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.
Shanghai Qingpu Senior High School Shanghai-Qingpu China 15, 18, 16 6 / 2 English
3D design software: Fusion 360
Our “Very Poor” team plans to establish a base called Pioneer Eye on the moon. As we all know, the environment on the moon is very harsh and dangerous for astronauts. Our Moon base is equipped with facilities for radiation protection, meteorite protection, extreme temperature protection, and space vacuum protection. At the same time, the base can also provide sustainable basic necessities such as water, food, air, and electricity to maintain the comfort and stability of astronauts’ lunar life.
Pioneer Eye is the name of our moon camp. We have a station sign with two leaves set off the moon, showing the scientific direction of it. As a pioneer, it will be the basis and front line for mass human settlement on the moon, being a base for biological experiments to find out how to support long-term survival of human with biology, and the eye will be the window for human to see and understand. It will be used as a scientific study base for human, building the radio telescope to make use of the unique space observation conditions for observation of the moon. With these research objectives in mind, we modularize our base to respond to different research approaches. The astronauts are also an important part of the program, and we provide protection and health care for the two astronauts who will stay there for the long term.
Our moon camp was chosen to be built on the south-central side of Malapert mountain. Here are its many advantages:
Water: The study showed the presence of ice in the permanently shaded northern region of Malapert. We can use a lunar rover to collect the water ice and relieve the water pressure on the camp.
Construction: According to the results of satellite detection, the average slope of the bottom area on the south side of Malaper is 4.7°, much better than the 5.5° of Amundsen, another site selection. Generally speaking, the terrain of this area is flat, which is very conducive to the construction mode of 3D printing and the takeoff and landing of transport spacecraft.
Light: The south side of the Malapert is in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 light, not far from the average 0.18 light of the Amundsen Crater, and the Malapert at the South Pole is well suited to meet the camp’s electricity needs.
In terms of design, considering the harsh environment of the moon, we arranged a special dome to protect the main body of the base. In the interior, we used the architectural idea of pentagon shape and square section to give consideration to aesthetics and simplicity.What’s more,we arranged the living area in the middle to make the space arrangement compact and convenient, and also facilitate the subsequent series of expansion centered on the living area. In addition, we will only use the rover and 3d printer for the preliminary construction of the lunar camp, and wait for conditions to allow the delivery of astronauts and ground supplies to finish the final work, which can avoid the problems caused by the moon’s natural conditions and cost.
In terms of technology and materials, we will use local materials. Moon rover will be used to collect lunar regolith. Experiments have proved that various gelling components of lunar regolith have certain similarities with cement raw materials, which can achieve considerable impact resistance and compression resistance. Then we use the 3d printer to print out the dome with regolith, and the base shell inside the dome with aluminum and pure epoxy. Finally, astronauts will dig underground then build the interior.
For meteorite protection, we have our own dome made of lunar regolith. We also use a three-layer protection structure consisting of the outermost buffer screen, a filler layer about 100mm away from the buffer screen and a bulkhead about 17.5mm away from the filler layer. Three layers of basalt fiber cloth and arylon fiber cloth filling layer with better comprehensive impact limit and aluminum alloy 3A21 buffer screen are used as protective materials.
For radiation protection, we use pure epoxy to shield cosmic rays and quartz glass wrapped in k9 glass as glass material, which can minimize the damage of high-energy charged particles and bremsstrahl radiation to the base and equipment at the same time.
For heat and static electricity, F46 (polyfluoroethylene propylene) based anti-static electrothermal control coating can be well insulated, cope with temperature differences and protect against static electricity.
Water: We pass urine and other domestic wastewater into the processor, which can filter, distill, purify, cool and separate them in the urine recovery system to produce brine. The brine is received by the brine recovery system and the water is extracted. Salt and part of organic matter are removed through three layers of special filters, and the remaining organic matter in water is oxidized and finally entered the tank after quality is checked. At the same time, the camp will be built at the South Pole of the moon, where solid water is collected by a moon rover and melted into the water purification plant to form domestic water.
Food: Mainly relying on vegetables grown in the camp and food brought from the earth, we choose to plant highland barley and bok choy. Highland barley containing high carbohydrate has high adaptability to the environment, being suitable for growing as staple food in space. Chinese cabbage, with short growth cycle, high nutritional value and shallow root distribution, is also suitable for growing as food there.
