Talk:Blacksmith

On Luna meteoric iron has shown up as tiny bits in the regolith. If on Mars this iron is conveniently available in large chunks requiring minimal processing to use, it has yet to be demonstrated. Such deposits might not be close to a settlement if they exist.--Farred 00:59, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Many multi-tonne pieces of meteoric iron have been found on Earth, even though its orbit is intersected by far fewer asteroids and the meteorite's geological lifespan before eroded or buried is far shorter on Earth's surface. So it's simple extrapolation to expect even larger pieces to be even more abundant on Mars and, to a lesser extent, on the moon. We've done only a miniscule amount of exploration at the necessary detail, so that doesn't tell us anything. As for location, if there is subsurface ice over one-quarter of the surface of Mars, and 400 kilotonne-sized iron meteorites, that gives us 100 locations to choose from with both ice and iron. Frontiersman 01:39, 15 February 2010 (UTC)