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.
郑州轻工业附属中学 河南省郑州市-河南省 China 19 5 / 2 English
3D design software: Fusion 360
The main purpose of the base construction is to conduct scientific research in the lunar environment, and its overall can be divided into five major functional areas: survival support area, intelligent factory area, launch area to meet the launch and receive rockets or probes, power generation area, and lunar resource area
The first stage: using the materials transported from Earth, first build the oxygen generator and water circulation system in the survival zone, and the solar array in the power generation zone, and finally the smelting center in the lunar resource zone
Mid-term: use the building materials and 3D printing technology provided by the smelting center to further build each area
Late stage: After all the buildings are built, further research will be carried out to launch probes into deep space or improve robotic systems. Use the central monitoring station to supervise the whole base in all aspects.
In the future, the base can obtain resources from the Earth through the launch receiving area, and the base structure itself can support the continuous operation of the base, based on which the base can be further improved and expanded.
As the proverb goes, “Man’s yearning for space stems from a primitive desire to explore.” Building a lunar camp can help mankind understand the truth of the universe, and can also provide important support for human scientific and technological development.
Therefore, the main purpose of our lunar camp is to be able to achieve settlement on the moon and carry out various scientific work at the same time. Finally, the result of having astronauts on duty in the short term and using unmanned intelligence to operate in the long term is achieved.
The scientific research goal should be achieved, and the base should be used as a transit station to distant deep space; Mining lunar resources and building smelting units that can operate normally in the lunar environment; Build a laboratory to make it an ideal place for multidisciplinary experiments.
We plan to establish our base at 88.9°S on the moon. On the eastern edge of the crater de Gerach, the crater is almost at the south pole. At the same time, due to the high latitude, it can have almost permanent solar energy and a large amount of water ice deposits, which provide strong convenience for water and energy access in the base. In particular, the sunlight rate on the northern slope of the impact crater reaches about 97%, and the northern high slope has the effect of resisting meteorites. The altitude in the pit is stable, the terrain is flat, and the area is large, which is conducive to the construction of the base
At the beginning of camp construction, astronauts will temporarily live in space-sufficient and suitable lunar landing spacecraft. At this stage, the unmanned 3D printing equipment that arrived at the same time as the astronauts began the construction of the base, and building materials from the earth will be used in the early stage of construction, and then the regolith layer on the lunar surface can be smelted through the smelting device, and the peptides of the regolith layer and aluminum mixed with glass fibers from the earth and composite plastic fibers are used as 3D printing materials.
In the construction process, the surface of the building is designed as a vacuum insulation structure, so as to better deal with the temperature difference between day and night of the moon, and its vacuum isolation structure can effectively solve the meteorite problem, when the meteorite falls to the surface of the building, this vacuum structure can disperse the impact force of the meteorite, so it can solve the meteorite problem
When we built the lunar camp, we considered the damage to astronauts from radiation, meteorites, and heat fluctuations. Therefore, we used a combination of vacuum heat insulation board and anti-radiation materials in the early stage to achieve the purpose of radiation prevention and reducing the temperature in the cabin. After the construction of the lunar smelting device, lunar resources such as lunar soil were used to build building materials. Because the lunar soil itself has the characteristics of poor thermal conductivity and strong anti-radiation ability, it can play a good protective role.
Anti-radiation: lunar soil, anti-radiation materials
Temperature difference: The central monitoring station is used to detect the temperature and control the temperature of the base, while using vacuum insulation panels outside the base to slow down the temperature changes in the base
Meteorite: The unique topography of the site selection of the base and the vacuum isolation structure of the vacuum insulation plate on the surface of the building can disperse the impact force of the meteorite
Water: Because the base is located at 88.9°S on the moon, we will use unmanned water mining vehicles to obtain water ice in the permafrost at the south pole of the moon. Through the base’s powerful water recycling facilities, the used wastewater is recycled and purified before use. Improve water efficiency.
