moon_camp

Moon Camp Explorers Gallery 2020-2021

In Moon Camp Explorers each team’s mission is to 3D design a complete Moon Camp using Tinkercad. They also have to explain how they will use local resources, protect astronauts from the dangerous of space and describe the living and working facilities.

Team: Jax Inc.

John A. Sutter Middle School  Winnetka    United States 14

External link for 3d

Project description

Our moon camp will have two astronauts living there for 6 months to a year. The goals of our moon camp are, figuring out if there are more possible ways to live on the moon, learning more about the conditions and struggles of living there, and learning more about the resources we can use. We met our design goals by relying almost entirely on local resources to provide food, air, water and energy to satisfy all our needs. We will grow food in a greenhouse, our energy will be produced using solar and nuclear resources, and we will produce our air and water by extracting water ice trapped in the craters near our camp on the South Pole. There will be a greenhouse , sleeping rooms, research lab, and a medical room.

Where do you want to build your Moon Camp?

Lunar lava tubes

Why did you choose this location?

We are going to build our base in the lava tubes. We are building the base in the lava tubes because we want to be warm. On the moon, the days are much longer than the days are on Earth. The daytime lasts for 14 Earth days. The nighttime also lasts for 14 Earth days. So for 14 days in a row, it will be hot and then for another 14 days in a row, it will be cold. Since we live in the Lava Tubes, we will be warmer. Also, since we are living underground. We will be protected by the meteorites that hit the moon.

How do you plan to build your Moon Camp? Which materials would you use?

Our above ground moon camp will be built using an inflatable structure frame with regolith brick that will be 3D printed. The inflatable structure is delivered to the moon camp and looks like a cylinder. When opened it expands to its true size and dome shape.  The 3D printed regolith bricks are perfect for framing the windows and airlock doors and tunnels. The materials used keep astronauts safe from the harsh cold and hot moon weather. The rubber layer inside the inflatable structure prevents oxygen from escaping, keeping the moon camp pressurized. The outside Kevlar layer protects them from radiation.

Explain how your Moon Camp will provide the astronauts with:
Water
Food
Electricity
Air

We will use water shipped from Earth and water from the moon. The moon’s poles have permanently shadowed regions that never receive sunlight. There’s 600 million metric tons of water ice there. We will use the ice to get air, water, and propellant. We will save, recycle and increase our water supply so we don’t run the moon dry. By letting the moon keep as much water as we can improves the chance of making a civilization on the moon.

The main sources of food will be crops. They will be grown hydroponically under LED lights to improve the growth. We will grow Kale and other crops with high amounts of nutrients.

We will mainly use solar energy. When the sun isn’t out we will tap into the solar power saved in batteries and nuclear energy.

Air on the moon is a key part of an astronaut’s daily life on the moon. We will provide air using three methods. Will will use molten salt electrolysis to get oxygen from regolith, electrolysis of water and will also have oxygen delivered from Earth as backup.

Describe a day on the Moon for one of your Moon Camp astronauts

After waking the astronaut does their work out. They do this because they want to keep a normal, healthy body. If they don’t exercise 2 hours daily, they will start to have muscle and bone loss. After they exercise, they eat their breakfast. Then, they get to work. They put on their moon suit to explore the moon in a closed rover. If any meteorites hit the moon, they will be protected. They gather moon samples to bring back to the moon camp and conduct experiments on the samples to see how durable it is, what it’s made of, and what it reacts with.  Then they check on their plant experiments. They are investigating if Aloe Vera can produce enough air for the astronauts to survive. Then after a long day, they take a shower. They use rinseless liquid soap and liquid shampoo, warm water, a towel, and their comb. They squirt the shampoo and soap into their skin. They usually start by squirting the water onto their scalp. Then they just spread the water through their hair. Then, they squirt the shampoo onto their scalp. Just like the water, they spread it through their hair. Since they don’t stand under running water, they use the towel also to get some excess dirt off of their scalp. Then, they let their hair dry by itself.


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