantially, by both "sandblasting" a layer off with each 2-day passing. During the solar maxima such would prevent astronauts from venturing outside at all. Would it put the habitat's shielding at risk? Good question.
The secondary issue would be the "sandstorm" of particles in the minimal lunar atmosphere. How long would such take to settle to the surface? What effect would this have on the equipment with all that airborne regolith.
Perhaps a surface installation buried with regolith isn't such a good idea after all. Especially if the regolith covering is loosely packed. I would posit that the very regolith layer shielding the habitat could be a detriment during such storms, being a concentrated point of regolith dust less densely packed that other areas. At a minimum, this would suggest that in addition to the dozers, sandbaggers, or other equipment needed to bury a surface installation, we would now need to ship "tampers" to the moon to pack the regolith in order to reduce its tendency to be stirred up in the CME sandstorm.
Of note is the fact that the "100 to 200 tons of lunar material" that is razed is likely spread over a large area of the moon. But even that being said, so too would the "sandstorm", however minimal, be spread over the same large area.
Of course, maybe there are other options to a lunar habitat that might require less of a "rolling-snowball" mass expense to the moon, and the consequences of being out in the open?
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David S. Rader
d-rader@pacbell.net
daverader@me.com
PART OF THE WIND, SAND, (CYBER), SEA AND STARS SERIES
PART OF THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN (2012) SERIES
America is beginning a New Age in Space. The Obama administration has altered the course of the American Space Program, and Americans look optimistically, yet reservedly, at this new change in direction. This course will look at America’s space program within the context of today’s volatile economic and political environments. We will discuss, examine and explore this marvelous asset and symbol of America’s technological, economic, and military prowess. Some of the topics covered in this program will be the history of the space program, space power theory, future space exploration, space commercialization, cyberspace, space law, space tourism, weapons and war in space, and our National Space Policy. Come and join us on this voyage of discovery.
Instructor: David S. Rader, (d-rader@pacbell.net,) teaches for academia, business, government, and the military. He has taught as an adjunct instructor for thirty-seven years in numerous disciplines including American History, World History, Political Science, Business, Management and Leadership, International Business, International Studies, Kinesiology, and the Social Sciences. He has taught for more than twenty-five colleges and universities in the United States and abroad and has worked in the securities, real estate, high tech, and defense industries.
At any rate, the statement made is specifically in regards to volatile materials, such as hydrogen trapped in the soil, which are scoured out by the high-velocity nuclear particles. On any time scale of less than millions of years, there will be no perceptible movement. The redistribution of miniscule dust particles, owing to static charges produced by solar ultraviolet, is a larger effect.
Ionizing radiation continues to be the major hazard associated with coronal mass ejections. Fortunately, they are somewhat directional, & many of them do not pass through the tiny volume of space occupied by Terra & Luna on their way out to the magnetopause.
