Section: Moonbases
Moontasks University Design Contest
NASA Langley Research Center
Student Design Competition
Notice of Intent Due: Dec 15, 2008
Competition Home
Student Challenge: Design tools and instrumentation packages for the next generation manned moon rover:
* Navigation in the darkness around the Moon’s south pole
* Power supplies for rovers in the dark
* Sample retrieval and on-site analysis
* Radiation detection and avoidance
* Communication with lunar outpost, with orbiters, and with Earth
* Video capture of sorties for transmission back to Earth
* Astronaut recovery and transport back to outpost
* Lunar regolith mitigation strategies for rover and space suits
Awards to be won! Fame and Glory! Make your mark on the Future!
Librarian’s Note: If it’s supposed to be the south Lunar pole, then the Earth should be a lot closer to the horizon, if visible.
Air & Space Magazine
Smithsonian Enterprises
Oct/Nov 2008
Publisher’s Web Site
Librarian’s Note: A nice article on some of the Moonwalker wannabes following the NASA path to the Moon. Others are trying to pathfind new ways to the Moon, and I wouldn’t mind being one of the folks that says hi to the NASA guys when they finally arrive. The Top 50 NASA photos is nice also, and there are a couple more space articles as well. Well worth a look!
MIT Open CourseWare (OCW)
16.89J / ESD.352J Space Systems Engineering
Spring 2007
On-Line Course
Librarian’s Note: Hat tip to Flying Singer over at Music of the Spheres for pointing this one out. I recognize all three of the texts for the course as top-notch reference books in the field. Kudos to MIT for putting this one out there.
Morris, Linda & Jan Anstatt (eds.)
“Lunar Challenge”
EDNOVATIONS/Challenger Center for Space Science Education
2004
Publisher’s Web Site
Out of the Cradle Review
NASA Space Science Education Resource Directory Review
NSTA Review
SpaceRef.com article
Librarian’s Note: This looks like a really fun project. A Project Director leads a number of family teams in putting together a Moonbase. It’s less about the Moon than developing understanding of the concepts of systems integration and teamwork, amongst other skills, but in a richly developed Moon-themed setting. The use of ‘Community Experts’ is encouraged to enrich the knowledge base of participants. It’s packed with quality supplies like laminated table-tents, so it’s clearly designed for multiple uses. I’m really looking forward to reviewing this educational kit. I’m just torn as to whether I should try to run an experimental ‘Lunar Challenge’ as part of the review process because it does look like fun and I do have the Lunar Library for reference materials.
adAstra: The Magazine of the National Space Society
Special Report: “Back to the Moon”
MM Publishing
Summer 2008
Librarian’s Note: Special congrats to the winners of the ISU Scholarships! Lots of great Moon coverage in this issue.
For NSS members only.
Kokh, Peter (ed.)
Moon Miner’s Manifesto
June 2008
#216
Publisher’s Web Site
Librarian’s Note: More ISDC updates, including the Moon Society’s Solar Power Sat demo.
For Moon Society Members only.
ESMD Lunar Surface Systems Concept Studies Broad Agency Announcement
Exploration Overview: The Road to the Moon and Beyond (pdf)
ESMD Lunar Surface Systems Concepts Study (pdf)
Competition Information Links
Broad Agency Announcement NNJ08ZBT002 (doc)
Due: July 9, 2008!
Librarian’s Note: NASA’s asking everyone to test their Yankee ingenuity and come up with solutions in six topic areas:
Topic 1: Alternative Packaging Options
Topic 2: Minimum Functionality Habitation Element
Topic 3: Innovative Avionics Architectures & Sparing Strategies
Topic 4: Long-term Lunar Energy Storage Systems Concepts
Topic 5: Alternative Software Architecture Development Approaches
Topic 6: Lunar Regolith Moving Methods & Techniques
The most promising ideas will receive contracts up to $250,000 to develop the idea. This is open to all non-NASA U.S. institutions. Companies, universities, what have you. Let’s see what the folks outside of NASA can do on a short lead-time!
Hsu, Jeremy
“Scientists to Set Lunar Health Standards”
Space.com
10/06/2008
On-Line Text
“Life and Work on the Moon” Art Contest now open!
