Mars
Enviroment
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% of Earth’s, so it does not protect the planet from the Sun’s radiation nor does it do much to retain heat at the surface.
It consists of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and the remainder is trace amounts of oxygen, water vapor, and other
Geology
Industry
Bootstrapping the Industrial Age
- Build Your Own Metalworking Shop from Scrap - David J Gingery (1988)
Ceramics
Ceramic - A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic[a] solid material comprising metal, nonmetal or metalloid atoms primarily held in ionic and covalent bonds. With such a large range of possible options for the composition/structure of a ceramic (e.g. nearly all of the elements, nearly all types of bonding, and all levels of crystallinity), the breadth of the subject is vast, and identifiable attributes (e.g. hardness, toughness, electrical conductivity, etc.) are hard to specify for the group as a whole.
Ceramic engineering - the science and technology of creating objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials. This is done either by the action of heat, or at lower temperatures using precipitation reactions from high-purity chemical solutions.
Concrete/Cement
Cement - A cement is a binder, a substance used in construction that sets and hardens and can bind other materials together.
Concrete - Concrete is a composite material composed of coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement which hardens over time.
Sporosarcina pasteurii - Peter Trimble, a design student at the University of Edinburgh has proposed 'DUPE' based on Sporosarcina pasteurii, a bacterium with binding qualities which, when mixed with sand and urine produces a concrete said to be 70% as strong as conventional materials.
Smelting
- Can it be done with no atmosphere?
- What happens to vapours is there is no atmosphere?
- Mars is cold. Would making a heated bunker be enough? Thermal Insulation?
- If there is no atmosphere, where does the heat go?
Melting Points of Various Metals Melting Points Metal Fahrenheit (f) Celsius (c) Aluminum 1218 659 Brass 1700 927 Bronze 1675 913 Cast Iron 2200 1204 Copper 1981 1083 Gold 1945 1063 Lead 327 163 Magnesium 1204 651 Nickel 2646 1452 Silver 1761 951 Steel 2500 1371 Tungsten 6150 3399 Wrought Iron 2700 1482 Zinc 787 419
Need furnace that can withstand the temperatures.
Ceramics, concrete and such for insulation.
Ladles are the things used to transfer molten metal.
Aluminum
Hall–Héroult process - Dissolving aluminium oxide (alumina) (obtained most often from bauxite, aluminium's chief ore, through the Bayer process) in molten cryolite, and electrolysing the molten salt bath
NASA confirms present-day salt water flows on Mars
Salt deposits found in Martian highlands
Iron
Lots of Iron on Mars.
Iron is first smelted into Pig Iron.
Steel
Made from Iron.
Molding
Sand casting (Gingery style)
Rotational molding - Maybe more useful in space?
Lost-wax casting - No wax on Mars obviously....
Matrix molding - First create the rigid outer shell, then introduce the softer and more fluid molding material. Used for complex shapes using composites such as with glass and glass/ceramic composites.
Vacuum forming - Could just open a valve to the atmosphere. Need some positive pressure though (oxygen would be a waste). Maybe just compress the atmosphere? Not much atmosphere to compress... How much pressure difference would be needed for vacuum molding. Need the rubber/plastic sheet too...
Transfer molding - Squeeze viscus fluid into holes.
And of course 3d printing.
Wire Windings
What Is the Most Conductive Element?
1 silver 2 copper 3 gold 4 aluminum 5 zinc 6 nickel 7 brass 8 bronze 9 iron 10 platinum 11 carbon steel 12 lead 13 stainless steel
Copper Vs. Aluminium Windings in Motors - Aluminium oxidixes so the connections must pierces the alunimum and be pressurised to stop oxygen getting it. How would very low levels of oxygen in Mars Atmosphere effect this? aluminium requires more turns and/or a larger diameter wire, may not be economically feasible (lower efficiency).
Auto industry looking to Copper Alliance as alternative to rare earth materials - EVs uses rare earth metals. Are they on Mars? Tesla mentioned.
Carbon Nanotube Yarns Could Replace Copper Windings in Electric Motors - Carbon seems unlikely on Mars... Unless extracted from the atmosphere.
If Silver is the most conductive element, why don't we use it in electronics as opposed to Copper and Gold? - Silver best conductor, but expensive and oxidises easily, making it unsuitable for uses where it's exposed to oxygen or large amounts are required. Gold doesn't oxidise*, but is expensive, which is why it's often used as a coating for electronic connections like HDMI cables.
Insulators
- Most need organics found on Earth.
- rubber, pure water, oil, air, diamond, dry wood, dry cotton, plastic, asphalt
- Others are inflexible but might work
- glass - could be made from sand.
- ceramic - With such a large range of possible options for the composition/structure of a ceramic (e.g. nearly all of the elements, nearly all types of bonding, and all levels of crystallinity).
- quartz - Seems like there is lots of mineral on mars.
What happens if you crush rocks into powder and heat them?
Cathode
Anode
Needed for salt bath for aluminium?
Sacrificial anode (galvanic anode) - Used to protect buried or submerged metal structures from corrosion. Does it work for atmosphere? Is it needed for %1 atmosphere?
There are three main metals used as galvanic anodes, magnesium, aluminium and zinc.
Heating
- Need to heat stuff for smelting, etc...
- Ceramic heaters.
- Heated wire.
- Burning stuff? (eg the mars made rocket fuel). Oxygen burns, but that's kind of needed.
- Giant lenses? Mars further away from sun, but less atmosphere. Fresnel Lens DIY Knife Solar Metal Foundry DIY greenpowerscience
Electric Motors
- Require Conductive.
- Insulation.
- Wire winding.
- Electricity
- Could generate electricity too, Not much atmosphere but giant wind turbines? Human power via cranks? Humans require more food.
Missions
NASA considers SLS launch sequence for human Mars missions in the 2030s