Creating a lunar base

[Guerrilla]

Fair question, I don't really know how big the variations are to be honest. It doesn't take much of a change in temperature to adversely affect the human body.

Lots and lots of AC

Hehe yea maybe that

Just have a quick look and I found this...

The temperature on the Moon varies from -387 Fahrenheit (-233 Celsius), at night, to 253 Fahrenheit (123 Celsius) during the day. Because the Moon has no atmosphere to block some of the Sun's rays or to help trap heat at night, its temperature varies greatly between day and night.

Compared with the hottest and coldest temperatures ever found on earth...

56.7 °C (134 °F) Furnace Creek Ranch (formerly Greenland Ranch), Death Valley, California

−89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) Vostok Station

Solar panels would work very well and could be massive with little or no gravity.

Small nuclear reactors.

Yea i'd imagine solar panels would be invaluable up there, nuclear reactors require a lot of work to keep running right?

Also those temperature changes would surely have an effect on the buildings themselves, materials etc.

I think it's fascinating though, all these obstacles they need to over come and I hope one day they manage it.

 

[Woden]

We would have to land on the moon first

/tinfoilhat

 

[TheBDog]

SNIP
I think it's fascinating though, all these obstacles they need to over come and I hope one day they manage it.

Those temps are ridiculous! Also, yeah I agree, and after it all we'd still have to adapt physically to life on the moon.

Technically people would weigh less so the fatties would love it. Make them feel good about themselves

I imagine they could do it now/pretty soon after getting authorisation to work on the necessary stuff - we have the science and engineering knowledge to do it, pretty much... but it'd cost a monumental amount of money/might require supplemental missions from Earth/etc.

Yeah definitely. Damn you money! D:

We would have to land on the moon first

/tinfoilhat

OHNOUDIDNT

 

[Rroff]

Yea i'd imagine solar panels would be invaluable up there, nuclear reactors require a lot of work to keep running right?

Also those temperature changes would surely have an effect on the buildings themselves, materials etc.

I think it's fascinating though, all these obstacles they need to over come and I hope one day they manage it.

Depends on your power requirements RTGs and similar are fairly low maintenance but a lot of weight. Solar would be very useful and the panels have a long lifespan.

The problem is more motivation than technical.

 

[Glaucus]

There's been so many lunar base designs, everything sorted.
Just google lunar base temperature control, fir a million reports and solutions.

Nuclear reactor can be zero maintenance. Look at the micro ones they are producing for remote towns, that they seal in concrete and work for like 40years. But due to weight and abundance sunlight, you would use solar.

 

[Rroff]

I'd imagine any long term base would have to be deep underground for multiple reasons mostly due to varied issues presented by the lack of a proper atmosphere.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

A quote from Nasa after watching the film 'Moon':

Moon was screened as part of a lecture series at NASA's Space Center Houston, at the request of a professor there. “He'd been reading online that we'd done this film about helium-3 mining and that's something that people at NASA are working on”, says Jones. “We did a Q&A afterward. They asked me why the base looked so sturdy, like a bunker, and not like the kind of stuff they are designing that they are going to transport with them. I said 'Well, in the future I assume you won't want to continue carrying everything with you, you'll want to use the resources on the moon to build things' and a woman in the audience raised her hand and said, 'I'm actually working on something called mooncrete, which is concrete that mixes lunar regolith and ice water from the moon's polar caps.'"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(film)#Reception_from_the_scientific_community

 

[theone8181]

I thought the base was already there space 1999 with eagle 5 anyone?

 

[Guerrilla]

There's been so many lunar base designs, everything sorted.
Just google lunar base temperature control, fir a million reports and solutions.

Nuclear reactor can be zero maintenance. Look at the micro ones they are producing for remote towns, that they seal in concrete and work for like 40years. But due to weight and abundance sunlight, you would use solar.

Ah i see... there's some awfully clever people about, I do hope they are given the chance to really go for it and push the boundaries for what is possible there.

 

[anything I don't mind]

First a human has to leave the planets atmosphere, considering no human has ever been higher than 400 miles, we still have 239500 miles to go before we can reach the moon. Then we will need to construct a spaceship that can not only travel the distance but also survive the radiation and micrometeorites.

Based on our current level of technology and the level of progress over the last 100 years. I don't think we will reach the moon in our life time and potentially not until about 2200.

