In Moon Camp Pioneers, each team’s mission is to 3D design a complete Moon Camp using the software of their choice. 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.
ROBOKIDS Richmond Vancouver-BC Canada 13, 14 2 / 0 English
3D design software: Fusion 360
My moon camp consists of a gym, a bedroom, and a few solar panels. The moon base is made of two circular domes with a hallway connecting them. In the gym there’s a weight rack and three treadmills. in the bedroom their is three bunk beds.
The reason building a moon camp is important is for three different reasons. The first reasons is to research things on the moon as we dont know much about the moon. however if we have a moon camp it my be easier to research if their is a camp on the moon. the second reason to have a camp on the moon is experience in making a base on a different planet and this is important if humanity want to settle on other plants like mars. The last reason to build a moon base is that it can be used as a stepping stone to other plants because the moon has a lower gravity than earth and can be used to launch heavier things onto other plants.
We chose to build a lunar base near Lunar Antarctica. Lunar Antarctica, it is illuminated 90% of the day, making it the perfect place for the current Moon. Another advantage of the lunar south pole is the climate. The moon is a very different place than the earth. It takes about a month for the moon to rotate. Lasts about two weeks each night in most parts of the Moon. However, some regions of the Moon’s south pole are almost always illuminated, like Earth’s north pole summer conditions. This means that these areas will not experience significant temperature changes, and the solar panels installed there will be able to absorb enough sunlight to power the lunar base. Additionally, the main reason for setting up lunar bases at both poles of the Moon is that there is water in the permanent shadow, which could be a source of water.
After discussing about our moon camp, we came to a conclusion to build the moon camp using mostly lunar concrete. This resource is made from a mixture of Sulphur and aggregate (grains or crushed rock and normal concrete is aggregate, cement and water) would be a good option because it is very stable and easier to use/build if we think of other material. Out camp will have several rooms, solar panels, gym etc. A gym is very important when you are in the moon because the gravity on the moon is very different; extremely important to have many hours of exercise for the body, this is the only way to keep healthy and filled with energy. We also planned to add 3-4 rooms, each for a different use, for planning, building, experimenting, and testing. Our moon camp and design choices will benefit everyone during this mission on the moon.
One of the main challenges of building a moon bace is protecting the inhabitants from moon’s harsh environment. These harsh conditions include, radiation, the temperature and lastly, the lack of oxygen. The main reason why radiation is such a big issue on the moon is that unlike earth it doesn’t have a magnetic field that can shield it against radiation. Therefore astronauts will need extra protection from it wich can be accomplished by using thin aluminum sheets, a net of Kevlar and Epoxy and air gaps in between the materials to slow down the radiation particles. The second thing to be worried about is the moon’s temperature. Its temperature can vary greatly depending on the time and is extremely cold at the poles. Therefore it is important to have good insulation and heating. The last thing to be worried about is the lack of oxygen that can be solved through electrolysis.
The moon bace will be near a water crater and the base will be able to melt it to get water., food will be grown in the bace, oxygen will be obtained through electrolysis, lastly power will be obtained through solar panels.
Many people argue about how to manage the waste products that astronauts create. There is many solutions, but we think that the waste products could be made into helpful resources in the future, for example, fuel or heat. Some waste can be left somewhere, and letting nature do its thing, which is called anaerobic composting, these composting can be turned into heat. As of current times, 3d models are very important. Will metal wastes, we could turn these into materials that are being used for 3d printing. Many times, the trash in our everyday lives can be used to build and contruct other things to support the mission that we are on. In general, the things that we bring from earth should mostly all be used for materials, recourse etc. Using our wastes for other projects is not only saving waste materials but helping us in our journey
During a project/mission for moon bases, communication is one of the keys to success, whether its discussing plans with other bases, or communicating and fixing a problem to someone else. It is one of the most important things we need to worry about. First things first, A system of communication satellites in lunar orbit can provide the communications needed over the moon’s surface. There are always different ways of communication, for example, other methods such as resupply satellites, relay towers, and terrestrial propagation are possible, and are effective, but in the end, we find satellites more effective than these methods of communication. Satellites will be the key to our communication system.
There are many possible experiments to do on the moon, we can explore if there is useful resources like water ice. This will be extremely important for future experiments. There is already several satellites trying to complete this mission, one of them named “Lunar IceCube”. The “Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper” Both of these have been supporting the whole mission by finding ice. One of the major reasons we have built and designed this moon camp is to support and help the hunt for ice. Using our camp, we will have quality time to discover and find out the possibilities within the moon. Not only ice, but NASA has also launched a mission to explore the moon further in detail. In June 2022, NASA announced 2 science experiments called “Lunar-VISE”, and biological research called “Lunar Explorer” Using our moon camp, taking time and effort into researching biologically into the moon will not be a problem; our camp is secure, and can give more hope to the mission.
Astronaut training programmes is one of the hardest and challenging part of being an astronaut. It is also difficult to organize. In men opinion, the asstranul training that we would have should have plenty of education, including mathematics, geology meteorology, guidance and navigation, oceanography, orbital dynamics, physics. All of these skills and crusial to use when exploring the moon, astronauts should bet in training of orbital mechanics, scientific experimentation, earth observation, and astronomy. We would also put in some education for what to expect on the moon, like gravity etc. We think it is important for the astronauts to be prepared for any situation that will heaped not he moon.
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