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Moon Camp Pioneers 2022 – 2023 Project Gallery

 

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.

Moon Utopia

郑州轻工业大学附属中学  河南省郑州市-金水区    China 19   5 / 3 English
3D design software: Fusion 360



1.1 – Project Description

The name of our base is Moon Utopia. The base is an outpost built on the moon engaged in scientific research, production, living and development of new industries. The purpose of the base is to provide practical experience for human large-scale immigration to the moon to build a new home in the future. The form of utopia, in the closed living environment of the moon camp, can help us to provide a lot of ideas in terms of social division of labor, resource security and meeting personnel needs. Our base will provide the astronauts working on the moon with the resources they need to live well and continue to provide them with more resources to meet the needs of cutting-edge scientific research while keeping them in good health. For human better exploration of the moon, for human to seek a new home to provide more ideas.

1.2 – Why do you want to build a Moon Camp? Explain the main purpose of your Moon Camp (for example scientific, commercial and/or touristic purposes).

The main purpose of the lunar camp built by our group is to provide practical experience for the large-scale human migration to the moon in the future to build a new home, in addition to some necessary equipment for daily life, our group also achieved both science and tourism during the construction process. A series of scientific research, entertainment and other places have been established to ensure that human beings can live normally on the moon, and then form a lunar city.

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

We plan to build our Moon Camp in the Aitken Basin near the south pole of the moon, because it is located on the back of the moon, as a huge crater, the terrain is flat and convenient for human activities, and there is water ice in the permanent shadow area near the south pole, which is rich in water resources. The light is sufficient, and it can be continuously irradiated by the sun for a month under extreme daylight conditions, which provides a good environment for collecting solar energy. The south pole of the moon is mountainous, and the efficiency of photoelectric conversion of solar panels installed on mountains is higher than that on flat landforms.

2.2 – How do you plan to build your Moon Camp? Consider how you can utilise the Moon’s natural resources, and which materials you would need to bring from Earth. Describe the techniques, materials and your design choices.

Our Moon Camp adopts a sunken semi-ground structure. Based on the advantages of the moon itself, some huge craters can be directly transformed into our lunar base. The realization method is mainly realized by intelligent robots, and its functions are mainly as follows: Carry materials and heavy objects needed for construction, and trim the appearance of the moon base. For the materials required for construction, We use lunar soil as the main material and high-strength materials such as glass fiber and foam steel brought from the earth as supplementary materials to build our lunar base. The lunar soil can be used for heat preservation, anti-cosmic rays, solar wind and meteorites The impact can enhance the hardness while resisting cosmic radiation. The glass fiber can be fired into glass from lunar soil as a raw material, and then drawn out in a high-temperature molten state. It has high strength, large modulus, good impact resistance, and chemical stability. Good performance, high temperature resistance and so on.The preparation method of the glass sample is to weigh, mix and fully grind the raw materials according to the design of the glass formula, and then put the raw material powder into a platinum altar and melt it in a high-temperature resistance furnace.

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

Lunar Bricks Build a lunar base on the surface of the moon and require a lot of bricks. Lunar soil consists of a unique mixture of silica and iron-containing compounds. These mixtures can be melted into a glassy solid using microwave energy. The mechanical properties of lunar glass are good.
Moon concrete is a polymeric building material that is epoxy coated inside to make it airtight. Rocks, dust, and weathered earth on the moon are all materials used to make concrete. It is formed from lunar topsoil and has the following advantages.
(1) It is not affected by +120°C~-150°C temperature change.
(2) can absorb gamma rays;
(3) its integrity is not affected by prolonged exposure to vacuum.
3D printing technology, mature technology, simple and convenient, cheap and efficient. Houses and structures can also be 3D printed on the moon. Such houses and structures can be built with lunar regolith and used as a lunar base. Lunar soil prints houses that can isolate radiation and maintain temperature.
3D printing technology uses low-power microwave radiation, a temperature of about 1500 watts, to sinter lunar dust. Lunar dust will be heated to 1200 °C ~ 1500 °C, slightly below the melting point, fusing nanoparticle dust into a ceramic-like solid. 3D printing does not require transporting adhesive materials from the earth.

3.1 – How will your Moon Camp provide astronauts with sustainable access to basic needs like water, food, air and power?

1.The use of lunar oxygen-containing minerals to produce oxygen in situ is to reduce the construction cost of the lunar base (oxygen)

(1) Hydrogen is a reducing agent suitable for the special environmental conditions of the moon, which can be obtained directly from the hydrogen from the solar wind endowed in the lunar soil.

(2) Ilmenite in lunar soil is the preferred mineral for reduction reaction, which has the advantages of easy sorting, reduction, low reaction temperature and high oxygen yield.

2.Provide food for astronauts by recycling waste and planting vegetables on the base

(1) The base is a relatively confined space. The waste generated by the astronauts living in the lunar base must be collected and processed. The things that can be recycled in the space station will be recycled, such as food residues, excrement and other unused nutrients and energy and water, which will be recycled. There are also areas for growing plants, which can be used to supply the vegetables needed at the camp.

3.Use additive-free lunar soil as a lunar surface infrastructure material (resource)

(1) The amount of earth and rock required to build the lunar base is huge, and the transportation cost is unacceptable, so lunar soil without additives is used.

(2) One-shot molding is obviously more suitable for automated operation than component installation.

