[meteorite-list] Scientist Microwaves Moondust, Cooks Up Intriguing Possibilities

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:56:48 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200702120256.SAA22157_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1171187725201140.xml&coll=2

Scientist microwaves moondust, cooks up intriguing possibilities
John Mangels
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)
February 11, 2007

Lawrence Taylor is a self-professed "lunatic," one of the original,
moon-obsessed scientists who worked with the Apollo program during the
1960s.

Many are retired, and some have died, but Taylor, now 68 and director of
the University of Tennessee's Planetary Geosciences Institute, presses
on, even though for a long time it seemed humans would never return to
the moon. His recent discovery may literally pave the way for future
lunar astronauts.

One day, he was chatting with his old friend Harrison Schmitt, the lunar
module pilot on the last moon mission, Apollo 17. Taylor was recounting
his work with the tiniest lunar dust grains, those 20 microns and smaller.

Moon dust has a curious property: Though it's the product of rocks on
the lunar surface that have been smashed to bits by meteorite strikes,
the dust has way more elemental iron in it than do the rocks it came from.

The reason? The meteorite impacts vaporize some rock components. When
the gas condenses, a chemical reaction leaves behind tiny particles of
pure iron that collect in the pulverized dust. The solidified dust,
which resembles melted glass, is shot through with nanometer-sized iron,
like grains of pepper in an ice cube.

Scientists first realized this in the 1970s when they studied the dust
samples the Apollo astronauts brought back. "Then for 30 years," Taylor
said, "we forgot it."

In the mid-'90s, Taylor was re-examining the dust and noticed the
smallest grains, with their patina of concentrated iron, were most
susceptible to a magnet. When he described his findings to Schmitt, a
lightbulb went off.

"He said, You remember all the problems we had on the moon?' " Taylor
recounted. It was the smallest dust grains that gave the Apollo
astronauts the most trouble; the moonwalkers couldn't brush them off
their spacesuits.

"He said, If we only had a brush with a little magnet on it, my God,
what we could have done,' " Taylor recalled. "I said, Oh, wow!' "

Magnetic brushes and air filters were possibilities, but Taylor didn't
stop there. The iron grains had given him an idea. Maybe you could melt
moon dust.

Using an old microwave his lab mates brewed tea in, Taylor zapped a
pinch of moon dust. The iron grains absorbed the energy and dissipated
it as heat. "Hot damn, it melted," he said.

By focusing the microwaves, "with less than 100 watts, I could take
lunar soil from room temperature to 1750 degrees Centigrade within 10
seconds. You can't boil water that fast."

When they cooled, the grains had congealed into a solid mass. Not only
did that solve the dust-spreading problems, it opened a world of
possibilities.

Taylor envisions a wheeled microwave -- a lunar Zamboni -- that could
pave landing pads or roads. You could forge dust into bricks or I-beams
for habitats.

You also could capture melt gases and process them into rocket fuel and
other consumables. Schmitt is pushing the idea of collecting helium from
moon dust and using it to fire fusion reactors for clean energy back on
Earth. (The technology still must be worked out.)

Moon dust's potential has given Taylor a renewed vigor.

"I was thinking of slowing down and all of a sudden it hit the fan," he
said. "I was thinking about going back to the moon, and my wife said, Be
careful what you wish for.' "
Received on Sun 11 Feb 2007 09:56:48 PM PST