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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Design of a minimum level lunar base infrastructure

The minimum necessary planet infrastructure required to support a lunar base is discussed. Various mission architectures are studied to illustrate the strategy of the minimum service level infrastructure (MSLI). These architectures encompass a standard suite of lunar surface elements (habitats, rovers, and power and communications systems), which are absolutely required to create and support the lunar base. Scientists are considered to be the most probable initial customers of a lunar base, and the initial lunar base is envisioned to provide the level of services required to support the scope of scientific activities. MSLI is considered to represent various additional services which cannot be justified by private investment or parochial interests and thereby must be provided by NASA or the government to encourage outside participation.

Connolly, John F.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Selenia: A habitability study for the development of a third generation lunar base

When Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon, the first generation of lunar bases was established. They consisted essentially of a lunar module and related hardware capable of housing two astronauts for not more than several days. Second generation lunar bases are being developed, and further infrastructure, such as space station, orbital transfer, and reusable lander vehicles will be necessary, as prolonged stay on the Moon is required for exploration, research, and construction for the establishment of a permanent human settlement there. Human life in these habitats could be sustained for months, dependent on a continual flow of life-support supplies from Earth. Third-generation lunar bases will come into being as self sufficiency of human settlements becomes feasible. Regeneration of water, oxygen production, and development of indigenous construction materials from lunar resources will be necessary. Greenhouses will grow food supplies in engineered biospheres. Assured protection from solar flares and cosmic radiation must be provided, as well as provision for survival under meteor showers, or the threat of meteorite impact. All these seem to be possible within the second decade of the next century. Thus, the builders of Selenia, the first of the third-generation lunar bases are born today. During the last two years students from the School of Architecture of the University of Puerto Rico have studied the problems that relate to habitability for prolonged stay in extraterrestrial space. An orbital personnel transport to Mars developed originally by the Aerospace Engineering Department of the University of Michigan was investigated and habitability criteria for evaluation of human space habitats were proposed. An important finding from that study was that the necessary rotational diameter of the vessel has to be on the order of two kilometers to ensure comfort for humans under the artificial gravity conditions necessary to maintain physiological well being of passengers, beyond the level of mere survival.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1989

Design of an unmanned lunar cargo lander that reconfigures into a shelter for a habitation module or disassembles into parts useful to a permanent manned lunar base

NASA plans to establish a permanent manned lunar base by the first decade of the twenty-first century. It is extremely expensive to transport material from earth to the moon. Therefore, expense would be reduced if the vehicle that lands cargo on the moon could itself meet some of the material needs of establishing the lunar base. The design of a multi-functional lander that is entirely useful to the base after landing is described. Alternate designs of the overall lander configuration and possible uses of the lander and its components after landing are contained. The design solution is a lander employing the Saddlebagged Fuel Tank Configuration. After landing, its structure will be converted into a habitation module shelter that supports a protective layer of regolith. The fuel tanks will be cleaned and used as storage tanks for the lunar base. The engines and instrumentation will be saved as stock parts. Recommendations for further research and technology development to enhance future lander designs are given.

Davanay, Lisa↗
NASA NTRS1992

Solar water heating system for a lunar base

An investigation of the feasibility of using a solar water heater for a lunar base is described. During the investigation, computer codes were developed to model the lunar base configuration, lunar orbit, and heating systems. Numerous collector geometries, orientation variations, and system options were identified and analyzed. The results indicate that the recommended solar water heater could provide 88 percent of the design load and would not require changes in the overall lunar base design. The system would give a 'safe-haven' water heating capability and use only 7 percent to 10 percent as much electricity as an electric heating system. As a result, a fixed position photovoltaic array can be reduced by 21 sq m.

Somers, Richard E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The use of automation and robotic systems to establish and maintain lunar base operations

Robotic systems provide a means of performing many of the operations required to establish and maintain a lunar base. They form a synergistic system when properly used in concert with human activities. This paper discusses the various areas where robotics and automation may be used to enhance lunar base operations. Robots are particularly well suited for surface operations (exterior to the base habitat modules) because they can be designed to operate in the extreme temperatures and vacuum conditions of the Moon (or Mars). In this environment, the capabilities of semi-autonomous robots would surpass that of humans in all but the most complex tasks. Robotic surface operations include such activities as long range geological and mineralogical surveys with sample return, materials movement in and around the base, construction of radiation barriers around habitats, transfer of materials over large distances, and construction of outposts. Most of the above operations could be performed with minor modifications to a single basic robotic rover. Within the lunar base habitats there are a few areas where robotic operations would be preferable to human operations. Such areas include routine inspections for leakage in the habitat and its systems, underground transfer of materials between habitats, and replacement of consumables. In these and many other activities, robotic systems will greatly enhance lunar base operations. The robotic systems described in this paper are based on what is realistically achievable with relatively near term technology. A lunar base can be built and maintained if we are willing.

