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Space Technology

Lunar 'Lawnmower' Devised for Moon Colonists 190

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the no-escaping-your-chores dept.
moon_unit_alpha writes "Future Moon residents may have to mow the lunar lawn. New Scientist Space reports that a planetary geologist has come up with a way to prevent Moon dust from sticking to space suits, getting into seals and damaging electronic and mechanical equipment - the lunar lawnmower. The mower could be hauled behind a lunar rover, generating microwaves that cause iron particles in the dust to clump together."
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Lunar 'Lawnmower' Devised for Moon Colonists More

Lunar 'Lawnmower' Devised for Moon Colonists

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  • What does one hug when there are no trees? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Guysmiley777 ( 880063 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:46PM (#14046928)
    But that would be harming the Moon's environment! What's the emote for rolling eyes?

  • behind? (Score:2, Funny)

    by jasongetsdown ( 890117 )
    Wouldn't you want it in front of the rover?
  • Has NASA contracted with John Deere to build them?
    • Has NASA contracted with John Deere to build them?

      They should. John Deere would do it for helluva lot cheaper than NASA-native ones. If NASA designs and builds it: $500 million. John Deer: $699. :)
      • You can't buy a John Deere mower for $699. You can buy a John Deere labeled mowered at Home Depot for $1599, but I've not yet found verification that those aren't simply more MTD mowers or similar with JD green painted on them. Real John Deere mowers, the ones that genuinely last a freaking long time, don't bog down in wet grass (or rigolith), and come with actually comfortable seats and a cupholder for your beer cost $3000 or so.

        If you want to go to the moon with an MTD mower that will last one season b

  • plus (Score:5, Funny)

    by Prince Vegeta SSJ4 ( 718736 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:49PM (#14046958)
    generating microwaves

    plus it makes a kiler scrambled egg, and warms your innards all in one step, all for the low low price of $19.95

    [font size="2"]numbers represented are for illustrative purposes only, and actually are in 000,000's.[/font]

  • Lunar kitty litter (Score:5, Funny)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:49PM (#14046961)
    "In place of whirling blades, however, the machine would use microwaves to force dust particles to clump together."

    My cat desperately needs one of these.

  • in related story - salt water on Mars (Score:5, Informative)

    by Janek Kozicki ( 722688 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:49PM (#14046965) Journal
    I was thinking about sumitting it, but why the hassle - small chance it will get accepted

    about water on Mars. The problem is that temperature and pressure on Mars are oscilating around water triple-point, it means that there is a chance that you will get liquid/ice water at night, but it will vaporize during the day (speaking about non-polar areas, in polar areas water can stay in ice form). Colonists are more likely to settle near equator due to temperature and (maybe) resources. If we consider pressure also, then hellas planitia is very tempting.

    And it looks like there is a workaround for problem with constantly vaporizing water - use salt water [space.com] instead :)

    I took this piece from http://marsnews.com/ [marsnews.com]

  • Damn... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TWX ( 665546 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:50PM (#14046971)
    and I thought I had it bad when I had to go out, pull the lawnmower from the shed, gas it up, work to crank-start it, and then push it around for a half an hour, emptying the bag as necessary.

    So, kids of the future will complain about having to clean up, provision the spacesuit, suit up, run diagnostics on the suit, activate a tracking beacon, depressurize through the airlock, walk/hop over to the seperate hazardous equipment dome, repressurize, run diagnostics on the 'moon mower', perform maintenance if necessary, un-umbilicle the device, push it into the airlock, re-seal the spacesuit and run diagnostics, depressurize, and only then do they get to pushing the thing around the surface for a half an hour...

    Somehow I don't think that, "back in MY day!" stories will work on those kids. *sigh*

    • Re:Damn... (Score:5, Funny)

      by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:56PM (#14047031) Homepage
      Bah, just tell the little crater-rats that you had to do it without a suit!

    • Re:Damn... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Gulthek ( 12570 )
      Why is the moon mower stored in a pressurized environment?
      • Well if it was commissioned by Nasa then I am sure that the cost+ contracts they give out is the source of this oddity.

        Stupid, inneficient Nasa. Where have your dreams gone?

      • Re:Damn... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by TWX ( 665546 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:08PM (#14047158)
        so maintenance can easily be performed upon it? I don't know about you, but I'm annoyed enough working on my car outdoors on this planet, when I'd much rather work on it in a garage where I can control lighting, temperature, and cleanliness of the workspace better than I can exposed...
        • Maintenance could be done in a pressurized dome, sure; but maintaining pressure for an equipment shed seems a waste. It's true moon certified equipment it shouldn't care if it's in a vacuum. In fact a vacuum would preserve it very nicely with no tarnishing, no oxidation, etc.

