Lunar Habitat - Habitable or Not?

You are an astronaut, sent to the Moon, and told to set up camp.

I mentioned that to save your fingers in constructing your Lunar Camp
you could drop in an inflatable.

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http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/22/65477.aspx
Bigelow Shots For The Moon
Posted: Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:36 PM by Alan Boyle

Even as Bigelow Aerospace <http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/> gears up
for launching its second prototype space station
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16639526/> into orbit, the company has set
its sights on something much, much bigger: a project to assemble
full-blown space villages at a work site between Earth and the moon,
then drop them to the lunar surface, ready for immediate move-in.

In an exclusive interview this week, Las Vegas billionaire Robert
Bigelow confirmed that his company has been talking about the concept
with NASA � and that the first earthly tests of the techniques involved
would take place later this year. The scenario he sketched out would
essentially make Bigelow a general contractor for the final frontier.

Snip

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/070222/070222_Bigelow_hmed_1p.jpg
An artist's conception shows a Bigelow Aerospace complex in Earth orbit.
Such a station could serve as the precursor for prefabricated lunar bases after
2020.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16639526/

Maurizio Morabito mentioned that I didn't say anything about protecting
the Astronauts from radiation.

In looking for information about Radiation Shielding I found a very
interesting and informative 30 page paper on the topic. Only one
problem, Maurizio talks about 12 feet or so of regolith to cover you and
keep a person working in the radiation industry below 5 rem a year
exposure. The article talks about much less thickness and only a need to
protect and Astronaut from 50 rem a year exposure.

In David Schrunk and company's book, "THE MOON - Resources, Future
Development and Colonization", page 310 says the general public maximum
whole-body radiation dose rate should be less than 0.5 rem/year and
those who work with radiation should be less than 5 rem/year.

The paper is very interesting and I will give you the link.
- LRK -
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http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19910008686_1991008686.pdf
Radiation Protection for Human Missions to The Moon and Mars.
NASA Technical Paper 3079, 1991
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That said I was reading some of Maurizio's blogs (see his note below)
and I thought I would see if I could find the reference he sites.
It turns out that on the newly updated NSS web site we have a nice list
of reading material and you can find the links there.

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http://www.nss.org/settlement/library.html
http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/library/index.htm

*1985: Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century. *Edited by
W. W. Mendell. Lunar and Planetary Institute. 866 pages. [Complete
online copy <http://ads.harvard.edu/books/lbsa/>] [Buy from Amazon
<http://www.amazon.com/Lunar-Bases-Space-Activities-Century/dp/0942862023/sr=1-1
/qid=1158774577/ref=sr_1_1/102-3575799-6704137?ie=UTF8&s=books>]


Page 663 is where your article starts.
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1985lbsa.conf..663S
There are other references to radiation shielding in articles on pages
141, 211, 363, 375, and the one on 663.
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Shielding is going to be something that has to be dealt with. Heavier
metals in stopping high energy tend to make for secondary emissions that
are lower in energy but give that energy up in blood forming tissue in a
rather disruptive manner.

Water and plastics have hydrogen bound up and that is a good match to
stop a lot of energetic particles without making a lot more nasties in
the process. Metals on the other hand need to be thick enough to slow
the high energy particles as well as the secondary emissions.

Regolith, the dirt of the Moon, is high in aluminum content and is more
like a metal than water.

Depending on which of the reports you want to consider you are talking
about inches or feet in thickness. Lugging thick metal slabs into space
will take some energy. Living inside your water supply is a
consideration, well not in the water but with the water storage part of
the surrounding walls.

Wrapping yourself in plastic wrap might be good too. The spacesuits are
multilayer and so is Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable.

I don't know if an Astronaut is considered stronger or just more
expendable. :-(

I am sure some of you who have worked with things radio active would be
better informed than I.

Now you have to look out for the dust, physical exertion, and radiation
exposure.

Next?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

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Note from Maurizio - LRK
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Larry

There is one important thing obviously missing from these suggestions.

The thought of spending more than a couple of days virtually
unprotected on the Lunar surface should not enthuse anybody.