One thing I've wondered with regard to a moon base is how would it deal with the massive temperature variation on the moon? Is there a part of the moon that would have to be used as it has a more stable temperature range or would be have to create some way of regulating the temperatures and if so wouldn't that require a lot of energy?

lol. don't worry, we can just ask NASA for the batteries they used 1969 as they were capable of powering the aircon in the suits and the spaceship and the rover for a few days. If its that easy, just rip some batteries out of your local truck and you good to go

The first mission to the moon will be a one way ticket as they will never be able to make the round trip first time around.

 

[Wazz-1]

 

[gettothechopper]

First a human has to leave the planets atmosphere, considering no human has ever been higher than 400 miles, we still have 239500 miles to go before we can reach the moon. Then we will need to construct a spaceship that can not only travel the distance but also survive the radiation and micrometeorites.

Based on our current level of technology and the level of progress over the last 100 years. I don't think we will reach the moon in our life time and potentially not until about 2200.



lol. don't worry, we can just ask NASA for the batteries they used 1969 as they were capable of powering the aircon in the suits and the spaceship and the rover for a few days. If its that easy, just rip some batteries out of your local truck and you good to go

The first mission to the moon will be a one way ticket as they will never be able to make the round trip first time around.

wibble

 

[JRS]

snip

Oh, bugger off groen

 

[TheBDog]

First a human has to leave the planets atmosphere, considering no human has ever been higher than 400 miles, we still have 239500 miles to go before we can reach the moon. Then we will need to construct a spaceship that can not only travel the distance but also survive the radiation and micrometeorites.

Based on our current level of technology and the level of progress over the last 100 years. I don't think we will reach the moon in our life time and potentially not until about 2200.



lol. don't worry, we can just ask NASA for the batteries they used 1969 as they were capable of powering the aircon in the suits and the spaceship and the rover for a few days. If its that easy, just rip some batteries out of your local truck and you good to go

The first mission to the moon will be a one way ticket as they will never be able to make the round trip first time around.

 

[doodah]

Where is his quote about sound in space when you need it?

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

The major problem is achieving escape velocity from the earth for all the material required. Solve that and job done.

Did have a fantasy about the scaffolding though,

'C'mon Mick only another 50,000 lifts to go'.

It's more to do with the number of trips needed. the international space station proves we can get the material up there. The question is how many trips will we need.

One thing I've wondered with regard to a moon base is how would it deal with the massive temperature variation on the moon? Is there a part of the moon that would have to be used as it has a more stable temperature range or would be have to create some way of regulating the temperatures and if so wouldn't that require a lot of energy?

I'm pretty sure satellites go through the same temperature changes when transitioning between the earth shadow. So what ever they have been using now should be fine. They also go through the temperature cycle more often than a base on the moon will.

For energy it would most likely be nuclear, with solar panels on the side, since a lunar day is approximately 27 earth days, you would have 13.5 days with out sunlight.

 

[anything I don't mind]

OK just say that man advances enough to leave our atmosphere and make it the 240 000 mile one way trip to the moon. Once they are there they will have to set up solar panel array that can with stand the environment. Then I would think going underground at least to some extent would be the best way to reduce environmental control requirements. To dig an underground base would be next to impossible. This is why they should start by a robot missions first, send multiple robot missions with remotely controlled machinery that can construct the moon base before humans even leave earth. When humans leave earth, a lot of the base would have to be already completed, so that when they arrive they can just finish it off and start living there.

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

Once they are there they will have to set up solar panel array that can with stand the environment.

Satellites already have this equipment.

 

[anything I don't mind]

Satellites already have this equipment.

That will be easy then.

 

[Hagar]

It's more to do with the number of trips needed. the international space station proves we can get the material up there. The question is how many trips will we need.



I'm pretty sure satellites go through the same temperature changes when transitioning between the earth shadow. So what ever they have been using now should be fine. They also go through the temperature cycle more often than a base on the moon will.

For energy it would most likely be nuclear, with solar panels on the side, since a lunar day is approximately 27 earth days, you would have 13.5 days with out sunlight.

Yes I should have been more explicit. It is reducing the energy required to achieve escape velocity for the quantity of material that needs solving.

A solar power station positioned at altitude near the polar regions would have almost constant sunlight (peaks of eternal light) and some innovative power transfer technology would power the base. Otherwise a storage facility would be necessary but batteries would also be heavy. Maybe stored heat.

One could envisage building a power station placed maybe in a low geostationary lunar orbit and then lifting robot machinery that would rely on this source to build your base from the rock with control from the earth. Finally some manned missions to make it habitable.