NASA Langley Research Center
01 Aug - 01 Dec 2007
The Moon: Back to the Future homepage
-Open to college students from the arts, including industrial design, architecture, computer design, and the fine arts
-Entries will be accepted in three major categories: 2D, 3D & digital.
-Cash prizes, certificates of achievement, and exhibit opportunities are planned.
-Winners likely announced in Jan 2008.
-All entries initially submitted digitally as 300 dpi jpeg images.
-An on-line gallery is planned for public viewing of the artwork.
-Winners will be asked to ship their work to NASA for exhibit purposes.
Update - Winners Announced!
NASA Langley has posted the list of winners of the art contest. My favorites were ‘Pole Colony’ and ‘Enabling Exploration’. Congratulations are in order for everyone who participated.
Liveblogging
ISDC 2008: Day 1
29/05/2008
Morning
Session 1: Virgin Galactic Hobbyspace / Personal Spaceflight I / Personal Spaceflight II
Session 2: Elon Musk Hobbyspace
Session 3: Private Spaceflight Panel Hobbyspace
Afternoon
Part 1: Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP)/Lunar Regolith Issues Hobbyspace / CNN SBSP story
Part 2: How Lunar Rocks Could Save the Earth Hobbyspace
Part 3: Space Media Panel Hobbyspace / Instapundit
Part 4: Spaceports Panel Hobbyspace
Part 5: Chinese Space Program: Glenn Reynolds/Popular Mechanics
Part 6: Interstellar Colonization Overcoming Bias
Space Elevator Blog
Part I / Part II / Part III
Glenn Reynolds notes the gender ratio at the conference (here’s Cassie at my conference, flirting with Pixel), and the winners of the Space Settlements competition.
and my favorite Babe…in the Universe had the good sense to entitle her post on the Space Investment Summit as “Fly Me to the Moon” (and I couldn’t agree more with her sentiment).
Librarian’s Note: Unfortunately I can’t make this year’s ISDC, but if it’s as good as the one I co-chaired last year, it should be a great success!
Hsu, Jeremy
“Tackling Moondust for Future Lunar Living”
Space.com
28/05/2008
On-Line Text
Wingo, Dennis
“To ISRU or Not to ISRU, This is the Dumbest Question”
SpaceRef.com
05/18/2008
On-Line Text
The Space Show Interview
Librarian’s Note: Dennis continues to outline a reasoned and straightforward approach to Lunar development using materials found on-site. He makes a good case for the North Lunar Pole region, though I’m still biased towards South Pole/Aitken Basin (SPAB) because of the scientific interest of the biggest smack in the Solar system, and the fact that the deepest parts of the Basin exhibit some scant mare-ish characteristics. He outlines a 1 MW power supply structure using power towers that rotate to follow the Sun around the horizon. He also suggests a sinter-dozer that microwaves regolith until it melts and which then cools quickly to form glass, which helps minimize the dust kicked up by landings and take-offs. Well worth a read!
Noland, David
“How to Win the Lunar X-Prize”
Popular Mechanics
June 2008
On-Line Text
On-Line Podcast
Librarian’s Note: A nice overview of the Lunar X-Prize and the teams competing, there’s also an article by Instapundit Glenn Reynolds on the fight for land rights on the Moon. (The real issue is not deeds and claims, but rather the lack of a dispute resolution mechanism. Anyone is free to go to the Moon and set up shop, with the expectation of peaceful, unimpeded use of whatever area is necessary for whatever operations are established. The problem is that when someone goes mucking around and messes up someone else’s operations, there’s no consequence because there’s no mechanism for resolving the dispute or enforcing the judgements)
Wasser, Alan and Douglas Jobes
“Space Settlements, Property Rights, and International Law: Could a Lunar Settlement Claim the Lunar Real Estate it Needs to Survive?”
