It's been 45 years since man last stepped foot on the moon and today people are talking about going to Mars. Before we actually send people to the red planet, we need to make a permanent settlement on the moon. Not only would the journey to Mars be easier if we began the trip from the surface of the moon, but the moon is much closer to Earth than Mars is and therefore a slightly safer place to develop the technologies needed for a permanent settlement anywhere other than Earth.
In addition to providing a launch pad to Mars, our moon has many resources that we could mine and use like helium 3, gold, titanium and even water ice. Although we've been mining and smelting ores for thousands of years on Earth, we really have little idea how to accomplish the same tasks in the atmosphere and gravity of the moon or Mars. These technologies must be developed, and the moon is the ideal place to do it.
When planning a moon colony, I believe we should start with the "rules of three". This is a concept created for survivalists to remember during an emergency, and I've tweaked them just a little for the moon. The lunar rules go like this:
- Shelter. We need warm, dry shelter within three seconds on the moon or we are dead.
- Air. Humans can live for a maximum of three minutes without good, breathable air no matter what planet we are on.
- Water. Three days is the longest that we can safely go without water, in the best of circumstances.
- Food. We need a good supply of food within three weeks or else we will surely die
On the moon your blood will boil and you'll die if you are exposed to the atmosphere for only a few brief moments. Our space suits are a portable shelter, but we must have larger shelters where we can move around, eat and drink. There are several private companies who are designing habitation modules for use in outer space. Some of these designs are inflatable, interlocking modules that come complete with life support. The one that I like best for the job looks like a big doughnut. The life support module is in the center, and the living/work area is a circle around it, with a doorway and airlock at each of the four cardinal points. A number of these modules need to be deployed by robots in advance of man's arrival on the moon, so when he gets there the habitat will already be assembled and inflated with breathable atmosphere.
Also we have radiation to deal with. Scientists believe that just two feet of moon dust is enough insulation to block the harmful radiation that our explorers will be exposed to. One suggestion is to bag it up like sand bags and stack them all around the habitats, completely enclosing them with the bags of dust. Another idea would be to build the colony on the bottom of a crater and then cover the crater with a roof that is sturdy enough to support two feet of moon dust spread over the top. One team of engineers designed a habitat that uses water in the walls so that the inhabitants are protected from radiation and they still receive plenty of light. Whichever idea wins out in the end, the habitat must be large enough for the people inside to eat, sleep, work, exercise and relax while providing protection from the harsh environment outside.
Next, we deal with breathable atmosphere. Providing enough oxygen to keep our explorers alive isn't going to be a simple task. CO
2 builds up in a closed system as people breathe, and it isn't easy or cheap to get rid of it. One possible technology that's being researched uses lasers to "zap" the CO
2, breaking it apart and producing O
2 and carbon. If perfected, this is an ideal method because most other methods simply absorb the CO
2 to get it out of the air, but don't return any O
2 back to the system. Plants can make the conversion through photosynthesis, but it would take a huge greenhouse to produce enough oxygen for just a few people. Also oxygen can be produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. This method will likely be needed to produce the fuel required for leaving the moon, whether to go back to Earth or to make the trip to Mars. However, the only way our lunar denizens can rely on this method to sustain them is if there is plenty of water already on the moon. In the end, after man is well established on the moon, he will likely use a combination of several methods to produce clean air, including photosynthesis, scrubbing, splitting water, filtering, lasers, and more processes that may not have even been thought of yet. Until then, we may have to spend the money to supply some liquid oxygen from back home.
Speaking of water, it's the next requirement in the rules of three. Hopefully we will find a surplus of water ice on the moon, and can simply thaw it out and filter it for our use. If not, then it will have to either be created or shipped in. To create water, you would burn hydrogen and oxygen and condense the exhaust vapor which contains some water. Not very efficient, and this method relies on a ready and expendable supply of hydrogen and oxygen. At about 8 lbs per gallon, water would be very costly to ship from earth, so we really need to figure out how to get it from the moon. Recycling, as on the space station, will be a huge part of the process. On ISS, they recycle everything from their bath water to urine, to sweat and even the water vapor from their breath. Water is too precious to waist, and too expensive to ship in from Earth.
Food will have to be shipped in from earth. Even after the gardens begin to produce, it will still be necessary to ship in supplemental food. The greenhouses will be used to try to grow a wide variety of edible plants, but until we get there and try we won't know for sure what will grow on the moon. Once we are well established, the supplemental food from earth will be designed to compliment what we grow.
But even if we solve all of our shelter, air, water and food problems,
one issue needs to be addressed long before we send anyone to the
moon. Location, location, location. The moon has no atmosphere to speak
of, so there is no greenhouse effect. From day to night on the moon, the
temperature changes by about 250
oC (from 100
oC in the daylight to -150
oC
in the dark). Also one lunar day is equal to 28 earth days. So at the
equator there are 14 days of daylight followed by 14 days of darkness.
The only places on the moon that are in the daylight most of the time
are the poles. And because of the moon's orientation to the sun, there
are craters at the poles that are completely dark all the time.
Scientists believe there might be frozen water in the bottoms of these
craters. For these reasons, we will likely choose a polar region for our settlement.
Solar arrays can be placed in areas that are always exposed to the sun,
so we will have a constant supply of electricity to power life support
and our equipment.
NASA is making a new lunar rover that has a sealed cockpit and environmental controls that will allow people to travel for literally hundreds of kilometers on the moon's surface. One design feature that I think is most impressive is the way the space suits stay outside of the vehicle. The back of the suit docks with the cockpit door and the astronaut can then crawl out of his or her suit and enjoy the freedom of a t-shirt instead of the bulky space suit. This design is being used for three very important reasons. First, the design eliminates the need for an airlock, which would take a lot of space and waste atmosphere with each use. Secondly, the dust on the moon is ultra fine and hazardous to breathe, not to mention the damage it could do to the equipment. With the suits staying outside, the dust stays outside as well. Another major reason for this design is the comfort factor. Traveling possibly hundreds of miles across the lunar surface requires a certain degree of comfort, and freedom of movement in a spacious cockpit is ideal.
These are my thoughts on the subject, if you have anything to add please leave a comment and maybe we can get a discussion going.