          • Re:Damn... (Score:3, Insightful)

            by TWX ( 665546 )
            That may be true, but I've got to think that as a human, I'd rather increase the amount of survivable space to as much as I could afford or justify. It'd be a way of bringing some kind of feeling of home with me. Seeing as how it would probably be safest to store equipment under some kind of physical shield anyway it may as well be a pressurized environment to make things more comfortable for me.

    • Re:Damn... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by buswolley ( 591500 )
      On the moon kids will STILL want to stay inside and play their video games.

      nothing changes anymore.

    • 2001 (Score:4, Funny)

      by infinite9 ( 319274 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:09PM (#14047169)
      And can you imagine the blade hitting that monolith?! You thought sprinkler heads were bad!

    • Re:Damn... (Score:3, Funny)

      by paranode ( 671698 )
      Awww come on Dad!! I was going to go to Tosche station to pick up some power converters!!
    • "Back in MY day we had to make our capsule's carbon dioxide filters out of our own spacesuits, daggnabbit!"

  • lawn? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stoolpigeon ( 454276 ) * <bittercode@gmail> on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:50PM (#14046974) Homepage Journal
    Maybe I've read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" too many times, but why would people be spending time on the surface if they did not need too? Wouldn't it make more sense to be spending more time below the surface?

    • Re:lawn? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Buddy_DoQ ( 922706 )
      You have to be on the surface preparing for the dig before you could be underground, the number of people and sensitive equipment for a project like that would probably call for full time mowing services. Plus I don't imagine digging into the moon would be the best idea if the dangers of the dust and micro-rock shards is as bad as they say. Clear, Mow(dust), Tarp, Tent, just like camping! That's what I would do on the moon, but IANAA (I am not an astronomer)
      • Rather than dig in, set up large mylar bubbles (just a few ounces/sq in of pressure inside) and then coat them in an epoxy made up of lunar dust? Mebbe run a current through the stuff (or run a really big lunar mower over it) to fuse the iron in it?

    • Re:lawn? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Gilmoure ( 18428 )
      Because we don't have nice underground warrens already built there? Will be a lot of work getting things set up. Yeah, eventually the surface area of habitat spaces will be not heavily trafficked. There will still be a lot of equipment and sensors up there.

    • Re:lawn? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by whitehatlurker ( 867714 )
      You just need to read "A Fall of Moondust" [infinityplus.co.uk] as well. The dangers of moon dust are well documented there. ;-)

      The nickname of the device is a bit off though. It's a paving machine for the Moon. Why not call it something more appropriate?

  • Spinoffs (Score:4, Funny)

    by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:51PM (#14046983) Homepage
    How would it work on Earth for reducing the hazard of annoying junk that gets everywhere, like AOL CDs?

    Meanwhile, if they can manage to grow corn on the Moon, there shouldn't a problem with Moonbase Movie Night.

  • For those of us not that informed about this...can someone please give a brief explanation of what the big deal is with lunar dust? I mean, dust gets into machinery on Earth, and it still works just fine. What are the hazards of it and why is it such a big deal?

    • Re:Lunar Dust (Score:2, Informative)

      by xv4n ( 639231 )
      ...can someone please give a brief explanation of what the big deal is with lunar dust?

      Due the lack of wind and erosion, lunar dust is highly abrasive.

    • Re:Lunar Dust (Score:3, Funny)

      by isbhod ( 556556 )
      the dust tends to deteriate the seals on the space suits (such as the gloves, air hose intakes, helmet, etc). This generaly falls on the list of "Things that are bad whilst on the surface of the moon" right next to "Oh my god, spacemonster!"

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:00PM (#14047078)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Lunar Dust (Score:5, Informative)

      by fish waffle ( 179067 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:06PM (#14047137)
      can someone please give a brief explanation of what the big deal is with lunar dust?

      It's very very fine dust; think of how plaster dust manages to get everywhere, even clogging vacuums.

      It's also apparently quite sharp (what with the general lack of erosion up there), and thus it manages to not only get everywhere, but also be irritating when it does. For the google-impaired. [firstscience.com]

    • Re:Lunar Dust (Score:5, Informative)

      by Billosaur ( 927319 ) * <wgrother AT optonline DOT net> on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:07PM (#14047153) Journal
      For background: What a Little Moon Dust Can Do [wired.com]

      The Moonwalkers found that the stuff clung to everything and on contact with the oxygen in the Lunar Module (LM), gave off a smell like gunpowder, due to the lack of normal oxidation on the Moon's surface.

