Altho the moon's most abundant element is silicon, there is some iron on the surface. Plenty of iron on Mars. As for lunar bases, metalic silicon would be the material of choice. spike
Webb_S wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, how would one go about creating carbon steel,
> composed primarily of iron, out of sand composed primarily of silicon?
> Nanotech has many possibilities, but unless I've overlooked something
> alchemical transformation of elements isn't one of them.
>
> Ross A. Finlayson wrote:
>
> > I think one proof-of-concept machine that makes carbon steel structural
> I-> > beams out of sand on-site will be plenty to kickstart plenty of
> investment.