It has been computed (*) that on average a maximum 20% of time should
be spent by humans outside the protection of a minimum 4 meters of
regolith.

http://omnologos.wordpress.com/tag/moon/
(*) R Silberberg et al, 'Radiation Transport of Cosmic Ray Nuclei in
Lunar Material and Radiation Doses', in W W Mendell, ed, 'Lunar Bases
and Space Activities of the 21st Century', Lunar and Planetary
Institute, 1985, p668

If we seriously consider going back to the Moon, resources should be
spent investigating how easy it will be to bury those Habitats
(inflatable or otherwise) either under excavated regolith _OR_ in lava
tubes _OR_ in artificial giant caves. Especially the caves should be
easy to create with explosives, if there is no water in the lunar
rocks.

regards
maurizio
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http://omnologos.wordpress.com/2006/06/15/www-moon-the-why-what-and-when-of-a-permanent-manned-lunar-colony/
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Lunar Habitat - Inflate That Prefab.

You are an astronaut, sent to the Moon, and told to set up camp.

You are not too happy with the thought of fastening a lot of pieces of metal together since in a pressurized spacesuit it would be both tiresome and hard on your fingernails.

You are pleased to find out that a complete structure will be inflated in space and dropped intact and ready to occupy thanks to Bigelow Aerospace, a company that has been orbiting inflatable structures back on Earth.

Make a note, take wife on a second honeymoon in Low Earth Orbit when you get back.

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http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/22/65477.aspx
Bigelow Shots For The Moon
Posted: Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:36 PM by Alan Boyle

Even as Bigelow Aerospace gears up for launching its second prototype space station into orbit, the company has set its sights on something much, much bigger: a project to assemble full-blown space villages at a work site between Earth and the moon, then drop them to the lunar surface, ready for immediate move-in.

In an exclusive interview this week, Las Vegas billionaire Robert Bigelow confirmed that his company has been talking about the concept with NASA – and that the first earthly tests of the techniques involved would take place later this year. The scenario he sketched out would essentially make Bigelow a general contractor for the final frontier.

Snip




http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Photos/070222/070222_Bigelow_hmed_1p.jpg
An artist's conception shows a Bigelow Aerospace complex in Earth orbit. Such a
station could serve as the precursor for prefabricated lunar bases after 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16639526/

Before you go, maybe a good idea to do some testing here on Earth.
- LRK -
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/inflatable-lunar-hab.html
Snip
The first steps in making a lunar outpost a reality are being taken now, as planners intensify their efforts to determine what it will take for humans to safely live and work on the lunar surface.
Snip

The "planetary surface habitat and airlock unit" has been delivered to NASA Langley for ground-based evaluation of emerging technologies such as health monitoring of flexible structures. Credit: NASA/Jeff Caplan.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170069main_influnarhab01-330.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170068main_influnarhab01-1024.jpg

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Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

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More thoughts about inflatables. - LRK -
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http://www.asi.org/adb/02/06/inflatables-study-1.html

Study on Inflatable Lunar Habitats

William Mook has prepared a number of studies on space development, some of which relate directly to the Artemis Project's goals. This concept of an inflatable habitat could be a possibility for expanding the pressurized space of Moonbase Artemis for increased crew, or for lunar tourism. He has posted the following brief summary of his study:

Polyester film has a yield strength of about 25,000 psi. So a reinforced polyester film blown to form a 60-foot-diameter sphere would need to be about 1/80 inch thick to sustain a 3.75 psi pressure. You would need about 1/20 inch thick film to sustain 14.70 psi pressure.

Assume an outer shell 1/80 inch thick, and an inner shell 1/80 inch thick, separated by 2 inches. The film is bonded together every 2 inches or so by kevlar netting. The space between the two films is filled with lightweight polystyrene.

The whole sphere would inflate from a small pillbox type container. Assuming 3.75 psi working pressure, the sphere would weigh about 1,275 lb. The oxygen would weigh 2,225 lbs! More than the container!

Five floors would be formed the same way, and deployed along with the inflation of the spherical shell. They would consist of 2 sheets of polyester film separated by a kevlar reinforced polystyrene filler.

The poles of the sphere would be connected by a lanyard-deployed continuous longeron coilable boom. This would interconnect the five floors.

