Artemis Research 2.12.3

By Ehsan Noursalehi

Shelter for Living on the Moon

Goal

• Create a permanent/semi-permanent settlement on the moon
• Eventually lead to cities and factories

Purpose

• Scientific
• Attain scientific data and a better understanding of the moon
• Economical
• Develop a system of harvesting energy and transporting it back to earth

Initial Obstacles

• Cost
• A cost of over $10,000 exists to even send a pound of mass into space
• Capability
• Before planning to fully engage in a settlement on the moon, NASA must send at least one mission to the moon and safely back
• Technology
• Scientist must develop technologies to construct permanent settlements on the moon which can protect from radiation and imposing meteorites
• Several methods due currently exist
• Slag from all-isotope
• Lunar Lavatube use
• In-Situ Lunar Cities
• Not only must the technology be developed to protect from such hazards, but they must also make it cheap to construct, transport into space, and construct on the moon
• Method
• Once the technology for shelters is in place, an easy and quick method must also be developed for astronauts to construct the settlements
• Supplies
• The exact supplies needed to start a settlement must be calculated and reduced as much as possible due to the limited cargo a rocket can take into space
• Construction supplies are a necessity and attempts should be made to attain as much material from the moon itself
• Though this seems practical, the effort to harvest such supplies for an initial settlement can be extremely difficult
• Nevertheless, the tools required for construction will also be needed to take into space
• Apart from construction supplies, certain basic necessities are required for the astronauts in order to even attempt to construct a settlement
• Food
• A relatively large supply of food will be required to be continually sent to the moon if a permanent settlement is desired
• Oxygen
• There are methods to harvest oxygen from the moon’s soil, however, those methods (due to their difficulty) are worthless for the initial settlers

The truth of the matter is that initial obstacles are everything right now. Numerous ideas and patents have been created for developing intricate systems of constructing, harvesting, manufacturing, and transporting on the moon. Unfortunately, all of these ideas serve no application until an initial settlement can be constructed. Yet, before a settlement can be constructed, it must be proven that first, a group of astronauts can make it to the moon and spend several days on the surface. It will be a slow progression, but it must be made before all of these ideas can change from fantasy to reality.

Overtime, astronauts must make longer and longer visits to the moon (utilizing there spaceship as a shelter). Eventually, a group of astronauts must be left on the moon for a period of time in an alternative shelter (apart form the spaceship). Due to the fact that NASA has not even made it to the moon in the recent era, this initial task seems to be an extremely difficult one on its own. Yet, this only encompasses a preliminary process on how to prove that “maybe” a temporary settlement on the moon is even possible.

Future Settlement Plans

· Slag from all-isotope (Dr. Peter Schubert)

Slag from all-isotope is a method which Dr. Schubert of Packer Engineering has patented

• Ion Sputtering
• A
• A
• a
• Lunar Lavatube Use (Artemis Data Book)
• Pupose:
• Provide shelter form the elements
• Lunar lavatubes will theoretically protect from radiation emission, extreme temperature change, and dust
• Method of Construction
• Construct shelters inside lunar lavatubes which will protect from a majority of the elements
• Other materials needed to construct a lunar shelter will be obtained using the “carbonyl method”
• Carbonyl Method
• “Native meteoritic metal could be refined by the carbonyl method, and the metal carbonyls used to produce a think, tough, airtight metal layer on the inside of a habitat woven from lunar glass fibers”
• Pros
• Most of the material is to be obtained straight from the lunar surface
• The methods of preparing the material are similar to ones done right here on earth
• Sudbury, Canada is the Earth’s largest supplier of nickel and the method desired to be used in space is not all to different from their method
• The lavatubes are already in place and essentially need only to be furnished
• Cons
• (at least in the article) There is no evident detailed plan on how to actually harvest the material from the lunar surface
• Though most the materials for this plan are available on the moon already, the equipment required to create such a shelter still must be brought from Earth
• Many of the specific tools required for the lavatube construction are not mentioned in the article
• Most likely the technology is still yet to be developed
• Once the proper tools are invented, it will probably be a very large challenge to actually get the heavy tools on to the moon
• In-Situ Lunar Cities (Artemis Data Book)

Sources

Billings, Tom. "Lunar Lavatube Use." THE ARTEMIS PROJECT Shelter for Living on the Moon: Section 2.12.3 (2004): The Artemis Society International 7 July 2006 < http://www.asi.org/adb/02/12/03/lavatube-use.html >.

Mook, William J. "Building In-Situ Lunar Cities." THE ARTEMIS PROJECT Shelter for Living on the Moon: Section 2.12.3 (2004): The Artemis Society International 7 July 2006 < http://www.asi.org/adb/02/12/03/lavatube-use.html >.

Schrunk, David; Burton Sharpe; and Bonnie Cooper; Madhu Thangavelu. "The Moon: Resources, Future Development, and Colonization." Series in Space Science and Technology Wiley-Praxis: John Wiley & Sons.

Sellerss, Jerry J. "Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics." Space Technology Series Second Edition: The McGraw-Hill Companies, INC.

http://www.regenerating-universe.org/On_Moon_as_Space_Base.htm