Establishing a permanent and continuously growing human presence on the
surface of the Earth's moon could be a pivotal point in human cultural
evolution. Humans could utilize the lunar regolith to produce oxygen
for breathing and as a chemical component of water. Additionally 5 to
10 meters of lunar soil could be used to shield lunar habitats from the
deleterious effect of cosmic radiation. If humans living at a lunar
facility for several years can remain healthy and perhaps even reproduce
under the Moon's 1/6 hypogravity environment then humanity will no
longer have to confine its existence to the surface of the Earth,
allowing us to expand human civilization to the Moon, Mars, and perhaps
Mercury which should greatly enhance the survival of the human species
in the solar system.
20 times less energy to launch a satellite into Earth's orbit from the
lunar surface than from the Earth's surface. Satellites are at the core
of the trillion dollar telecommunications industry. So if satellites
could eventually be manufactured and launched from the lunar surface
then lunar colonies could someday dominate the satellite manufacturing,
satellite launching, and perhaps even the satellite repair industry.
Tourism and even the burial of human ashes on the Moon could also be
potential multi-billion dollar lunar industries in the future.
Unfortunately, NASA's next program, Constellation (a mission currently
under review by the Obama administration), is not a lunar base program.
Constellation is an Apollo-like sortie program which NASA argues could
be a prelude to a lunar base program. Some now argue that a lunar base
program should be scrapped altogether.
How difficult would it be to set up a lunar base?
It may be a lot simpler and cheaper than we imagine-- if we let remote
controlled robots do all of the hard work even before humans arrive.
Just one launch from NASA's future heavy lift vehicle, the Ares V, could
place between 15 to 20 tonnes of payload on the lunar surface. So a
fully functioning lunar facility capable of accommodating perhaps 10
astronauts at a time for a year or more would probably only require
three or four launches of the Ares V-- excluding the manned launches
required to bring the astronauts to the lunar surface. Of course the
astronauts should be attempting to live off the land as much as possible
by manufacturing their own oxygen from the lunar regolith. But the Ares
V could launch another 20 tonnes of food and water if they ran short.
Humans require approximately 3 kg of water per day, 2.8 kg of oxygen per
day and 1.8 kg of food per day: 2.8 tonnes of water, oxygen, and food
for each individual on the moon annually. Obviously, if oxygen and water
can be recycled to some degree then supplies would last longer. And if
oxygen can be efficiently manufactured from the lunar regolith then
oxygen wouldn't have to be imported from Earth at all and only the small
hydrogen component of water (11%) would have to be shipped from Earth in
order to manufacture H20 on the lunar surface.
To assemble these bases, NASA could use the emerging ATHLETE robot
technology. The spider-like ATHLETE robots and other remote controlled
vehicles could assemble and properly shield the lunar base with lunar
soil. These robots could also travel practically all over the vast lunar
surface, thousands of kilometers away from the manned lunar base,
collecting rocks and soil samples from different regions of the moon and
then returning those samples back to the lunar base for eventual export
back to Earth for study.
Just a few billion dollars-- extra-- in annual funding for NASA could
accelerate the development of the Ares V and the development of the
lunar base and lunar transportation infrastructure so that humans might
return to the moon as early as 2016. But this time not to visit, but to
stay!
Links and References
NASA may scrap plans for a Permanent Moon Base
Ares V
Constellation Program
ATHLETE ROVER
ATHLETE Robot
http://newpapyrusmagazine.blogspot.com/2009/05/robots-could-build-base-o\
n-moon.html
> Additionally 5 to
> 10 meters of lunar soil could be used to shield lunar habitats from the
> deleterious effect of cosmic radiation
Regards,
Mike Combs
Just two meters of lunar regolith should protect you from 98% of the particles from cosmic radiation. However, about 2% of cosmic radiation is composed of heavy nuclei moving close to the speed of light which cannot be stopped by only 2 meters of soil. And its really not known whether or not these particles simply pass through the human body without any significant harm.
It takes at least 5 meters of lunar regolith to stop these high energy particles.
Marcel F. Williams
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Combs, Mike" wrote:
> It takes at least 5 meters of lunar regolith to stop these high energy particles.
The conclusion of the NASA Summer Study was that 2 meters of shielding reduce radiation levels to those found in terrestrial communities.
Mike Combs
From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Marcel
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:08 AM
To: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [spacesettlers] Re: Robots Could Build a Base on the Moon
Just two meters of lunar regolith should protect you from 98% of the particles from cosmic radiation. However, about 2% of cosmic radiation is composed of heavy nuclei moving close to the speed of light which cannot be stopped by only 2 meters of soil. And its really not known whether or not these particles simply pass through the human body without any significant harm.
But we do know that these particles are an optical annoyance since they produce the retinal flashes seen in the eyeballs of astronauts on the lunar surface and, periodically, in Earth orbit, streaks of light of light observed every few minutes. Cosmonauts aboard the MIR sometimes found it impossible to sleep during periods of retinal flashes.
It takes at least 5 meters of lunar regolith to stop these high energy particles.
Marcel F. Williams
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Combs, Mike" wrote:
Marcel wrote:
> particles from cosmic radiation. However, about 2% of cosmic radiation
> is composed of heavy nuclei moving close to the speed of light which
> cannot be stopped by only 2 meters of soil. And its really not known
> whether or not these particles simply pass through the human body
> without any significant harm.
Do you have a reference for that? I have to ask because all my
references agree with Mike's assertion -- that 2 meters is enough to
bring all radiation levels down to Earth-normal levels (or so I recall).
> But we do know that these particles are an optical annoyance since they
> produce the retinal flashes seen in the eyeballs of astronauts on the
> lunar surface and, periodically, in Earth orbit, streaks of light of
> light observed every few minutes. Cosmonauts aboard the MIR sometimes
> found it impossible to sleep during periods of retinal flashes.
Yes, but those folks weren't under 2 m of regolith.
Look at it this way: 2 m of regolith is about the same mass per unit
area as our atmosphere (again, IIRC). It won't stop everything, but
then, our atmosphere doesn't stop everything either. But it stops enough.
Best,
- Joe
On 20/05/2009, Joe Strout wrote:
> Look at it this way: 2 m of regolith is about the same mass per unit
> area as our atmosphere (again, IIRC).
per cubic metre. The earth's atmosphere is 10,000 kg per square metre,
5000 at some habitable altitudes.
> Best,
> - Joe
--
-Ian Woollard
"All the world's a stage... but you'll grow out of it eventually."
Ian Woollard wrote:
> per cubic metre. The earth's atmosphere is 10,000 kg per square metre,
> 5000 at some habitable altitudes.
Thanks for the correction.
Best,
- Joe
Two meters will protect you from radiation sickness but two meters won't stop retinal flashes in your eyeballs.
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Combs, Mike" wrote:
Here are a couple of online references:
http://www.spacedoc.net/retinal_flashes.html
Lunan in his 1983 book 'Man and the Planets' also noted that 2 meters of lunar or martian soil was required to shield bases on those worlds but 5 meters was required to prevent the most energetic cosmic rays.
Again, retinal flashes may turn out to be harmless. But seeing white streaks in your eyes every few minutes while living on the Moon or Mars could be annoying. So theirs no reason not to add the extra soil.
Marcel
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, Joe Strout wrote:
ISTR that the NASA/Ames study concluded that two metres
of regolith would reduce radiation levels to those
experienced in certain high-altitude cities as
Denver, Colorado. If you want to bring it down to the
levels experienced in Honolulu, Hawaii, you'll need more
regolith.