Food: In the early stage, astronauts will eat rehydrated food brought from Earth (a food that is small in size before contact with water, carried and expanded into edible food after contact with water) to survive the early construction phase. In the medium term, using the completed starch synthesis center, the carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts is collected based on synthetic biology theory, and finally converted into organic food through a series of reactions. In the later stages of base construction, food can be obtained by planting the base at the same time.
Electricity: On the northern slope of the crater, the construction of solar arrays effectively uses large areas of light conditions to generate energy, uses hydrogen produced in the production of oxygen to electrolyze water, develops hydrogen energy, and uses helium-3 in lunar soil for controlled nuclear fusion
Air: Electrolysis of water obtained from permafrost, oxygen is produced by electrolysis of water, oxygen can also be obtained by cultivating oxygen-rich algae in the planting base, and oxygen inside the oxidized metal on the lunar surface can be obtained through a smelting device, which is converted into oxygen through a conversion device.
We will transport the wastewater generated in the astronauts’ lives to our super water circulation system, and the wastewater will be decontaminated and purified after flowing through the water purifier, so that the wastewater can be fully utilized. For other wastes generated in life, we will use microbial processors to make these household garbage become food for microorganisms, and at the same time use the principle of redox reaction to use these microorganisms to generate electricity for various equipment on the space station. At the same time, astronauts are collected to breathe out carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide is reused using carbon dioxide food generation devices .
We will communicate with lunar satellites through microwave photonic radar, and then communicate with Earth and other lunar bases through satellites to ensure that communication can be carried out without delay. With the connection of microwave signals, the digital twin system in our lunar camp can be detected and controlled by both the camp and the earth, so as to achieve real-time transmission of various information in the cam .
In our lunar camp, robotics, botany and astronomy societies are the focus of our scientific research, and the smart factory in our camp can produce various machines such as lunar vehicles, mining vehicles, and service robots, while astronauts can rely on the smart factory to conduct robotics research and create better machine products. It mainly studies how to maintain the normal operation of the robot and the monthly driving movement in the low gravity state, and mainly uses the digital twin system to monitor the working status data of the robot and the monthly driving components.
In the plant planting module, we will study the growth of plants in low gravity and use transgenic technology to produce plants that can better adapt to the low gravity environment of the moon by analyzing the growth data of plants, so as to provide food supply for long-term survival on the moon.
In the rocket launch bay, we can carry out space exploration, in the launch bay we can not only receive various supplies from the earth, but also prepare for further space exploration.
In order to ensure that astronauts can successfully complete the lunar mission, every astronaut must undergo a “devil’s training” on the ground before going to the moon, so that astronauts can move and operate in the low-gravity environment of the moon.
Before going to the moon, astronauts mainly carry out the operation training of related equipment in the lunar base and the training of external activities in the lunar base on four equipment: out-of-cabin training simulator, low-gravity environment tank, extravehicular suit test module, and virtual reality trainer, including normal operation and procedure training, as well as fault identification, judgment and processing training. The virtual reality trainer can completely simulate the various activities of astronauts on the moon and simulate joint training exercises with ground personnel.
In addition to the above-mentioned various targeted special training, astronauts also need to carry out physical strength training, astronauts’ strength training includes upper limb strength training and core strength training to ensure the long-term physical health of astronauts in a low-gravity environment.
Our mission to the moon requires supplies, rockets, and spacecraft. Before astronauts land on the moon, they first rely on material transport rockets to transport the materials used in the early base construction to the designated area, and then use spacecraft to send astronauts to designated landing sites. In the smart factory of the lunar camp, we will build lunar vehicles to explore the lunar surface, mining vehicles to mine lunar regolith and water trucks to mine permafrost in Antarctica. Reuse the space shuttle that transports astronauts to the moon to and from Earth, and when returning to Earth, the space shuttle is repaired and inspected to ensure the success of the next delivery. Astronauts will use lunar vehicles exploring the lunar surface to explore new destinations on the lunar surface .
