Our project was created based on a wide variety of research we did. We looked into a lot of different facts and research that had already been done about the moon and its colonization theories. We also explored different ideas of getting water, oxygen and even hydrogen. Furthermore, we looked into the general needs of a person. However, even though we did find out a lot of very interesting and educating facts, we still were quite far away from implementing our ideas in the Fusion 360 medium because of our limited experience with this program.

After evaluating the possible options we decided that we want to build our Moon Camp in the south pool region. Such a place would facilitate various logistical issues because we will have access to permanent sunlight, deposits of ice, craters, canyons, caves and lava tubes that will work as natural barriers to solar radiation as well as whole new areas that have never been explored before. We think that these advantages will outweigh the added difficulty of communication with earth and that they can be resolved using a satellite network.

For any project of this caliber, it is very important to avoid saving money by cutting corners, therefore some of the techniques involved in this process might be quite expensive. First of all, it is important to address the generic dome design. It is rather simple and some might even say that it is boring but the dome is one of the most stable shapes. It is also important to note that there is typically a minimum of 30% less surface area in domes when compared to other structural shapes. Because of this, they have better energy efficiency and require 30% less energy for heating and cooling. In terms of the process of setting this camp up, there are not that many ways it could be done and we believe that 3d printing is the way to go. It is already possible to print out very sturdy structures nowadays. In a few years when humanity will have perfected the technique, it will be more affordable and easier to just send a machine with materials to print the habitat and all the additional buildings required.

• We plan to take advantage of the surroundings and use them to shield the astronauts from radiation and moon dust
• The outer layer of the base will be made out of multiple layers for extra safety. This safety measure will assure astronaut safety in case of any breaches and will help to track any damage.
• To avoid loss of power we will use an electrostatic traveling wave device that will keep solar panels clean from lunar dust

The main way to provide water will be ice mining using huge mirrors that concentrate sunlight generating heat that melts the ice. While in a resource-constrained environment our base will need to use and recycle as much as possible. That’s why we will have systems to reuse the water from air and even from human waste.

It is no surprise that people also need food to survive and so because of that it is also important to consider this issue as well. The most obvious choice would have to be farming. Some plants that are quite effective are potatoes, kale and whilst not quite plants but still very nutritious- mushrooms. All of these can potentially sustain a person for a lifetime if they are grown in a proper environment. It would also be very important to create and maintain compost. That would be a nice way of acquiring hydrogen and recycling some waste.

Since our base will be located on the pole, we will be able to use solar power all the time. As the loss of solar panels would be catastrophic, we will equip them with devices that can effectively clean them from lunar dust and constantly provide the base with power. If possible we would like to use nuclear energy as well because it is better if we need to power a project or vehicle with high energy consumption.

We will produce oxygen through freeing it from metal oxides that can be found in Moon’s soil. It has about 43% oxygen which could serve as a stable source of oxygen when substantial amount of soil would get mined. As an alternative to this method there is also a way to get oxygen through the mining of ice. And a 3rd more passive method is photosynthesis from farmed plants such as potatoes and kale. It would be enough to single-handedly support the whole habitat but it would give a nice boost to oxygen production.

This base would be one of the very first build so it would serve scientific purposes at the very least at the beginning. As more bases are built, more of them can be repurposed for other uses. This base would be very much akin to the International Space Station, which was a new frontier that tested the limits of human possibilities and let people conduct research and live whilst in space. Our base would serve the same function but meant to sustain people for much longer than ISS is capable of. It would also be a place relatively close to Earth where we could test out whether colonizing another planet or moon would even be worth it.