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Originally Posted by NEOWatcher
And how much technology (masswise) would be needed to convert that resource to a reasonable form?
While I do agree that re-usability should be considered, it just doesn't sound like it's all that practicle.
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That's a valid question, and obviously some sort of facility would be required on the surface of the moon to do something with the materials. I haven't thought my way through all this stuff so I have few answers and probably most of those are bad.
The point of the topic is not whether or not the methods
I suggest are feasible, but whether or not creating a space dump could be a practical alternative to two problems.
I'd invite anyone with ideas to suggest possible methods to process materials on the moon. For starters you have lots of mostly raw sunlight to work with; would a solar furnace work? That doesn't seem like a huge technological feat to me. Is it?
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Originally Posted by NEOWatcher
Planning or studying? There's a big difference, and the context is important. Since I haven't seen it, I'd like a bit more information before I dispute this.
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Excellent point, and you are right, the distinction is an important one and I must confess I do not know, so let's go with studying until we learn otherwise.
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Originally Posted by NEOWatcher
Deorbiting space junk is much simpler than moving it. No matter what method you use, you still need to rendezvous. That's going to be expensive.
It takes a relatively small delta-v to bring an orbiting object into a low enough orbit for re-entry. It takes a huge delta-v to send it off to the moon. So now that solution has just added a whole lot of fuel to to the equation.
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Yes, deorbiting junk is probably the easiest solution. But it seems to be a waste.
As for the efforts involved in trajectory changes, wouldn't you have to do the same with anything you send to the moon? This argument seems to only apply if I simply asked "send junk to the moon or let it burn up in Earth's atmosphere?".
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Originally Posted by NEOWatcher
Before we even talk about converting or recycling material to a useable form, what about actual construction using that material. At this point it's easier to construct it here and send it.
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That may be true to start with, but once facilities are in place, scrap material could be processed. I'm not suggesting the first lunar citizens live in a spent rocket booster and sit around with hammers beating on scrap metal all day. The point is to think ahead. Why waste material when it's already been put into orbit. Send it to the moon. It will probably be useful eventually.