4.Collect polar ice (water) on the moon

(1) The lens is used to gather heat to melt the polar ice and collect water.

(2) The robot laser heats the polar ice to collect water.

(3) Hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce water.

3.2 – How will your Moon Camp deal with the waste produced by the astronauts on the Moon?

We for astronauts living in the process of waste treatment is divided into sorting stage,pre-treatment stage, treatment stage. The first is the sorting stage, where the waste is classified into liquid waste, solid waste and kitchen waste, and the second is the pre-treatment stage, where the solid waste needs to be pre-treated before it can be comprehensively utilized and treated, for further processing. Pre-treatment mainly includes screening, crushing, compression and other processes. The kitchen waste is separated, crushed, dried and made into RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) or compressed into rods. The final stage is the treatment phase, where the liquid waste is chlorinated with bleaching powder, and kitchen waste and solid waste are incinerated,the heat from incineration is used to generate electricity.

3.3 – How will your Moon Camp maintain communications with Earth and other Moon bases?

There is a huge “data tower” in the center of our lunar camp, and the data signal sent by the “control platform” will be received by the relay satellite, and then send the signal to the ground station on Earth or other lunar bases, the ground station and other bases will receive the signal and then forward the signal to the base center “control platform”, so that the lunar camp can communicate wirelessly with the ground on Earth and other lunar bases.

4.1 – What scientific topic(s) would be the focus of the research in your Moon Camp? Explain which experiments you plan to do on the Moon (for example in the topics of geology, low gravity environment, biology, technology, robotics, astronomy etc.).

In our lunar camp, the low-gravity environment will be the focus of our research. Microgravity environment can be used to study and create new materials, we will do experiments in space materials processing. Including functional materials (semiconductors, superconductors, magnetic, memory and infrared sensitive materials, etc.) , structural materials (miscible alloys, metals, foam porous and composite materials, etc.) , optical and ceramic materials (high quality glass and ceramics, optical fiber, high insulation, etc.) . Moreover, the motion law of objects in low gravity environment has changed substantially, and some special physical phenomena have been produced, which can be used to produce many new processes. In microgravity environment, many organisms have new changes, which are the physical factors that lead to the change of life phenomena in microgravity. In microgravity, the effect of surface tension is greatly enhanced, as is the effect of electromagnetic fields, and the effect of intermolecular force is even more pronounced, the lunar microgravity experiment can provide strong data support for theoretical and empirical research in the fields of human life science, gravity biology and space radiation biology, etc., accelerate the R & D process of new technologies, new products and new medical treatments, experiments will be conducted under the themes of “Microgravity for the study of life processes and how the microgravity environment affects the formation of living organisms on earth” and “Radiobiological studies of damage and protection of living organisms exposed to high-energy environments in space”. In addition, we will do some electrical experiments. There will also be some popular science experiments such as Gravitational acceleration experiments using a single pendulumand water balloon optical experiment.

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

In order to help astronauts better adapt to life on the moon, we will provide the following training program for astronauts before executing the lunar mission:

Space adaptation training, based on the special microgravity environment on the lunar surface, long-term exposure to weightlessness can cause human bone loss, muscle atrophy, and lead to decreased muscle strength and endurance. To solve these problems, we will have astronauts engage in at least two years of physical exercise, including aerobic exercise, strength training, and balance training.
Team cooperation training, living on the moon requires close cooperation and mutual support among astronauts, therefore team cooperation training is essential, including team building, decision-making, communication skills, etc.
Emergency situation training, living on the moon will often face some sudden situations, such as equipment failure, illness, fire, etc. Therefore, astronauts need to receive emergency situation handling training and practical drills to respond to emergencies.
Scientific experiment training, conducting scientific experiments on the moon is one of the main tasks of astronauts, therefore astronauts need to receive relevant training, including experimental design, experimental operation, and experimental analysis.
Mental health training, living on the moon for a long time may make astronauts feel lonely, stressed, and burdened psychologically, therefore relevant training is needed to teach astronauts how to handle and relieve psychological pressure.
Diplomatic etiquette training is necessary for astronauts living on the moon as they need to cooperate and communicate with astronauts from other countries and regions. Therefore, astronauts need to receive diplomatic etiquette training to learn how to respect and understand different cultures and customs.

5.2 – What space vehicles will your future Moon mission need? Describe the vehicles found in your Moon camp and consider how you will travel to and from Earth, and explore new destinations on the Moon’s surface.

The moon is a vacuum environment in which smelting and processing technologies can be developed. This type of technology is only used on Earth when the added value is extremely high, but on the moon, the various vacuum processing techniques are very simple. Because the moon has no atmosphere, it can be launched directly into space using electromagnetic orbital acceleration, without rocket technology at all.
The unique spatial position of the moon combined with environmental characteristics such as low gravity and high vacuum makes it a place with good application potential for electromagnetic emission outside the earth.
Using the ultra-long electromagnetic launch orbit arranged on the lunar surface, it continuously accelerates and launches payloads (cargo or personnel) through low acceleration, which can be used to perform long-distance transportation within the lunar surface, return to the earth’s surface from the lunar surface, and explore deep space on the lunar surface.
Lunar electromagnetic emission has the advantages of reusability, high emission efficiency, no waste generation, low maintenance cost and high degree of automation.

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