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In addressing this NASA Quest design challenge, our group of 18 4th
and 5th grade students in the science club divided into 6 teams. Here
are our initial designs. The station plan diagrams are in the
attached Adobe PDF document (EaglePoint_diagrams.pdf). All information
and comments from students generated throughout the design process
is on the science club blog at www.sleuthacademy.org.
LOCATION
- The best place to build a lunar station is underneath a ledge
that has many craters in the area. We suggest Dugan. Our analog
station will be built as a scale model in the science lab at Eagle
Point. The conditions in our local area would not serve
as a great site for a full-scale analog station.
- This site was selected so there would be less chances of another
meteorite to smash into the moon. Another reason is so since we are
close to many different craters we can use a tool to dig inside of
the crater and take out some of the ice and melt it so it can be
used as drinking water after it is cleaned in a very good filter
system.
- A strength about our location is that we have less radiation
and we have less chances of erosion. A weakness is that we may
have to have the station send out a machine that will bring in
a new crater as a water source and that will either use a lot
of gas in which you get from the moon or electricity in which
we get from the sun. We
also need to do further research into the daylight availability
at this location to find out the amount of solar energy available.
ENERGY and LIFE SUPPORT
- Main energy will be solar panels. We need to verify that the location
(Dugan) has the appropriate amount of daily sunlight to give enough
energy for the station.
- Backup energy will be stored in batteries. Half of the
energy we get will go into a back up battery system.
- We will investigate the possibility of hydrogen powered fuel cells.
- Life support - greenhouse (hydroponic or research into plants
that will grow in the nutrients in moon dirt) will provide oxygen
and food for the residents of the station. We should have
a greenhouse because trees make oxygen. We should grow soybeans,
tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, grains, grapes,
peanuts, bananas, apples, oranges, peaches, plums, and carrots. Of
course, first we should try just a few different crops to see if
the greenhouse will work on the moon. The initial crops in
our analog outpost are rye grass and radishes. We chose
these because they are fast growing and would be a good source
for removing carbon dioxide and providing oxygen.
- Waste urine will be recycled into water for the greenhouse (ion
exchange and sterilization), human waste and food waste will be sterilized
and composted for fertilizer.
HUMAN FACTORS (draft diagrams are in the attached PDF)
- For support recreation they could put a tennis court (not sure
we have space for this initially). Also for privacy
they could make stapled curtains. For social areas they could
make lounges for different countries. For quiet areas they
could make a nice living room and for communication with home they
could use walkie talkies that don’t run on electricity. The
bedrooms will be small rooms with bunk beds and a hammock for
storing clothes. There will be a recreation room with 4 exercise
bikes (note:
probably don’t need 4, everyone doesn’t need to
be on the bike at the same time). Kitchens will be simple with
microwave ovens and a sink. The lounge will have 4 chairs with
cup holders. The greenhouse will be bright, warm light with fans.
Bathrooms will have toilet facilities with hand sanitizer.
- The science laboratory is located in the plans on the above
ground section – room for an observatory.
- You will communicate with personnel in the field by radio signal. The
people in the field will be able to talk to people in the habitat
as well as people also in the field using portable walkie-talkie
devices.
- You will provide with communications to Earth by radio signal as
well as text messages or e-mails.
EXPLORATION AND EVA ACTIVITIES
- Space suits will be lightweight yet radiation blocking. Entry
and exit to the station is handled by contamination team. All
rovers and exploration vehicles will be exiting and entering the
station from the “Landing” area.
- Our moon rover was designed to help have further exploration
of the moon. We made our moon rover to have enough room for two
people. Our model design has two compartments, one for people
and one for rocks and items retrieved to bring back to the laboratory
for further study. The blue antenna with a small green fuzzy
ball is for monitoring radiation during exploration. Our
rover is powered by solar energy and fuel cells.
RESEARCH STATION ARCHITECTURE and MATERIALS (detailed plans
are in the attached PDF)
1. Key features of the floor plan as in the attached PDF
document:
- The station will be part above ground, part below.
- The architecture design is composed of many domes.
- There will be a water tank (processing ice and water treatment),
an observatory/laboratory, a ship bay, a greenhouse, beds and ladders
(for accessing different levels of the station and minimizing contaminant
transport from the moon into the station).
- The research station will be part above ground, part below
because we can’t land ships below ground but it’s
safer to live below ground.
- The ship bay will house our rovers and exploration vehicles
(maybe some manned and some robotic). The other above ground
bay is a facility for a laboratory and observatory.
- The above ground part of the base will be made of bullet proof
cloth (Kevlar) because it is light and easy to transport from Earth,
and the bottom will be made of hollowed out moon rock, covered with
Kevlar or some other heavy duty lightweight material to minimize
dust.
CONTAMINATION
- Protection from radiation with space suits and station designed
to minimize exposure with living quarters below ground.
- The station has an entrance at ground level and then a stairway
(or elevator) down to living and research level. Moon dust will
be limited to this “landing” room. All rovers and
ships will be stored in this room.
- The Moon will be protected from contamination from the station
residents by using the same decontamination entrance to the station
and careful collection of all waste while exploring the moon surface.
- We think that a fan system might keep dust out of the research
station – blowing gas (even if it is waste carbon dioxide)
over the spacesuits before the astronauts take them off inside
the station. This will be in several stages working their way
from the landing area down the ladders to the living area.
- Carbon dioxide will be filtered through the greenhouse for decontamination
by the plants. Grey water will be processed through the wastewater
treatment system to provide water for the greenhouse. Toxic waste
will be minimized through environmental responsibility. Any other
waste will be stored for shipment in capsules back to earth.
- We have read some articles suggesting that microwaves might be
useful to minimize the dust issue by melting it.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We would like to thank
all the organizers of NASA Quest challenge and especially Jennifer
Heldmann for her feedback and we also give a special thank you to Mr.
Edward Mango of NASA, JSC (Orbiter Project Office, Deputy Manager),
for visiting our school and giving us live feedback during the design
process.
Photos of the construction process of the analog model
of Moon Base Eagle follow:
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