When NASA returns humans to the moon later this decade, its wider vision will be to set up a lunar outpost for people to survive for longer periods.
To support that goal, a US company has unveiled its design for a 3D-printed bunker that could protect astronauts from radiation, meteorites and moonquakes.
AI SpaceFactory’s outpost would feature Romanesque arches topped with over 8ft of lunar soil, along with three separate units that share a communal courtyard.
Each unit area is 807 square feet (75 square metres), while the central staging area is 968 square feet (90 square metres).
The 3D-printed shell design also incorporates a photovoltaic tree to capture and harvest solar energy.
Home on the moon: When NASA returns humans to the moon later this decade, its wider vision will be to set up a lunar outpost for people to survive for longer periods. To support that goal, a US company has unveiled its design for a 3D-printed bunker (pictured)
AI SpaceFactory’s outpost would feature Romanesque arches topped with 8ft of lunar soil, along with three separate units that share a communal courtyard
Each unit area is 807 square feet (75 square metres), while the central staging area is 968 square feet (90 square metres)
Within the next decade, NASA’s Artemis Mission will send astronauts to the lunar south pole, a region described as ‘The Peak of Eternal Light’, where the sun is constant and resides at a low angle of incidence.
LINA (Lunar Infrastructure Asset), as the base has been called, would be constructed by autonomous robots near the Shackleton crater, where near-continuous sunlight on the peaks could allow for solar power.
Not only that, but the constant shadow on the crater’s interior would allow for the harvesting of water ice.
‘As we broaden the horizon of what is possible in the future, LINA is an architectural and technological milestone that sets a precedent for pursuing explorations more distant than our moon,’ the design team said.
‘Designed with a life expectancy of at least 50 years, LINA is sized to shelter a pressurised, manned rover such as the Space Exploration Vehicle, telecommunication devices, and habitation modules.’
The lunar bunker will be covered with lunar regolith, providing maximum possible protection from lethal solar and cosmic radiation, micrometeorites, lunar seismic activity (moonquakes), and extreme thermal swings.
The LINA design stems from a collaboration between AI SpaceFactory and NASA to develop technologies for lunar surface construction within the timeframe of the Artemis mission.
Occupants of the lunar bunker will be shielded from lethal solar and cosmic radiation, while the lunar regolith it would be covered with would provide maximum possible protection from radiation, micrometeorites, lunar seismic activity (moonquakes), and extreme thermal swings
LINA (Lunar Infrastructure Asset), as the based has been called, would be constructed by autonomous robots near the Shackleton crater, where near-continuous sunlight on the peaks could allow for solar power
Not only that, but the constant shadow on the crater’s interior would allow for the harvesting of water ice
To construct it, AI SpaceFactory is developing a space-rated 3D printing system designed to operate in a vacuum with temperatures ranging from -274°F to -94°F (-170°C to 70°C).
The first such prototype, built alongside NASA, is undergoing testing at the Kennedy Space Center in a lunar environmental chamber, which replicates the conditions at the lunar south pole.
It is hoped that the long-lasting structure could support long-term habitation and travels to more planets.
NASA’s original date for landing humans on the moon again was 2024, but last year it delayed the date, blaming litigation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ firm Blue Origin.
In August, the US space agency plans to send manikins to space as part of the Artemis I mission.
Artemis I will pave the way for crewed flights – Artemis II, which will launch in May 2024 and fly by the moon without landing on it, and Artemis III, which will actually touch down on the lunar surface.
Artemis III, which will launch ‘no earlier than 2025’, will be the first to land humans on the moon in more than 50 years, since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
To construct it, AI SpaceFactory is developing a space-rated 3D printing system designed to operate in a vacuum with temperatures ranging from -274°F to -94°F (-170°C to 70°C)
It is hoped that the long-lasting structure could support long-term habitation and travels to more planets
NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon in 2025 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2025 – including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars.
Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed flight that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
It will travel 280,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the moon over the course of about a three-week mission.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. This graphic explains the various stages of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.
With this first exploration mission, NASA is leading the next steps of human exploration into deep space where astronauts will build and begin testing the systems near the moon needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars.
The will take crew on a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with humans aboard.
Together, Orion, SLS and the ground systems at Kennedy will be able to meet the most challenging crew and cargo mission needs in deep space.
Eventually NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.
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