      The stuff was also fine and gritty and was like liquid sandpaper. It would scratch camera lens and wore away at lunar geology equipment. It could also cause fittings to not seat properly, a very important problem if you're counting on the seals on your spacesuit to remain airtight.

      Of course if we're going to have people up there more or less permanently, they're going to working in the stuff every day, and the wear and tear on equipment may lead to some dangerous situations. The last thing an astronaut needs to have happen is to lose suit integrity when he/she is nowhere near shelter.

    • And it smells like gunpowder and some astronauts had an allergic reaction to it.
    • Yeah and it isn't like the moon machinery would have air filters and carbureters either...

  • ONLY ferrous items... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cheezus_es_lard ( 557559 ) <cheez17.gmail@com> on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:54PM (#14047013) Homepage
    Unfortunately I can't imagine this working. The moon isn't _entirely_ made up of ferrous metals, so the dust must have some composition that is not ferrous, and therefore is not affected by the magnetic field. Is possible ionization of the other dust molecules enough to keep them out of suspension? I mean, even if the clumps trap some dust, more will be around to float, right?

  • The Moon belongs to America (Score:4, Funny)

    by ettlz ( 639203 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:54PM (#14047019) Journal
    This is just what our astro-men need: a lawnmower for their astro-turf. Will you be among them?
  • I would be more fun to fry [vt.edu] it instead.

  • What a relief (Score:5, Funny)

    by external400kdiskette ( 930221 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:56PM (#14047043)
    As an aspiring moon colonist I'd always wondered about this, now I can sleep easy at night with the *final* barrier to space colonisation crumbling in front of my very own slashdot blurred eyes.
  • Having to microwave the lawn once a week (or more after it has been raining) seems like a small price to pay to be able to jump 20 feet into the ai--er, I mean space.

    • Re:Living on the moon would be great (Score:4, Funny)

      by bcattwoo ( 737354 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:14PM (#14047215)
      I suddenly realized why so many slashdotters find living in space so attractive. To me, the idea of spending 99% of one's time crammed in some spartan, cold moon base does not seem very appealing. On the other hand, it is probably not much different from the average slashdotter's living space, i.e. their mom's basement. When you add in the superhuman-like lifting and jumping abilities ("Look at me now, high school gym teacher!") the allure obviously becomes irresistible.
      • Not to mention how much more comfortable sitting around would be without gravity. without all that gravity forcing your weight down into an uncomfortable position (sitting in a chair), you'd not end up with a neckache/backache after a while. Of course, a better chair helps too.. but could you imagine zero-g floating around with a laptop infront of you?(I know, moon has gravity, that was more for spacestation living)
      • I realized a long time ago that I'd be rather well suited to live in Antartica or other artificial environments. While I do enjoy nature, I don't seem to need large doses of it. A small park with some grass and a few trees would do for me, up on the moon.

  • The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth -- by 70% (Score:3, Funny)

    by goldspider ( 445116 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @03:58PM (#14047061) Homepage
    It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)

    Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.

    Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!

    Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
    • Why does this cut&paste job keep getting modded up? I mean I'd be different if like the "In Soviet Russia..." jokes or "In Korea, only Old people..." or any of the myriad of other cookie cutter karma katchers, something new was added every time, but this thing seems like it's on some kind of {if isinsummary("moon") then post(weatherbaloonrant())} script.

  • Simplest? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cratermoon ( 765155 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:02PM (#14047096) Homepage
    It's a clever idea and all, but wouldn't it be simpler to just throw out some tarps?

    OK, they'd need a bit more than some blue plastic, but really, I'm sure enough lightweight, ultraviolet resistant, tough modern technical fibers material to cover a fair space could easily be taken up for the weight and size of this "lawnmower" idea.

  • Dang... (Score:2, Funny)

    by ChePibe ( 882378 )
    Let's hope it has a key ignition... pulling one of those stupid cords can't be fun in zero-g...
  • To know this problem has been solved. Worrying about the effects of lunar dust getting into lunar colonists' suit seals has been keeping me awake at night for years, not mention worrying about the effects of lunar dust getting into bodily crevices if they need to take a leak during a dust storm. But why not just damp it down with water?

    Oh, apparently I just failed planetary geography 101 there.

  • Will the astronauts have to put out the papers and the trash as well to get their spendin' cash? Or is that overtime?

  • Where the first few people to walk on the moon that messy?. I suppose the price of a good cleaning service up there is pretty high so I can understand it. There's real potential to make some serious money offering the first lunar cleaning service. Damn, no one steal my idea please.

  • The patent will expire long before there's a market for this product.

