system during shutdown. A fourth is to avoid use of shutdowns to respond to changes in environmental conditions or fluctuations in heat load. Finally one can design to prevent damage in the event of freezing by leaving sufficient vapor space above the liquid to allow for expansion on freezing. All of these remedies are incorporated in the above design with the exception of heat load management, although 25% swings could be easily handled. Since the primary source of the heat load is the reactor, efforts should be taken to run the reactor steadily. Suggestions have been made to use surplus electricity for batteries and fuel cells. An alternative would be to spin up large flywheels which should operate very efficiently in the lunar vacuum and lower gravity. Sophisticated load shedding of, e.g., electrolysis units required for oxygen production would also be an alternative. Research Needs The beneficiation process is very poorly defined and needs detailed study as part of an overall beneficiation study for a lunar oxygen plant to determine what synergisms exist. Direct use of lunar regolith is very attractive because of the reduction in handling. Methods of in situ beneficiation should be studied, perhaps in conjunction with Kraft Ehricke’s suggestion [11] for a nuclear-powered sweeper for runway preparation. Fabrication of the pipes is being pursued by Goldsworthy Engineering [10] and the Space Studies Institute, but methods for making multiple connections to piping manifolds require further study and experimentation. A study of the waste heat load requirements for a realistic base and its evolution over time would be very useful in producing more realistic designs and evaluating operational concerns. The design of the radiators is sensitive to the degree of radiation shielding that is feasible. More work should be done to look at different geometries and different surface coatings. Measurement of the emissivity and thermal conductivity of lunar based ceramics would be useful as would tests with simulated micro-meterorites. Research needs are summarized in Table V.
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