Space Power Volume 9 Number 4 1990

Supply To meet this demand we can supply radiators from Earth or from lunar-derived materials. Radiators derived from Earth can use exotic materials such as liquid metal heat pipes or liquid droplet radiators, but pay high shipping costs based on their weight. Lunar-derived radiators can be of any weight but are constrained by the capacity of the imported processing plant and the time available for fabrication. Since manufacturability is the key, a simple design is required which can be made in a low weight processing plant. Therefore the elements of a lunar waste heat radiator made from lunar soil can be large but must be simple to minimize the processing plant mass. A radiator design is proposed which would use lunar ceramic pipes or plates made by the simplest possible processing techniques of mechanical/electrostatic beneficiation of the soil plus solar melting. (See Fig. 2). The working fluid is water which can be obtained by hydrogen reduction of ilmenite. The mass of water required is minimized by using a two-phase system for heat transfer. The ceramics formed are slowly cooled by direct radiation so no waste heat rejection system is required; although radiation shielding may be necessary to control

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