8.30 VIII.7: ASSEMBLY VIII.7.1: Overall Plan: This chapter has traced the processing of material required for colony construction from its beginnings as lunar raw material up to the fabrication of the major colony subassemblies: the hull sections and inter-hull bulkheads. The question remains of how these sections and bulkheads can be assembled in free space to form a colony. There obviously must exist some sort of local transportation device which moves the subassembly from the final fabrication shack to the colony assembly area,and hold it there in position while it is being attached. The concept of a free floating, self-propelled minivehicle or space pod presents itself. Such a system would be slow and uneconomical in terms of fuel usage. In addition, it would be difficult for the small craft to maneuver the 100-ton section into place with the precision required. The more desirable alternative is a fixed trusswork from which the subassemblies can be moved and positioned. The construction site presented in Figure 8.7 links the construction shacks and the colony assembly area into one trusswork structure. The primary local transportation and positioning devices are two large circular cranes. These have diameter 220m, slightly larger than that of the colony, and slide around the colony assembly volume, moving sections to their required location and then positioning them for attachment. The construction site includes a power plant, four booms connecting this power plant to an assembly frame, the two cranes,and a mast along one end of the frame,to which are attached the construction shacks and work force living quarters. Each of these elements will now be described in some detail. VIII.7.2: The Construction Site VIII.7.2.1: Elements of the Site: The largest element of the construction site is the power plant, a photovoltaic array usin~ silicon solar-cells and mirror concentrators. Assuming an array efficiency of 10% (see VI.9.3), a square array 661 meters on a side generates the 60 MW required by the construction site.
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