Bulk technology is not rocket science; it’s more difficult
Rules for the Characterisation of Bulk Materials Bulk technology is not rocket science: it’s not that easy. Moreover, rocket scientists agree. A recent paper by NASA: - ‘Granular Materials and the Risks They Pose for Success on the Moon and Mars’, summarizes the uncertainty that surrounds many aspects of bulk handing.
The NASA paper states: ‘Working with soil, sand, powders, ores, cement, etc. and using hoppers, are so routine, that it seems straightforward to do it on the moon and mars as we do it on earth. This paper brings to the fore how little these processes are understood and the millennia-long trial-and-error practices that lead to today’s massive over-design, high failure rate, and extensive incremental scaling up of industrial processes because of the inadequate predictive tools for design’.
This state of affairs was also confirmed by two well-cited Rand reports that compared the performance of a number of new solids handling installations with others handling liquids and gasses. It should