Is NASA designing lunar habit modules yet?

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

willpittenger

Guest
What do they have in mind? We have seen some rover proposals. How about the habit? We need a place to live remember -- unless you want to shoehorn yourselves back into the lander every night.
 
S

samkent

Guest
As a country the US has just taken on a huge debt to “bail us out”. With the “bill” for the bail out and the remaining boomers retiring, I doubt we will do more than a few snatch and run missions. There is just no benefit to the country at large to justify the huge cost for long stays on the moon. So don’t expect to see NASA hyping their Moon Condo anytime soon.
 
N

nimbus

Guest
This sounds tentative yet, but apparently the admin will point NASA towards only sorties and no permanent lunar base, aiming for NEOs and Mars instead.
 
W

willpittenger

Guest
RS_Russell":8dyxfuw4 said:
willpittenger":8dyxfuw4 said:
What do they have in mind? We have seen some rover proposals. How about the habit? We need a place to live remember -- unless you want to shoehorn yourselves back into the lander every night.
This is about a year old but here is some iformation that ILC Dover did on a prototype Lunar habitat. It was field tested in Antarctica. This is sort of a new/old design. You might say some of the inflatable quonset designs go back to Heinlein's fiction. Some designs and sketches I saw about 15 years ago had inflatable huts in a trench. Supports are then put over the hut and regolith is shovelled or bulldozed for extra radiation protection.

Article at ILC Dover: http://www.ilcdover.com/products/aerosp ... arctic.htm

http://www.ilcdover.com/products/aerosp ... abitat.htm
I find it amusing that the article says the structure can withstand 100 mph winds. No winds to worry about on the Moon. Mars maybe.
 
J

JonClarke

Guest
In general I don't see lunar station modules differening substantially from those alreay used on space stations or carried in the Shuttle payload bay. Apart from being adapted to work in lunar gravity of course.

Jon
 
W

willpittenger

Guest
One I see would be while attaching two modules. You have to avoid stirring up the dust. That stuff is abrasive and magnetic. While there might not be air to hold the dust up, the lack of strong gravity would have a major impact there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts