TABLE 9 CRITERIA FOR SPACE MANUFACTURING OPTIONS done in order to direct the aerospace and industrial communities to create space systems with lower costs. Americans paid far more for astronaut work time on the moon for exploration. High initial labor rates to learn new skills are part of development. Astronauts can be used more effectively and ground-based personnel can discover better channels by which to work indirectly in space. That is simply the name of the game. A mental exercise to start with is to repeatedly ask, If some aspect of space operations were to suddenly become significantly cheaper (e.g., costs to LEO), then what is the next item which keeps costs high? What costs can be reduced first for the least expense? An advancing industrial nation such as the United is not without the tools (C + C + C) and skills to learn space growth. There are approximately 250 types of manufacturing techniques used by modern industry in the four basic operations of joining, machining, deformation, and casting/joining. These were recently studied with respect to adapting them to use in space. Table 9 summarizes the selection criteria (3 lb,77). It is even conceivable that a small subset of these space-adaptable techniques could be formed into a "starting kit” which could be deployed on the moon or in LEO. This starting kit could be operated remotely to make a very wide range of products and other machines of production by means of powder metallurgy techniques. Lunar soil is especially interesting because it contains 0.1-0.5% by
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