Abstract:

To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is a dream we pursue unremittingly. With the excess consumption of the mineral resource on earth and the rapid development of aerospace technology, the development of space mineral resource has become a hot topic in the international aerospace industry. Metallurgical industry is essential in exploiting space resource and building space base. But the physical and chemical environment in outer space is very different from the Blue planet we live in today, such as ultra-high vacuum, weightlessness, overweight, and the astrochemical
composition. So far, the metallurgical theories are built in a specific environment on the Earth's surface. The existing metallurgical theories will be ineffective once applied to outer space, when faced with extreme pressure, temperature, gravitational acceleration, especially the different chemical composition of the planet. Thus, we need to consider the metallurgical process and theories in the light of outer space environment. This paper intends to make a preliminary discussion on this issue.