Petrosky, Lyman J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Strategies for a permanent lunar base

One or more of three possible objectives, encompassing scientific research, lunar resource exploitation for space infrastructure construction, and lunar environment self-sufficiency refinement with a view to future planetary habitation, may be the purpose of manned lunar base activities. Attention is presently given to the possibility that the early phases of all three lunar base orientations may be developed in such a way as to share the greatest number of common elements. An evaluation is made of the cost and complexity of the lunar base, and the Space Transportation System used in conjunction with it, as functions of long term base use strategy.

Duke, M. B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Mission analysis and phased development of a lunar base

Planned activities at a manned lunar base can be categorized as supporting one or more of three possible objectives: scientific research, exploitation of lunar resources for use in building a space infrastructure, or attainment of self-sufficiency in the lunar environment as a first step in planetary habitation. Scenarios constructed around each of the three goals have many common elements, particularly in the early phases. In addition, the process of constructing the scenario clearly demonstrated that later phases were critically dependent on technologies, systems, and elements developed during the early phases. The cost and the complexity of the base, as well as the structure of the Space Transportation System, are functions of the chosen long-term strategy. A real lunar base will manifest some combination of characteristics from these idealized end members.

Roberts, Barney B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Thermal control systems for low-temperature heat rejection on a lunar base

One of the important issues in the design of a lunar base is the thermal control system (TCS) used to reject low-temperature heat from the base. The TCS ensures that the base and the components inside are maintained within an acceptable temperature range. The temperature of the lunar surface peaks at 400 K during the 336-hour lunar day. Under these circumstances, direct dissipation of waste heat from the lunar base using passive radiators would be impractical. Thermal control systems based on thermal storage, shaded radiators, and heat pumps have been proposed. Based on proven technology, innovation, realistic complexity, reliability, and near-term applicability, a heat pump-based TCS was selected as a candidate for early missions. In this report, Rankine-cycle heat pumps and absorption heat pumps (ammonia water and lithium bromide-water) have been analyzed and optimized for a lunar base cooling load of 100 kW.

Sridhar, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS1963

Lunar Base Construction

A brief discussion of the possibility of establishing a permanent manned lunar base is presented. The greatest difficulty in giving credence to results from lunar base studies lies in the fact that very little is known about the physical and chemical properties of the lunar surface. Meaningful studies of lunar bases were undertaken by making a wide-range of assumptions regarding the nature of the lunar surface. Then, by designing a base that is insensitive to surface features over the range of assumed conditions, feasible base designs could be obtained. Various factors affecting the design of the base are discussed.

Johnson, G. W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Lunar Observer Laser Altimeter observations for lunar base site selection

One of the critical datasets for optimal selection of future lunar landing sites is local- to regional-scale topography. Lunar base site selection will require such data for both engineering and scientific operations purposes. The Lunar Geoscience Orbiter or Lunar Observer is the ideal precursory science mission from which to obtain this required information. We suggest that a simple laser altimeter instrument could be employed to measure local-scale slopes, heights, and depths of lunar surface features important to lunar base planning and design. For this reason, we have designed and are currently constructing a breadboard of a Lunar Observer Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument capable of acquiring contiguous-footprint topographic profiles with both 30-m and 300-m along-track resolution. This instrument meets all the severe weight, power, size, and data rate limitations imposed by Observer-class spacecraft. In addition, LOLA would be capable of measuring the within-footprint vertical roughness of the lunar surface, and the 1.06-micron relative surface reflectivity at normal incidence. We have used airborne laser altimeter data for a few representative lunar analog landforms to simulate and analyze LOLA performance in a 100-km lunar orbit. We demonstrate that this system in its highest resolution mode (30-m diameter footprints) would quantify the topography of all but the very smallest lunar landforms. At its global mapping resolution (300-m diameter footprints), LOLA would establish the topographic context for lunar landing site selection by providing the basis for constructing a 1-2 km spatial resolution global, geodetic topographic grid that would contain a high density of observations (e.g., approximately 1000 observations per each 1 deg by 1 deg cell at the lunar equator). The high spatial and vertical resolution measurements made with a LOLA-class instrument on a precursory Lunar Observer would be highly synergistic with high-resolution imaging datasets, and will allow for direct quantification of critical slopes, heights, and depths of features visible in images of potential lunar base sites.

