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.
IC IV Stanziale San Giorgio a Cremano-Campania Italy 13 0 / 2 English
In the Moon Camp that we have designed the headquarters will consist of a laboratory and a control center where our astronauts will carry out research activities. Six different capsules be able to host up to 12 people. We will use a greenhouses with darkening panels to produce both oxygen and food through a reserve of spirulin algae that are also edible. There will also be a water extractor, which extracts it from the subsoil and bring it to a tank where it will be store and used for irrigation and drinking. There will be other capsules to house the lab, gym, recycling area and pantry. Finally there will be a platform to implement soft-landing for our rocket. If we look specifically, in the laboratory we find means and tools to carry out experiments, while in the control center the means to communicate with the Earth and control the various space missions.
Since the past, many space explorations have been conducted on the Moon. The Moon could in fact be seen as an alternative place to live in the event that the Earth becomes an uninhabitable place (as it could happen due to the greenhouse effect and therefore climate change), or in the event that it could not contain the entire population for available resources (as the population is growing). Also you can think of the Moon as a closer point from which to reach Mars or other planets.
We decided to build our Moon Camp at the South Pole,
The reasons why we chose this place are mostly related to the temperature and water we find at this point on the Moon. At the lunar pole we find water to be extracted from the subsoil and it is precisely for this reason that we have planned a means to extract and purify water, one of the resources without which there could be no life on the Moon. This water which will be used for the hydration of the inhabitants of the lunar camp and for the irrigation of the spirulin algae. A further reason for deciding to plan the moon camp at the South Pole is the much better temperature than in other lunar places.
One of the fundamental elements in our Moon Camp is the 3D printer, as transporting the materials useful in the construction would be too expensive and for these it is useful to be able to build these materials with this type of device. As for natural resources, we plan to extract the water already present in the lunar subsoil and exploit sunlight to produce energy. Finally, all the remaining resources necessary to allow life on this celestial body such s food and oxygen will produced by using specific equipment especially designed for our Moon Camp.
One of the main problems of our project is exposure to risks, as we designed the Moon Camp in an exposed place and not underground. That is precisely why our Moon Camp is exposed to the risk of meteorite attack. To defend our Moon Camp from meteorites we anticipate the use of polyethylene, regolith and materials much stronger than the norm that will be produced by using a 3D printer. As far as the temperatures are concerned, we chose this place because this area is one of the most suitable for human settlement. Despite being prepared to work in a harsh environment by adequate training on Earth, Astronauts will use specific equipment such as space suits in which they will suffer to a lesser extent exposure to such temperature variations.
Precisely because transporting Earth’s resources would be too expensive, and because even on Earth these resources tend to be scarce, in our Moon Camp we have provided means to produce the fundamental resources such as water, food and energy. In fact, we have planned a system to extract water from the subsoil that we know is available in some form at the South Pole. The food is produced by greenhouses with darkening panels where spiruline algae are grown, a plant chosen because it produces oxygen as well as food. We have provided for shading panels in these greenhouses because the excessive presence of light would not lead to the growth of the products, on the contrary, it would make them die. Since life without adequate resources would not be possible, it is also important to recycle, in fact we have planned a food recycling area that produces methane, a very important source of energy. However, this energy would not be enough to meet the energy needs and that is precisely why we have designed solar panels that transform solar energy into electricity.
Being an astronaut is one of the most difficult jobs as it takes preparations not only for the aerospace field but also for other fields. This is precisely why ESA imposes difficult tests to be able to earn a place in European space missions. After selection these people have to face a preparation divided into several stages that is the same that the 12 inhabitants of our Moon Camp should follow. The first phase consists of Basic Training in which astronauts take robotics courses, do training for survival, on how to take spacewalks. In the second phase astronauts are placed to harsh tests in earth environments that can be partly comparable to those of space including caves. In the caves, astronauts must be able to survive and perform experiments, being in a cold place and where risks are not absent. The same simulation is then done underwater, where astronauts simulate spacewalks, because in space, when astronauts are in their own suits it is difficult to move with agility just as it is underwater. Finally the astronauts will take a geology course to conduct experiments concerning the lunar soil and finally they will experience micro-gravity in parabolic flights.