Air: We absorb the water vapor from the air in the camp and electrolyze the liquid from the astronauts to produce gases. This method can alleviate air pollution to a certain extent. The hydrogen gas discharged can also be used as an auxiliary gas for solar power generation. We also collected compounds containing oxygen and nitrogen from the moon through the moon rover, melted them at high temperatures, and then used electricity to ionize gas molecules.
Energy: We use heat to produce high-pressure steam to turn a turbine and generate electricity. The controlled fission of uranium oxide and the incineration of waste produce a steady amount of heat, making nuclear fission our main source of energy. With solar panels, it can support normal energy demand.
A small portion of the waste that cannot be recycled is then broken down by experimental microbes, exploring the products and rates of decomposition of different microbes to find the best ones for waste disposal: the rest is incinerated to generate energy. The other part is recycled. The water circulation system generates salt water through filtration, distillation, purification, cooling and separation in the urine system. The salt and organic matter are removed through the filter, and the water quality is checked before entering the tank and finally reaching the drinkable drinking machine under the push of the delivery pump. The main form of air circulation is chemical reactions. The new gas is produced by electrolysis of water vapor with waste liquid. Oxygen can be used to breathe, and hydrogen can be used as an auxiliary gas for solar power generation.
We use radio detection devices to communicate with the ground. Radar transmits electromagnetic wave to irradiate the target and receive its echo for communication, which is also an efficient and simple communication method at present.
We compare the advantages and disadvantages of radio communication and laser communication, and make a choice. The disadvantage of laser communication technology is that it costs more than radio, and requires an Earth-oriented receiver, which is difficult to align on the rotating moon and the earth. In addition, laser is also easily affected by the weather conditions on the ground, and the effect is poor in rainy weather, and instant communication on the moon is extremely important, related to the safety of astronauts and work can be implemented. So we chose radio communications that were more suitable for a lunar camp
Our research focuses on astronomical observations and biological experiments.
Thanks to the almost complete absence of electromagnetic interference on the moon’s surface, we can use radio telescopes to get a clearer view of space. After filtering out the noise from Earth, the base will focus on observing active galaxies and their co-evolution with supermassive black holes, exploring and verifying how supermassive black holes evolve and their impact on galaxies. There is also a very likely supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and the study of it will help explain the mysteries of galactic central objects and make scientific predictions about the galaxy’s future. The base will also be exposed to the cosmic background radiation, which is likely to reveal its obscure waveform signature on Earth.
In terms of biological research, apart from the above microbial decomposition experiment, our main research direction is the influence of the underlying laws of organisms on the space environment. We selected bacterial DNA replication, transcription and expression process, photosynthesis and respiration of plant cells as research objects, and took radiation amount, light intensity, temperature, the composition of local ice meltwater and air composition as variables to explore the impact of lunar environment on the law of biological underlayer, so as to prepare for large-scale lunar immigration in the future.
In addition to physical training, space environment adaptability training, psychological training, basic theory training,there are also space professional technology training, flight procedures and mission simulation training, survival and lifesaving training and large-scale joint exercises to prepare for space flight. For the special scientific research purpose of our base, our astronauts need to learn the theoretical knowledge of the universe so that they can accurately and expertly execute the telescope use requirements of scientists as well. In order to be an excellent telescope operator, astronauts need to go to the ground radio telescope base to learn how to use, maintain, and deal with the emergency to ensure the telescope’s full use, service life and safety. In order to manage and use insects and microorganisms safely and effectively, professional training in biology is necessary, as is an internship in biological experiments. These targeted trainings are believed to bring more efficiency and better quality work to astronauts, base and ground scientists, and maximize the role of Pioneer Eye as an outpost.
We need a space shuttle to carry people between the earth and the moon. Our space shuttle is a reference to the current space shuttle, but it cancels the disposable rocket that must be attached to the current space shuttle. Instead, it uses nuclear energy to drive the aircraft, so as to achieve the effect of repeated use, and also to meet the needs of long round-trip flights. For going to other locations on the moon, we have adopted a manned rover. Unlike unmanned and scientific rovers, our rover is more like a cargo vehicle and a manned vehicle, mainly responsible for future base expansion, resource collection and exploration of other locations.
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