moon_camp

Moon Camp Pioneers Winners

Team: Boscosmos

Publiczne Salezjańskie Liceum Ogólnokształcące  Kraków    Poland 17 to 18 years old Highly Commended Design – ESA Member States and Canada

External viewer for 3d project

Project description

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Describe your Moon Camp project.

Our project rose in the wake of co-operation between five imaginative and energetic friends: Magdalena, Szymon, Jakub, Albert and Krzysztof. We have been interested in astronomy for ages, therefore we were purely delighted with the opportunity to design our own lunar base. The accomplishment demanded three months of both hard and fruitful work. We wanted our project to be as accurate as possible and potentially useful for the space agency, that’s why we took advantage of experts’ help – our mentor, astrophysicist from the Polish Academy of Sciences and his colleague specialized in tunnel construction. We decided on building split-level complex in the rim of Shackleton Crater, nearby the lunar south pole. Our project features minimalism and utility, but simultaneously it places importance on a comfort of astronauts, both physical and mental. In further parts of this report we would like to clarify many issues and demonstrate our choices.

Where do you want to build your Moon Camp?

Taking into consideration many factors, Shackleton Crater became our location choice. We decided to build two-level complex in the outside slope of the crater’s rim. Our decision is fully justified and abounds in various benefits. Firstly, Shackleton Crater’s rim is almost continually sunlit, what is propitious for photovoltaic power station development, that would be a great source of energy. Moreover, temperature on the peaks is mild, comparing to other places on the moon. Secondly, it is located on the south pole of the moon, that is likely to have lodes of moon water. The crater itself is also suspected of containing traces of water at the bottom. That would significantly ease a procurement of this highly needed compound. Thirdly, due to underground construction and lunar soil covering, the base would be less exposed to threats, like meteors or space radiation.

How do you plan to build your Moon Camp? Describe the techniques and materials you would use.

We are going to construct the tunnel in the rim using the New Austrian method. It’s highly effective, without consuming too many materials and time. Another advantage is making most use of geological strength available in the surrounding rocks and stabilizing the tunnel. Building stages involve putting explosives in choicely prepared slots, blowing up rock, removing debris and reinforcement of the tunnel. It’s crucial to protect the equipment from moon dust which will fly up when blowing up rocks. Moreover, we will use lunar regolith in 3D printing. This way we will be able to manufacture necessary elements of the base on the Moon. The energy from solar panels would be a proper source of power for this job. The final part of work fix on planting all crucial installations and equipment in the two-storey base. We could use rocket shells as a structural foundation inside the tunnel.

Water
Food
Electricity
Air

Water would be mined from the bottom of the crater, using two specialized NASA’s robots, RASSORs. These RC excavators, controlled by astronauts, would be collecting regolith containing water crystals. Then, it would be transported to the base and subjected to thermal processing described in NASA’s RESOLVE project. Subsequently, a part of water would be mineralized for consumption. Then, it would be collected in airtight and dark containers, in temperature 2°C-12°C to prevent spoilage. This process, considering maximum conversion efficiency and 3% water concentration in regolith would be able to cover monthly human demand in circa 7,65 hours for 15 days.

Our project includes building a lunar greenhouse, aiming at developing self-sufficiency. According to the project of the Arizona University Researches Team led by prof. Giacomelli it would generate 50% of the calories for the whole crew. The idea is to grow plants in a room separated by a plastic screen. The system contains sodium vapor lamps and envelopes to hold the seeds, completely omitting usage of soil to grow the plants. Rest of the required food would be provided by meat grown in vitro, in our laboratory. This would allow the astronauts to have a balanced diet on the Moon.

To provide power in the base we will use solar farm on the rim of the crater and regolith. By processing regolith, we can store the heat energy in it, which then will be delivered with minimal loss by a heated pipe with a conductive fluid to a Stirling Engine. This system and photovoltaic panels will be able to produce needed 122kW of energy every day.

To provide air we will use metalysis. It consists of adding calcium chloride (CaCl2) to regolith, heating it to 950°C and applying electricity. Then we will get metal alloys and oxygen. For the purification of oxygen we will use filters, which we will have to transport from the Earth. Using four tons of moon rock we can produce 1,4 ton of oxygen. The researchers calculate that four reactors could generate one ton of oxygen per year, which gives us about 83 kilograms of clear oxygen per month. One RASSOR unit will need to operate for additional 3 hours per month.

How do you plan to build your Moon Camp? Which materials would you use?

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The environment on the Moon is very dangerous for the astronauts. Explain how your Moon Camp will protect them.

Environmental conditions in the location we have chosen are quite good when comparing to other parts of the Moon but still very inimical for humans. Main problems are: low temperature, space radiation and a possibility of being hit by a meteorite. The greater part of our base is hidden in the outside slope of the crater covered with a thick layer of lunar regolith. It provides a good shield against meteorites and radiation. It is also, thanks to the resistance of moon rock to thermal conduction, a great heat insulation. The segment of the base outside the slope has equally good protection – walls made of aluminium, steel and MLI.

Describe a day on the Moon for your Moon Camp astronaut crew.

Human beings have been conditioned by millions of years of evolution to a 24-hour daily cycle. In the base on the Moon the situation is quite different. The Sun is always up so astronauts need to adapt to that conditions and make a plan which includes time for slumber, researches, training and some meals. The crew are awoken after eight hours of sleeping by an alarm each morning. Subsequently, they shower in the bathroom. Then astronauts dress and meet in the dining room to have a breakfast. It consists of food served in plastic bags, vegetables and drinks carefully consumed with a straw. Next, precisely an hour and a half after morning call, astronauts settle down to the assigned tasks of the day. Every astronaut has his own job to do, like making observations of the objects in the sky, carrying out experiments to find out how human’s body function on the other planet, mining raw materials like lunar regolith with frozen water. It’s also a good time to make research to understand bedrock geology of the Moon. There are special rooms dedicated for those activities. Next there is one hour destined for lunch and relax. Another daily routine in exercising: two hours of exercise every day helps to keep some tone in muscles. Astronauts must also intend time for works that cannot be projected like fixing broken down devices and preservations of the equipment used outside the base. Communication in case of emergency within station will be very functional due to the special system of speakers deployed around the base. Their main job is to reproduce natural sounds we can hear on the Earth. Thanks to that astronauts will be able to keep mental health. There will be also a special server created. It will give the people in the base a possibility to connect with the Earth using satellite communication and to take part in lectures or conferences. Astronauts usually have two hours a day to deliver report to the leadership on Earth, contact with their relatives or take part in a talk using that system. When the day is about to end, so a dozen hours after waking up, the crew eats their last dinner. Before going back to bed astronauts have one hour of free time. They can send some emails and messages to their families, watch some movies or just spend time together playing games.

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