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Degradation of the lunar vacuum by a moon baseSeveral industrial processes requiring high and ultra-high vacuum similar to the lunar vacuum are outlined. The effects of a 20-person lunar base and a 250-person industrial facility on this vacuum are discussed. It is shown that exhaust from transport spacecraft and leakage from the habitat will be comparable to the daytime gas pressure for the 20-person base, and will degrade the vacuum to the range of 2 x 10 to the -9th torr for the use of 250-person facility. This will result in replacing the mostly nonreactive gases hydrogen, helium, and neon with more reactive gases containing carbon and oxygen. This vacuum is still good enough to perform many important vacuum processes such as plasma-deposition of amorphous silicon for solar cells, but processes such as molecular beam epitaxy or locating an intersecting beam accelerator on the moon will require additional vacuum pumping.
Document ID
19900048386
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Landis, Geoffrey
(NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
March 1, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Acta Astronautica
Volume: 21
ISSN: 0094-5765
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
90A35441
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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