Use of Explosives on The Moon

Abstract

The utilization of explosives for excavation on the lunar surface is under serious consideration as a part of the design for construction of temporary and permanent bases. An excavation research program has shown that small‐scale explosives blasting in a lunar‐soil simulant will greatly reduce the digging forces required for scoop and dragline excavators. Some crater‐blasting parameters were determined for the lunar soil simulant at one Earth gravity and at 10 Earth gravities using a centrifuge. The size of the craters produced at 10 Earth gs matched those formed at one earth g by scaling according to the weight of the explosive. These data can be applied to explosive‐excavation problems such as habitat construction, burial of nuclear power sources, and the rapid construction of shelters remote from the main base to shield against solar‐flare activity.