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Lunar bases and space activities of the 21st century
0016.7037/87/53.00
Gachimia n Cosmcchimia Ada Vol. 31. pp. 173-175 0 Pnpmoa Jcnmds Ltd. 1987. Flinti in U.S.A.
+ .oo
BOOK REVIEWS
LunarBaaaaaadSpacaActivitiasofthe2latCantury,edited by W. W. Mendell. Lunar and Planetary Institute, 1984, 865 p., $20.00 (softcover only) (ISBN O-942862-02-3). WHAT DO YOU do for an encore when you’ve been to the moon and back? One answer is given in this collection of short papers by about 50 scientists concerning a possible manned lunar base and space stations. A major goal of the working group and this volume is the reinstatement of lunar base studies by NASA, which dropped them in 1972. An initial chapter contains keynote speeches by three public figures, a college professor, and Edward Teller. A second chapter concerns concepts and strat&es and ideas for the generation of the nuclear power that would be needed during the two-week lunar nights. Succeeding chapters concern transportation, lunar science, other kinds of science to be performed on the moon, lunar construction, lunar materials and processes, oxygen as a “prelude to lunar industrialization”, life support and health maintenance, societal issues including alleged historical pmcedents from ternstrial exploration, and space poetry; projects for Mars, and a vision of a lunar settlement, followed by an epilogue in the form of an imagined address to a lunar audience celebrating the tricentennial of the United states. Sections on lunar science and oxygen may bc of some interesttogeo&em&whocangetpasttheintroductoryremarks about hiding the science funding in the large program. Brief chapters summarixe reasons for doing further lunar research, particularly field studies on the moon. The list of possibilities and priori&s is a good reminder of how much there is still to learn after the Apoho program. No attempt is made in the book to justify lunar bases, as opposed to earth-based exploration, in 8upporl of the science; the need for lunar bases is takenasagiven. A weak link in the consideration of lunar bases may tie in oxygen production and construction. Concrete construction
Jollrrlolsodbut As&a Earth w edited by B. K. Tan and T. T. Khoo. Petgamon Journals, 1986, vol. I, no. 196IP., quutnfy, USE’O/year. TliE~MENDthisnewjoumaltobeamajorsource of geo&nce it&mation on the tegion from Burma and southem China to Papua New Guinea, but the four papers in~thln~~pttheaaiesofftoaaawstnrt.Mitchell, Hemat&a, and de-la Crux suggest moditications to pIam-tectigraphyofno&eastThaiMndt?omasmaUsuiteofpoorIy dated samples with mattaed magnetic orientations. Dotian, ClarkandDjumhaniestimatethetusourcepotentialofIndoneaiabyat&gieswiththeUnitedStatesandinfergreat undiscovered mineral wealth for Timor meogene accmtion-
is proposed, but the step from anorthosite to cement is given short shrift with a casual mention of condensation temperatures (of elements, called minerals) and admission of the need for lots of power and a container e&c& at 3000 l&ins. The production of oxygen from ilmenite is d&used in tetms of some experiments. The need to import hydrogen for the processraisessta@eringqueauons of costs and efficiency, only loosely addressed here. An elaborate parameter&d analysis of lunar oxygen production is offered, but it seems a meaningless exercise without hard input data. The issue of cost, in fact, occurs to the reader at almost every turn, and fmstmtion inevitably results. The timing of this book’s arrival so close upon the heels of theChernobylandQlallengadisestas,sixothermajorrocket failures, and much m-evahmtion of the U.S. national space effort is perhaps unfortunate but revealing. With the beauty ofVoyager2andGiotto&eahinmi&whatistheappmp&e role of manned flight? For a perspe&ve, the in&rested reader is referred to an eloquent and sobering retlection by James A. Van Allen on the myths and malities of space flight (Science 232 (30 May 1986), 1075-1076). Van Allen o&n six explicit steps to redirect space studies in the United states, beginning with an indefinite motatorium on manned flight and ending with a complete m-orientation of NASA to pmjects of widespread human importance. Gne might add that the budgets for such enterprises as lunar bases and space stations am ultimately balanced on the backs of the poor, and it might be appropriate if this could be made a people’s debate, for it is too important to be left to the generals of science. When the Third World is ready for lunar bases and space stations, that might be time enough. Department o/Geology CcGeography University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003. U.S.A.
S. A. Morse
ary-wedge melange] which, they apeculate.reaembla Arizona
[Proteroxoic basement; cratonic straw young granites and rhyolites]. The interpmtation of the tectonics of eastern IndoneaiabyNiimuraandSuparkaaddstopmvioussyntheaes details that are incompatibk with marine geoghysicai data on the locations of tmnches and other tectonic f&urns. Thepapersneededsevemeditingasweuaskn~ critical review. The journal has an attractive f-t but contains many typographical errors (Editoriul note: Free copies of the joumai are ava&tble on request horn F+ergamon Journals Limited, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford OX3 OBW, U.K.) U.S. Geoiogiicn Survey Denver, CO 80225, U.S.A. 173
Warren Hamilton
Gachimia n Cosmcchimia Ada Vol. 31. pp. 173-175 0 Pnpmoa Jcnmds Ltd. 1987. Flinti in U.S.A.
