moon_camp
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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.

Moon Camp Selene

Pinewood American International School Thessaloniki  Thessaloniki-Thessaloniki    Greece 13   0 / 4 English



1.1 – Project Description

The moon camp will be made of regolith, aluminum and polyethylene. It is approximately 1 km long, and 1 km deep into the wall of the crater leaving 2 kilometers for the ice drill and the regolith collector. The drill will have pipes that will be connected to the water tank in the moon camp, the pipes will be connected to specific places in the moon base like, bathroom, green house and kitchen.

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

We want to build this moon camp because we want to help these astronauts go beyond all established limits by exploring the moon to a great extent. Humans have only explored 5% of the moon’s surface so far; therefore, we want to create an opportunity to provide the astronauts with all the resources they require and to explore more of the moon’s surface and resources. In the moon camp there will be facilities designed for the astronauts’ wellbeing, for example beds are specially crafted so the astronauts can relax to their maximum extent and not be tired for the next day’s exploration. The moon camp’s other parts, such as the common area, kitchen, and bathroom are structured to host the astronauts in comfort and supply them with resources to aid them in every need. This will give the astronauts the opportunity to comprehend the surface and nature of the moon.

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

Shackleton crater

2.2.b – Why did you choose this location?

The Shackleton Crater is an extremely suitable place to build a space station, since it completely protects the astronauts from interplanetary asteroids and from solar radiation. The middle level of the inside of the crater and the base is almost completely shielded from solar radiation. In the rim of the crater, naturally, the chances of being hit by an interplanetary meteorite are also less. With a temperature of -97 degrees celsius, the crater is full of ice which we can convert into water. We can also manufacture oxygen from both regolith and ice.

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 material that will be used to build the moon camp will be regolith. We will use materials that will be effective because inside the moon camp we will need to have oxygen so the materials need to be hard. Half of our moon camp will be inside of the crater and the other half will be outside. The water tank that we built from aluminum will be on the inside with the rest of the base. The living spaces will be inside and the wall, floor and ceiling will be built with regoliz, aluminum and polyethylene. The greenhouse will be outside of the crater as well as the solar panels that are connected to a base to store the energy that they take.

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

There is a type of hard plastic called Polyethylene, it can protect you from bullets or anything traveling at a fast speed. The shield can be from 10 to 20 cm thick, this might help us protect us from asteroids of at least average size. It can be thick enough to protect us from the sun’s radiation. You can then use the plastic shield tanker with water, it can cool the base in a tanker during the sun heating really hard. Think about it as water protecting us from fire.

The best suitable place to built a station is the moon’s lunar pits they are a set of caves that are 63 degrees Fahrenheit, this is a good temperature for humans to built a space station and does not provide lots of protection from radiation, it’s a good place compared to the other locations of Mars like the surface of the moon, the surface of the moon reaches to an insane heating temperature which is 127 degrees celsius and the bottom of the moon has an estimated temperature of -173 degrees celsius, it is freezing cold and you have no chance of growing food their.

The most suitable place to build the Moon Camp protection-wise would be in a lava tube. This is because they have an average temperature of 17℃, a very livable temperature for humans, which would enable scientists to explore and live on the moon without wasting too much energy on trying to not freeze to death. They also are natural barriers that keep radiation from the sun, micrometeorites and cosmic rays out. Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Ingenii are two of the many lava tubes on the near side of the moon.

Polyethylene: a commonly used plastic material that when compressed can block out many things including bullets. A 20-30cm barrier of the material for the moon camp can block out lethal radiation from the Sun and meteorites. 

Water: Can also shield us from the Sun’s radiation and solar flares but this element cannot efficiently be made into an outer layer of the camp so a more effective way of benefiting from water would be to be in it(pool party, long shower and baths)during solar flares.

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.

Water: At the bottom of the Shackleton crater there is a lot of ice that we are going to collect and then process so we can make it into water

Food: we are going to have a greenhouse on top of the crater so the sunlight hits it and we can grow different types of crops.

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

Endurance, strength, balance and flexibility.

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