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The feasibility of realization is the most important thing to us when thinking about our Moon base. We want to build a Moon base that will be located on the surface near some resources such as water in the form of ice shards in the lunar soil and some minerals, which could be used to improve our base. The central part of our habitat will be brought there with the Luna crane we designed and can be seen in our 3D model. We would use inflatable parts because of the cargo space limitations. This central part, a cross-shaped aluminium transition chamber, will settle on the Moon’s surface and then deploy inflatable cupolas from airlocks on the sides.. Our habitat will be covered by lunar regolith which will protect astronauts from space radiation and meteorites.

These are the two conditions we agreed the place has to fulfil:

1.The sunshine lasts as long as possible there.

2.There must be minerals which can be used later to make our habitat better, and water –in the form of ice shards in the moon soil.

The place we have found that fulfils these conditions is the rim of the Shackleton crater near the Moon’s south pole. The peaks along the crater’s rim are exposed to sunlight, while the interior is perpetually in shadow. In the crater, there is a bigger concentration of H2O and hydroxyl, which we can extract from the soil. Moreover, we can use the difference between perpetual shadow and light for science experiments.

At first, the Lunar skycrane would land with the central part, later with small robots (packed inside a landing payload bay) that would cover the habitat with baked regolith. Lunar skycrane would be deployed from the Moon’s orbit (we are assuming presence of a “gateway”) and with its low mass it would able to get on the surface using very low ΔV. The Lunar skycrane is also equipped with solar panels and small energy storage for its own maneuver control systems and as a starter energy source for rovers. Rovers powered by solar panels will deliver the regolith with their scoop where it is going to be baked by the bottom side of the scoop powered by heated gas combined with oxidizer to form a protection shell around the inflatable base, blocking space radiation. This would take about four months. We will build furniture by 3D printing.

By melting regolith with higher concentration of ice shards, we can create steam and then condense it to get liquid water. We suppose the shards are near the Shackleton crater.

At the start of our expeditions, astronauts would carry food in their rocket but after one or two missions, we would build a special cupola-shaped greenhouse. There will be artificial light powered by energy from solar panels. It can also produce oxygen.

We can use long lasting daylight on the peaks of the crater to get power from solar panels. We will use part of the produced energy to separate oxygen and hydrogen from H2O and store it. When Shackleton crater goes to the shadow, we will use stored oxygen and hydrogen to provide us with energy and start using stored power in a cylinder-shaped capacitor placed near the base.

One possible source of oxygen is the mineral ilmenite (FeTiO3), which in combination with hydrogen at 1000 °C produces steam. Both oxygen and hydrogen could be extracted from it.

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We will cover our base with baked regolith. This layer will be 10 to 40 cm thick to successfully protect astronauts from radiation and debris. If the baked regolith cracks, the robots can easily fix it.. Astronauts will leave the base through a transition chamber in their spacesuits that would protect them from radiation for a few hours. The time they can spend outside is only limited by the oxygen and water supplies they can carry.

The crew would change every six months. At first, there will be an only three astronauts. Later, more would come.

The everyday activities on the station include farming, exercising repairing parts of the station or setting up new modules. And, of course, doing science experiments. Most of the science experiments will be focused on the life in space and the Moon.

The astronauts would be able to communicate both with engineers and their relatives on the Earth. They also exercise at least three hours a day at to stay healthy.

There is also a community place where the astronauts can talk to each other, play games, read books and just enjoy the free time while maintaining relationships with each other.

The first astronauts will sleep 9 hours in each 24 hour interval (regardless of moon days).

They eat five times a day so that they digest food gradually.

Note that we plan to use robots for a lot of work such as building most things outside the base or bringing materials to the base.

The astronauts will bring a rover with them, so they can move around quickly.

We plan to gather data about craters on the Moon, which are always in the shadow.

We expect, that this mission is going to bring experiences with building inflatable structures on other space objects. It could be important step in missions to colonise other celestial bodies.