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Moon Camp Explorers 2022 – 2023 Project Gallery

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 dangers of space and describe the living and working facilities in their Moon Camp.

URBS Stellarum

European School Den Haag Den Haag-Zuid Holland Netherlands 14 0 / 0 English

External link for 3D Design

1.1 – Project Description

Our Moon Base project is designed to be a highly efficient, habitable base for astronauts and scientists all over the world. The main structures found on the Urbs Stellarum will be domes, solar panels, docks, storage containers and airlocked corridors.The domes will provide living space with all necessary features for a human: beds, bathrooms, showers, a canteen, a gym, a medical section and of course a research laboratory. A bio-dome will provide the right conditions for agricultural growth of food, while ration shipments can arrive by cargo shuttle. Vast solar panel fields will provide all the electricity necessary for the operation of the base, and a lunar ice crystal refinery will provide appropriate amounts of water. An observatory equipped with cutting-edge radar systems, an ELT (extremely large telescope). There is also a large communications tower near the main dome A rocket launch pad is also present on site, giving the Moon Base the capability of sending its own missions into space. Lunar Rovers will be present on the base to provide easy means of exploration and transportation for the astronauts based there. Later, when the project reaches an advanced stage, more facilities such as mines can be set up.

1.2 – Why do your astronaut want to go to the Moon and build a Moon Camp?

It will function like the International Space Station (ISS), in the sense that space missions from all countries are accepted on board. The Moon Base, which we will call Urbs Stellarum, will be a completely functioning settlement that will function as a research & development, trade, and exploration hub.

2.1.a – Where do you want to build your Moon Camp?

Close to the lunar poles

2.2.b – Why did you choose this location?

Our reasoning behind this decision is rather simple, being the water availability. As the moon has large amounts of lunar water locked in crystal form near its poles, settling the base close to it would minimize transportation costs and make the logistics of running the base a whole lot easier.

2.2 How do you plan to build your Moon Camp? Describe how you can use the Moon’s natural resources, and which materials you would need to bring from Earth.

The initial construction phase consists of a fleet of space shuttles deploying basic living structures with water and food rations for the worker, and the manpower to construct them. The second phase will involve another fleet deploying the materials for the water refinery and solar panels. The third phase will involve an armada of spacecraft to land more workers, crew, and materials for the rest of the modules to be constructed and to remove the temporary structures when finished. The main materials used will be steel, regolith, iron alloy, lead, and boron. Meanwhile, all necessary resupply sorties will be flown.

3.1 – How does your Moon Camp protect and provide shelter to your astronauts against the Moon’s harsh environment.

A bio-dome that will function very similar to a greenhouse is planned to provide all the crops needed for very basic forms of food, such as corn, wheat, grain, and vegetables. For items such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, oils and chocolate, shipments will need to land to deliver them to the base as they cannot be grown on the moon itself.

3.2 – On the Moon, resources are very scarce, but during long Moon missions, astronauts cannot rely on resupply missions from the Earth. Explain how your Moon Camp will provide astronauts with sustainable access to basic needs like water, food, air and power.

A vast field of solar panels connected to the base’s power grid will provide all electricity necessary. This will be an efficient way to get electricity, because as we all know the moon gets its light from the sun, and so the solar panels will be able to convert that into electricity for the base.

To provide oxygen to our astronauts, we will use zeolite filters in all our facilities. These are the exact same type of filters used aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

To provide water, we will desing a lunar ice crystal refinery which will melt ice from the Moon pole.

For protection against radiation, our domes will be reinforced with iron alloy, lead, and boron. All these materials listed above are very efficient against radiation. For reference, the Chernobyl Disaster was combatted in large part by boron and sand. When it comes to meteorite protection, we will deploy several ASRAD-HELLAS anti-air batteries on the surface around the base’s key infrastructure paired with advanced radar systems. Some ASRAD-HELLAS systems can be mounted on our rovers, to give them greater range and mobility. These systems are simple, meaning that minimal training is needed for the operators, erasing the need for specialized crewmates.

4.1 – What would you include in your astronaut training programme, to help prepare the astronauts for a Moon mission?

The astronaut wakes up to the sound of the alarm clock in his living quarters, along with all the others at what is calculated to be 7:00 GMT. He goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. He puts on his space suit and heads to the canteen for breakfast with his coworkers at 7:15 A cargo shipment is expected at the docks at 7:50 GMT. After his breakfast, a few coworkers walk with him to the docks. The cargo shuttle arrives, and he assists with the unloading of the cargo onto the rovers. Once the shipment has been tidied away, he walks towards the main office, where he is given the task of filing the shipment reports of the past 2 weeks. Lunch is served at 12:15 GMT in the canteen. After his lunch, he continues to file the reports until he finishes them. He then gets a bit of leisure time, starting from 14:00. He goes to the gym for an hour and a half and takes a quick shower after his workout. A warning is issued from the observatory/control tower: a meteorite is expected to impact 986m away from the water tanks. He instantly rushes to man ASRAD-HELLAS battery SB-S2, tracking the target and activating his missile launchers when the time is right. The meteorite is fragmented and changes course, impacting 5 km away, and danger is averted. At 18:00 dinner is served. Our astronaut can now rest and prepare for the next day.