SMU Journal of Air Law and Commerce
Vol. 73, #1
Winter 2008
pp. 38-78
On-Line Text (pdf)
Wingo, Dennis
“Bootstrapping the Moon”
SpaceRef
05/07/2008
On-Line Text
O’Neill, Ian
“Building a Base on the Moon: Part 4 - Infrastructure and Transportation”
Universe Today
03/22/2008
On-Line Text
O’Neill, Ian
“Building a Base on the Moon: Part 3 - Structural Design”
Universe Today
02/20/2008
On-Line Text
O’Neill, Ian
Building a Base on the Moon: Part 1 - Challenges and Hazards
Universe Today
02/07/2008
Librarian’s Note: A nice intro to the idea of building a Moon base.
International Space University
ALERTS: Analysis of lunar exploratory robotic tasks for safety
MSS Project Report
2008
On-Line Text
Godwin, Robert
“The Lunar Exploration Scrapbook”
Apogee Books
11/2007
ISBN: 978-1-894-95981-0
Publisher’s Web Site
Air & Space Magazine Review - ‘Lunar Landers That Never Were’
Space Pragmatism Review
Librarian’s Note: The hardcover edition is only available through the Publisher’s web site; the Amazon link on the left is for the softcover. This is an amazing collection of valuable archival material. What’s most noticeable in hindsight are the basic design elements that kept showing up in project after project. Well over 100 drawn from engineering schematics, photos of models, architecture layouts, illustrations, and most with modern CG renderings from two perspectives based on the archival material. This is a rich resource indeed!
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Ewen
10/2007
ISBN-13: 978-7-542-84116-2
Publisher’s Web Site
Librarian’s Note: I can’t read the text, but the imagery is an exploration of the concepts of Moonbases that have appeared in print and in fiction, leading ultimately to things like wormholes and interstellar spacecraft. I recognize a lot of science fiction images, though of course the overall preponderance of images in the book are NASA-related. Rombaut’s ‘Moon Hotel’ is in there as well. It comes across as a nice familiarization exercise in the idea of people not just visiting the Moon, but living and working at a base there as well, an admittedly ‘alien’ idea to most folks.
The whole series is quite well done from what I can understand of the charts, graphs and illustrations, and I would guess is aimed at about the talented high school/college level. These were found at the Chinese equivalents of a Barnes & Noble or Borders. (i.e. large bookstores in public shopping areas) I honestly can’t think of an in-print English-language Moon-related equivalent that I could pick up at my local bokstore to help inspire future workers in high-technology industries. Perhaps there’s a thing thing or three that we could learn from the Chinese about cultivating a future workforce.
Tom Hanks Presents
“Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon”
IMAX Corporation
2005 (2007)
Publisher’s Web Site
Librarian’s Note: About freakin’ time! A textbook example of what happens when you don’t throw any marketing muscle behind a flick, this is a phenomenal movie that practically no one saw. Sort of an Apollo documentary, partially an exploration of what ifs, a bit of sentimental pedagogy, and lots of gorgeous, gorgeous images, especially of the Hadley Rille visit. Oh, and Ms. Commander Lugo, that’s my job you’re talking about!
Best of the Moon 2007 - Moon Movie
Lunar Plant Growth Chamber challenge
NASA
-K-12 students will design, analyze, build and assess plant growth chambers that could be used on the moon.
-Registrants will receive a packet of cinnamon basil seeds that flew on the STS-118 space shuttle mission and a control packet of seeds that have not flown.
-The two sets of seeds will be used to evaluate the student-designed plant growth chamber.
-Available to the first 100,000 registrants who must be residents of the United States, U.S. Territories and Outlying Areas.
Lunar Plant Growth Chamber challenge homepage
Registration Page
Teach The Challenge!
Librarian’s Note: Get a head start with:
“Teachers and Students Investigating Plants in Space - A Teacher’s Guide with Activities for Life Sciences”
On-line space plants
and if you really want to be precocious try:
“Lunar Base Agriculture: Soils for Plant Growth”
“Spaceflight Life Support and Biospherics” also has a section on ‘Higher Plants’.
Update: NASA will have webcasts with important information regarding this challenge on October 23rd and 30th. Details are here.
(Sorry I missed the first one, I’m not on their mailing list. Hat tip to Hobbyspace)
Further Update: See also the Out of the Cradle feature article for more links to Moon plants:
“Of a Garden on the Moon”
Part I
Part II
Part III
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