Garvin, James B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Lunar base objectives and open questions

The basic characteristics of the NASA program for establishing a lunar base are described and examined. The scientific objectives of the program are the planetological investigation of the moon and the use of the moon as a base for astronomical observations. It is argued that the development of a lunar base will assist in the advancement of science, the development of lunar resources to support space activities, and the development of a permanently, self-supported human colony away from the earth. The technological and operational capabilities needed in order to establish a lunar base are discussed.

Duke, Michael B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Resources for a lunar base: Rocks, minerals, and soil of the Moon

The rocks and minerals of the Moon will be included among the raw materials used to construct a lunar base. The lunar regolith, the fragmental material present on the surface of the Moon, is composed mostly of disaggregated rocks and minerals, but also includes glassy fragments fused together by meteorite impacts. The finer fraction of the regolith (i.e., less than 1 cm) is informally referred to as soil. The soil is probably the most important portion of the regolith for use at a lunar base. For example, soil can be used as insulation against cosmic rays, for lunar ceramics and abodes, or for growing plants. The soil contains abundant solar-wind-implanted elements as well as various minerals, particularly oxide phases, that are of potential economic importance. For example, these components of the soil are sources of oxygen and hydrogen for rocket fuel, helium for nuclear energy, and metals such as Fe, Al, Si, and Ti.

Taylor, Lawrence A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century, volume 2

These 92 papers comprise a peer-reviewed selection of presentations by authors from NASA, the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), industry, and academia at the Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century. These papers go into more technical depth than did those published from the first NASA-sponsored symposium on the topic, held in 1984. Session topics included the following: (1) design and operation of transportation systems to, in orbit around, and on the Moon; (2) lunar base site selection; (3) design, architecture, construction, and operation of lunar bases and human habitats; (4) lunar-based scientific research and experimentation in astronomy, exobiology, and lunar geology; (5) recovery and use of lunar resources; (6) environmental and human factors of and life support technology for human presence on the Moon; and (7) program management of human exploration of the Moon and space.

Mendell, Wendell W.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Laser-powered lunar base

The objective was to compare a nuclear reactor-driven Sterling engine lunar base power source to a laser-to-electric converter with orbiting laser power station, each providing 1 MW of electricity to the lunar base. The comparison was made on the basis of total mass required in low-Earth-orbit for each system. This total mass includes transportation mass required to place systems in low-lunar orbit or on the lunar surface. The nuclear reactor with Sterling engines is considered the reference mission for lunar base power and is described first. The details of the laser-to-electric converter and mass are discussed. The next two solar-driven high-power laser concepts, the diode array laser or the iodine laser system, are discussed with associated masses in low-lunar-orbit. Finally, the payoff for laser-power beaming is summarized.

Costen, R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Lunar base options in support of the permanent habitation of space

An overview of the NASA lunar base program which would establish a permanent beachhead on the moon is given. The lunar base would be used to attain science and astronomy objectives, to manufacture lunar-derived resources (particularly propellant oxygen), to support the growing space infrastructure, and to develop and test technologies that would enable near self-sufficiuency in space, limiting the amount of resources required from earth. Research concerning lunar base development, modeling and simulation are presented, including modeling engines, data bases, and subsystem transforms.

Fairchild, Kyle↗
NASA NTRS1993

Lunar Base Sitting

Speculation with regard to a permanent lunar base has been with us since Robert Goddard was working on the first liquid-fueled rockets in the 1920's. With the infusion of data from the Apollo Moon flights, a once speculative area of space exploration has become an exciting possibility. A Moon base is not only a very real possibility, but is probably a critical element in the continuation of our piloted space program. This article, originally drafted by World Space Foundation volunteers in conjuction with various academic and research groups, examines some of the strategies involved in selecting an appropriate site for such a lunar base. Site selection involves a number of complex variables, including raw materials for possible rocket propellant generation, hot an cold cycles, view of the sky (for astronomical considerations, among others), geological makeup of the region, and more. This article summarizes the key base siting considerations and suggests some alternatives. Availability of specific resources, including energy and certain minerals, is critical to success.

Staehle, Robert L.↗