News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Power on the Moon. What Will It Take to Survive the Lunar Night?. Parent comment

Re:Power on the Moon. What Will It Take to Survive the Lunar... by rini17 on Friday December 30, 2022 @12:38PM (#34187414)
Why store hydrogen when you can use the metals? I mentioned zinc as that's most mature technology, but almost all of them can be reacted with oxygen to get back energy.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Power on the Moon. What Will It Take to Survive the Lunar... by GlenTheMachine on Friday December 30, 2022 @03:34PM (#34189750)
Because the content of metal in lunar soil is very very low.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Power on the Moon. What Will It Take to Survive the Lunar... by nine_k on Friday December 30, 2022 @06:50PM (#34191592)
Not really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_soil#Mineralogy_and_comp...

12% by mass is iron, with calcium, aluminum, magnesium at 7-8%. These could be considered ores worth mining on Earth. All four metals readily burn in oxygen, even though aluminum needs some help igniting.

[ Parent | on HN ]