  • top of the head alternatives... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by way2trivial ( 601132 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:11PM (#14047186) Homepage Journal
    1- a satellite(s) that melts the regolith in a X meter wide path as it orbits.. as it cools, it will solidify - a use for SDI 'star wars' technology

    pros- makes the entire surface dust free-- cheap by comparison energy is free out there...
    cons- time consuming- ruins the surface for study by combining asteroids with lunar material-ya gotta do it all or it'll just spread around.

    2- ultrasonically vibrate any surface (suits, domes, locks on the surface) exposed to the regolith at a really high frequency, so that it doesn't stick (ever put dust on a paper and make patterns? by shaking the paper?)

    3- does regolith have any sort of charge? can you spray a suit with negative ions/ apply a battery to the metal to repel material? run a current through the metal to change the degree of attraction?

    • 1 and 2 aren't really viable options... Option 1, in addition to ruining the surface, would take too much energy (which is a problem with the lunar lawnmower as well) and would also not block the lunar winds which are also dusty. Option 2 would actually aggravate the problem: the problem is not that the dust is sticking but rather that the dust is penetrating the surfaces.

      However, you're onto something with Option 3. It turns out that lunar dust accumulates a static charge and could be repelled from small

      • Option 1, in addition to ruining the surface, would take too much energy (which is a problem with the lunar lawnmower as well) and would also not block the lunar winds which are also dusty

        Lunar... winds? Does that not imply a lunar... atmosphere?

  • You had to ruin it... (Score:3, Funny)

    by pmike_bauer ( 763028 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:12PM (#14047192)
    I thought THE major attractions for life on the moon were:br/>
    1. The only safe place to live is your mom's, lead-lined basement, away from the radiation.
    2. No mowing the lawn

    Now you tell me we'd hafta cultivate the lunar dust? Thanks a lot!

  • Only a few small problems to overcome.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ancient_Hacker ( 751168 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:15PM (#14047242)
    Only a few glitches:
    • A lunar rover is going to move at several feet per second.
    • To melt together the surface grains at the speed of a lunar rover is going to require several megawatts of continuous power.
    • A continuous megawatt is going to require a honkin big magnetron. Like 1000 times bigger than the one in a microwave oven.
    • There's no air up there they say, so it's going to be hard to cool the magnetron. A megawatt radiator/heatsink is going to be mighty big too.
    • Where you gonna get that much power? A megawatt is over 1000 horsepower. Hard to imagine us lugging a big nitro-fueled hemi all that way.
    • Hard to compete with the cleaning power of a low-tech damp rag.

  • "Moon dust menace" (Score:5, Funny)

    by KodeJockey ( 928302 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:24PM (#14047317)
    'Lunar lawnmower' to deal with Moon dust menace

    I've felt menaced by Moon Dust for years. Thank God our government's clumping technology will finally put an end to my sleepless nights

  • Meanwhile... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @04:32PM (#14047390)
    ...the Russians just use a pencil.
  • Microwaves? Forget that. Just use a giant parbolic solar mirror to melt the moon's surface where you want to settle.

  • hold the phone... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by skelly33 ( 891182 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @07:21PM (#14048556)
    the ability to use microwaves to solidify lunar dust into a "glassy substance" sounds much more interesting than merely dust control to me - what about construction? Couldn't the stuff be used to build structural walls and such for habitats rather than effectively patting it down into place on the ground?

    It was long suspected that the dust could be used to make concrete for building, but up to now it had been assumed that we would have to take something to the moon with us in order to mix with the dust to make a good, working cement.

    With this revelation it would seem that there is no need to bring any raw materials with us in order to build basic architectural structures, would it not? Heck, one of the references linked even indicated that a scientist has managed to achieve a similar result using nothing more than focused sunlight (heat).

    It seems to me that all we ought have need of is some sort modular form-casting materials to contain the structural "walls" or what-have-you while the dust is collected and packed into place within the form and then a means of focusing solar energy onto the form to raise temperature levels until such time as the dust fuses together. Remove the form and wallah: moon walls.

    Why is there no mention of this possibility in the article when it seems to be the next natural step in the train of thought?

  • moon *whatter*??? (Score:4, Funny)

    by myowntrueself ( 607117 ) on Wednesday November 16, 2005 @07:42PM (#14048672)
    Shouldn't this really be called a "Moonraker"?

  • > cause iron particles in the dust to clump together

    What does the EPA .. or future EPA .. have to say about this?
  • is that our equipment and technology is all computer-controlled, and when the Lunar Lawnmower Man decides to take everything over it will be chaos.
  • So thats what kids are calling it these days?

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