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.
Tudor Vianu National High School of Computer Science Bucharest-District 1 Romania 16 2 / 1 English
3D design software: Fusion 360
Xplorer is a lunar base oriented towards scientific research and the discovery of lunar resources, which we can later use in our experiments or in the daily life of astronauts living there, such as water in ice cores that can become a source of energy and also keeps the astronauts hydrated.
On the inside we will try to ensure the safety of the astronauts and at the same time create a space in which they can live a life as similar as possible to the one on earth. The base will be divided into separate areas for food, work and rest. The food area will be a greenhouse where they will grow plants and later eat them.
On the Xplorer lunar base, the source of energy will be mostly obtained by means of solar panels, and the connection with Earth will be made with the help of a radio telescope.
The main purpose of the lunar camp is to understand the lunar environment and exploit the resources there. We do not exclude the option of failure, but we prepare everything to stay there as long as possible and ensure all conditions. Exploring lunar conditions, we will grow Arabidopsis plants in the greenhouse, small plants that are a model for genome analysis, and observe how they grow. We will send three astronauts who will work in shifts so that everyone can rest and get the best results. When working, there will be one astronaut on the field and two at the base. The activities will be organized so that after a few days each crew member will change his task to another task; in this way, it will maintain a balance in the astronauts’ lifestyle and also different results will be reached that will lead to more precise conclusions.
We consider the South Pole the ideal location for our moon camp, so we decided to build it there, near the Shackleton Crater. There are many advantages, including the constant illumination which helps with the electricity produced by the solar panels and also with the research and experiments. Another advantage represents the deposits of ice from the shadowed craters, which are an important source of water. The temperature is more favorable here as well, because it is not too high during the day to reach 100 ℃, not too low during the night for extremes like -150 ℃.
https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1985lbsa.conf…77B/0000078.000.html
The design is made both to impress, but also to be as useful as possible to the astronauts. There are two floors on the Xplorer camp. The first one serves as a technical space, where the green house is located, alongside with a water electrolysis space as well as a kitchen with running water fed from the water tank. The second floor includes work and rest spaces, alongside with solar panels, a radio telescope and a landing spot for the space shuttle.
We will have protective layers over the base: the outer layer will be 3.5 cm of tungsten; tungsten is a material we want to use instead of lead due to its lower density, its greater resistance at higher temperature and because it is not as toxic as lead; it protects from the radiation and also fragments of meteorites. The inner layer will be for thermal insulation and we decided to use silica gel-based aerogel with carbon, a material composed of more than 90% of air, which makes it have a very low density. We will need a middle layer to protect the base and the astronauts better and this layer will be a 10 cm layer of aluminum. The last layer we will use as a middle layer too will be composed of lunar regolith. We wanted to use light materials thus they will be easier to transport, although the costs will be higher for the chosen materials than for others.
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4438
https://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/monograph/series12/LunarTraj–05Chapter4TransferstoLowLunarOrbits.pdf
There are many dangers on the Moon: radiation, temperature, dust and fragments of rock.
To prevent from the lunar debris and the meteorites, we will cover the base with a layer of aluminum, although at the poles the chances of falling dust and meteorites are lower. Also, there will be a radar which will help the astronauts take measures when they are about to get hit.
For the radiation and the left fragments of rocks, we will cover the base with a layer of lunar regolith.
The fluctuations of temperature can influence the activity of the astronauts and also their health, therefore another layer is required. A layer of silica aerogel can thermally insulate our base and has very good properties.
The astronauts will be in contact with their colleagues on Earth in case something happens and they need help.
https://space.nss.org/settlement/nasa/spaceresvol4/human.html
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-a-moon-base-be-safe-for-astronauts/
💧 Water
🍴 Food
⚡ Power
🌬️ Air
Astronauts need water to survive and also for their projects on the moon center, so, because the water from the earth will not be enough, we will need to use resources from the moon. We will obtain water in two ways: filtering lunar ice cores and from lunar soil. We placed the camp at the south pole, therefore there will be places permanently shadowed around the base, from which we can extract the ice deposits and then filter them after the ice melts.
The packaged dehydrated food the crew brings from the earth will last some time, but it will not be sufficient. The food will be prepared in the microwave and there will be evidence of the food left because when someone eats something, they will scan the barcode on the package in the system. We thought about having a greenhouse where we will grow plants in lunar soil so the astronauts will have food whenever they want. We will choose to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots due to their easy and fast use and their vitamins and also sweet potatoes for their vitamins and proteins.
The base is provided with a system of solar panels and because in the area we are going to establish the base there will be constant illumination, this will be the main source of electricity. We also want to obtain electricity from fuel cell, but we will need a lot of water which is important, so we’ll have less energy obtained by this method and we’ll use it in the night when the light is less.
For a longer stay, oxygen is required, so what we’re going to try to do is turn the lunar regolith into oxygen. How are we going to do this? Before using the electrolytic cell, we will put the lunar regolith in molten calcium chloride, resulting in oxygen and metal, we can bake the lunar regolith with hydrogen gas, resulting in oxygen and hydrogen. The plants release carbon dioxide, so an air filtration system will be fitted. Heating the moon rock oxygen bubbles will replace the carbon dioxide. Using water electrolysis we will need a lot of water, so we will prefer to solder using lunar regolith.
Everything on the Xplorer camp will be recycled, so we don’t have to worry about types of waste like plastic or cardboard. The bathroom waste on the other hand will be burned and placed into garbage bags that are put inside containers which don’t allow air to come out.
Communication with Earth has always been important for any astronaut crew, because it represents a great support in case of malfunctions or emergencies. Communication is also the way in which the astronauts can see their families or post videos of themselves, such as the one showing Neil Armstrong become the first person to ever walk on the surface of the moon.
Therefore, we have installed a radio telescope, that helps maintaining communications with earth, by accessing multiple satellites.
Some of the topics that we would like to explore in Xplorer camp are biology and geology. On one hand, by exploring lunar conditions, we will grow Arabidopsis plants in the greenhouse, small plants that are a model for genome analysis, and observe how they grow. On the other hand, we would like to observe the lunar soil closer and find out if it is of any use. Of course, apart from any of these studies, one of our main target is, not only on the moon, but also on other planets, finding forms of life.
We think that the astronauts on the Xplorer should always be prepared, whatever the situation may be. So, in our astronaut training programme, we would include mathematics, physics, geology, material processing, biology and orbital dynamics.
They should also be trained in case of emergencies, such as high or low atmospheric pressure or for moments of discomfort, such as microgravity.
One of the most important parts of the training would be the formal one, during which, the astronauts learn how to fly and land a space shuttle, how to operate every system and how to detect malfunctions.
Besides the formal training, the crew should have a good physical and mental state and should be able to work in high pressure conditions.
https://www.pbs.org/spacestation/station/training_2.htm
The space shuttle we built will be the only space vehicle the astronauts will use, in order to go and explore different places on the surface of the moon.
We have also thought about adding a rover, but decided that it would not be necessary, because the astronaut crew has no need in moving around the area of the Xplorer camp.
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