Starting at the south pole of the 60-ft-diameter sphere, the first floor is 5 ft above the pole. It is a circle 46 ft in diameter containing 1668 square ft of space. The second floor is 15 ft above the south pole. It is a cirle 53.6 ft in diameter and 2262 sq. ft. in area. The third floor is largest, with an area of 2,750 sq. ft. and a diameter of 59.2 ft. We then repeat the same sequence in reverse. The sixth panel is actually the ceiling of the fifth floor. The mass of these floors is 1,200 lbs.

The mass of the vertical shaft is 280 lb.

Assume the sphere is inflated on the lunar surface, from the nose of a landing craft. The craft is a cylinder 12 ft in diameter and 18 ft tall.

http://www.asi.org/images/asi199800032.jpg

>From the side of this cylinder is a 30-ft-long, 10-ft-diameter tube cut into two sections. The end of each section has attached to it an airlock door made of diffusion bonded/superplastically deformed titanium. The weight of each airlock is 480 lb. The weight of the outer tube, made of polystyrene foam inflated polyester film is 360 lb. Another lanyard-deployed continuous longeron coilable boom connects each of the airlock doors. The innermost door is attached to the airframe of the pillbox/spacecraft. This spacecraft contains all the environmental control systems as well as consumables. It is airtight, and forms a link between the airlocks and the station above. It also is a control center from which to control the station. The longeron coilable boom weighs 150 lb.

Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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REAPERS of the DUST - A Prairie Chronicle - And you want to go to the Moon!

REAPERS of the DUST - A Prairie Chronicle is a small book, a collection
of stories about the hard times of a North Dakota family during the
1930s depression and drought.  It is by my cousin, Lois Phillips Hudson,
who was born in 1927.  She gave me a copy back in December of 1995 and I
just finished reading it again.
http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfomhspress.cfm?Product_ID=233

Why do I mention this if we are talking about setting up a colony on the
Moon?

Sometimes we just think about the adventure and forget what it takes to
overcome what nature throws at us.

The first story in the book is entitled "The Dust Storm" and I would
like to copy the first paragraph and while you read it, think about what
it will be like on the Moon, in a spacesuit, putting up with talcum
powder glass grit that will get into every nook and cranny.  Think about
what the gloves of the spacesuit will do to your fingers as you battle
the stiffness of a pressurized suit.
- LRK -
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Two SPRINGS AGO, according to local newspapers and to coughing, red-eyed
service-station operators in the Rocky Mountains, we drove through the
worst dust storm Wyoming had suffered in eighteen years.  The wind was
prematurely aging the young Rockies, pushing dusty fingers under the
loosening fragments of thin topsoil that covered the grazing plateaus,
picking up the small greenish gravel from the road shoulders, and
hurling dust and gravel into the air at sixty miles an hour.  If we
dipped into a trough between plateaus, its shelter enabled us to see the
laden wind rising over the mountains and the sky running in massive
dirty currents above us.  After reaching the Coast we replace the badly
pitted window glass, had the car repainted, and cleaned the seats, floor
mats, and window crevices.  Yet months after we thought we had breathed
the last Wyoming grit, we turned on the defroster and blew bits of the
Rocky Mountains all through the car
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There may not be any wind on the Moon but the fine regolith will electro
statically stick to whatever it contacts and as the terminator advances
you may find it rising into space and settling on items as the lunar day
begins.  This dust won't be rounded grains but rather sharp and
abrasive.  How will you work in this harsh environment?
- LRK -



http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/aurora/Moonbase.jpg [2.8 meg]



http://moon.jaxa.jp/ja/gallery/moon_base/IMAGE/moon_base06_s.jpg [54 KB]

Will the Moon be a land of opportunity or hardship?
Still want to go?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

==============================================================
http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfomhspress.cfm?Product_ID=233

Reapers of the Dust

*By: Lois Phillips Hudson*
Format: Paper, xvi, 173 pp., 1984
Publisher: MHS Press
Usually ships in: 1-3 business days

ISBN 0-87351-177-8

/A Prairie Chronicle/
First published in 1965, her childhood recollections of living in North
Dakota are what Lois Phillips Hudson used to spin these unusual, moving
stories of simple, joyful days and of continuing battles with the
hostile elements on the Great Plains during the 1930s. Lois Hudson is
recognized as a major chronicler of America's agricultural heartland
during the grim years of the Great Depression.

New Introduction by the author

Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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