+ .oo
BOOK REVIEWS
LunarBaaaaaadSpacaActivitiasofthe2latCantury,edited by W. W. Mendell. Lunar and Planetary Institute, 1984, 865 p., $20.00 (softcover only) (ISBN O-942862-02-3). WHAT DO YOU do for an encore when you’ve been to the moon and back? One answer is given in this collection of short papers by about 50 scientists concerning a possible manned lunar base and space stations. A major goal of the working group and this volume is the reinstatement of lunar base studies by NASA, which dropped them in 1972. An initial chapter contains keynote speeches by three public figures, a college professor, and Edward Teller. A second chapter concerns concepts and strat&es and ideas for the generation of the nuclear power that would be needed during the two-week lunar nights. Succeeding chapters concern transportation, lunar science, other kinds of science to be performed on the moon, lunar construction, lunar materials and processes, oxygen as a “prelude to lunar industrialization”, life support and health maintenance, societal issues including alleged historical pmcedents from ternstrial exploration, and space poetry; projects for Mars, and a vision of a lunar settlement, followed by an epilogue in the form of an imagined address to a lunar audience celebrating the tricentennial of the United states. Sections on lunar science and oxygen may bc of some interesttogeo&em&whocangetpasttheintroductoryremarks about hiding the science funding in the large program. Brief chapters summarixe reasons for doing further lunar research, particularly field studies on the moon. The list of possibilities and priori&s is a good reminder of how much there is still to learn after the Apoho program. No attempt is made in the book to justify lunar bases, as opposed to earth-based exploration, in 8upporl of the science; the need for lunar bases is takenasagiven. A weak link in the consideration of lunar bases may tie in oxygen production and construction. Concrete construction
Jollrrlolsodbut As&a Earth w edited by B. K. Tan and T. T. Khoo. Petgamon Journals, 1986, vol. I, no. 196IP., quutnfy, USE’O/year. TliE~MENDthisnewjoumaltobeamajorsource of geo&nce it&mation on the tegion from Burma and southem China to Papua New Guinea, but the four papers in~thln~~pttheaaiesofftoaaawstnrt.Mitchell, Hemat&a, and de-la Crux suggest moditications to pIam-tectigraphyofno&eastThaiMndt?omasmaUsuiteofpoorIy dated samples with mattaed magnetic orientations. Dotian, ClarkandDjumhaniestimatethetusourcepotentialofIndoneaiabyat&gieswiththeUnitedStatesandinfergreat undiscovered mineral wealth for Timor meogene accmtion-
is proposed, but the step from anorthosite to cement is given short shrift with a casual mention of condensation temperatures (of elements, called minerals) and admission of the need for lots of power and a container e&c& at 3000 l&ins. The production of oxygen from ilmenite is d&used in tetms of some experiments. The need to import hydrogen for the processraisessta@eringqueauons of costs and efficiency, only loosely addressed here. An elaborate parameter&d analysis of lunar oxygen production is offered, but it seems a meaningless exercise without hard input data. The issue of cost, in fact, occurs to the reader at almost every turn, and fmstmtion inevitably results. The timing of this book’s arrival so close upon the heels of theChernobylandQlallengadisestas,sixothermajorrocket failures, and much m-evahmtion of the U.S. national space effort is perhaps unfortunate but revealing. With the beauty ofVoyager2andGiotto&eahinmi&whatistheappmp&e role of manned flight? For a perspe&ve, the in&rested reader is referred to an eloquent and sobering retlection by James A. Van Allen on the myths and malities of space flight (Science 232 (30 May 1986), 1075-1076). Van Allen o&n six explicit steps to redirect space studies in the United states, beginning with an indefinite motatorium on manned flight and ending with a complete m-orientation of NASA to pmjects of widespread human importance. Gne might add that the budgets for such enterprises as lunar bases and space stations am ultimately balanced on the backs of the poor, and it might be appropriate if this could be made a people’s debate, for it is too important to be left to the generals of science. When the Third World is ready for lunar bases and space stations, that might be time enough. Department o/Geology CcGeography University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003. U.S.A.
S. A. Morse
ary-wedge melange] which, they apeculate.reaembla Arizona
[Proteroxoic basement; cratonic straw young granites and rhyolites]. The interpmtation of the tectonics of eastern IndoneaiabyNiimuraandSuparkaaddstopmvioussyntheaes details that are incompatibk with marine geoghysicai data on the locations of tmnches and other tectonic f&urns. Thepapersneededsevemeditingasweuaskn~ critical review. The journal has an attractive f-t but contains many typographical errors (Editoriul note: Free copies of the joumai are ava&tble on request horn F+ergamon Journals Limited, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford OX3 OBW, U.K.) U.S. Geoiogiicn Survey Denver, CO 80225, U.S.A. 173
Warren Hamilton