Contents: Other pages Vehicles SpaceX Starship Lunar vehicles Astrolab/Venturi Lunar Terrain Vehicle (FLEX) Vehicle Technologies Artificial Gravity space stations VAST Haven Moon Information Moon composition Lunar Materials and Resources Water impact glass beads water from solar wind (Hydrogen) and Oxygen density of solar wind Lunar Construction materials Glass Costs Rocket costs Lunar transfer costs Dangers Meteors and meteorites meteorite material stats Antarctica stations Social and societal aspects of space travel, industry and colonization

Here are some different research areas, for which research has been performed:

Other pages [edit section]

• Lunar Hotels

Vehicles [edit section]

SpaceX Starship [edit section]

• Starship passenger volume

Lunar vehicles [edit section]

• NASA has selected 3 companies to bid on the next generation lunar rover
  • https://www.space.com/nasa-lunar-terrain-vehicle-artemis-moon-rover-contracts

    Astrolab/Venturi Lunar Terrain Vehicle (FLEX) [edit section]

• https://videos.space.com/m/C9AHWPxU/astrolabs-lunar-terrain-vehicle-next-gen-moon-roving
• https://youtu.be/SfT6HIc9OPw - video of FLEX operations on the moon
• Features:
  • supports manned and unmanned operation
  • supports operation while drive is standing
  • supports cargo transport and deployment
    • has a big empty center for holding crates
    • has an arm to deploy items

Vehicle Technologies [edit section]

Artificial Gravity [edit section]

See Artificial Gravity

space stations [edit section]

VAST Haven [edit section]

See httsp://vastspace.com/

• Haven-1 - 2025
  • launched on Falcon-9 in 2025
• populated by Dragon capsule with 4-person crew in 2025, for up to 30-day mission
  • plan to do lunar gravity simulation (with rotation?)
  • Resources:
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven-1
    • Mission Overview: Haven-1 and Vast-1 (video)
    • Vast Unveils Final Design for Haven-1... (video)

• Haven-2 - (2029-2032)
  • https://interestingengineering.com/space/vast-haven-2-potential-iss-successor
  • larger Haven-2 modules, eventually building to 8 parts with a central core (9 launches)
  • also plan auxiliary stuff - robot arm, ports for experimental payloads

Moon Information [edit section]

Moon composition [edit section]

The crust consists of 43% oxygen, 20% silicon, 19% magnesium, 10% iron, 3% calcium, 3% aluminum, and trace amounts of other elements, including chromium (0.42%), titanium (0.18%), manganese (0.12%),

• source: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-moon-made-of-604005
• compare to earth's crust, which is: 46% oxygen, 28% silicon, 8% aluminum, 5.6% iron, 4% calcium, 2.3% sodium, 2.3% magnesium
  • source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth%27s_crust

Lunar Materials and Resources [edit section]

Water [edit section]

impact glass beads [edit section]

• impact glass beads = at most 130ml of water per cubic meter of lunar surface regolith
  • it should be easy to extract (heat IGB to over 100C and distill moisture)
  • see https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/27/glass-beads-on-moon-surface-hold-billions-of-tonnes-of-water-scientists-say
  • see https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/aeronautics-space/uncovering-secrets-of-the-moon-the-role-of-glass-beads-in-the-lunar-surface-water-cycle/

water from solar wind (Hydrogen) and Oxygen [edit section]

• "NASA Scientists Show How Ingredients for Water Could Be Made on Surface of Moon, a 'Chemical Factory' - NASA"
  • https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nasa-scientists-show-how-ingredients-for-water-could-be-made-on-surface-of-moon-a-chemical-factory/
• "Want to make water on the moon, the solar wind could help"
  • https://www.space.com/solar-wind-may-make-water-on-moon.html

density of solar wind [edit section]

• Near the Earth's orbit at 1 astronomical unit (AU) the plasma flows at speeds ranging from 250 to 750 km/s (155–404 mi/s) with a density ranging between 3 and 10 particles per cubic centimeter and temperature ranging from 104 to 106 Kelvin
  • source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind

Lunar Construction materials [edit section]

Glass [edit section]

• Space Windows - materials used for windows in space

Costs [edit section]

How much will rockets, landers, bases, equipment and transportation cost on the moon?

Rocket costs [edit section]

• Starship test articles are estimated to cost about $100 million per ship (including booster)
  • Likely, a fully-equipped Starship might be about $100 million, all by itself (that's a guess, though)

Lunar transfer costs [edit section]

• Astrobotic Payload Users Guide
  • https://www.astrobotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PUGLanders_011222.pdf
  • has good information about costs, details of issues that landers deal with
    • orbits, prices, capabilities, configurations, propulsion
    • environment: vibration, radiation, thermal, power, humidity, pressure, clean-room (anti-contamination), electrical, etc.
    • operations
  • $1.2 million per kg to the Lunar Surface
  • $4.5 million per kg to the Lunar Surface on a rover
  • Peregrine lander
  • Griffin lander

Dangers [edit section]

Meteors and meteorites [edit section]

meteorite material stats [edit section]

How much meteorite material hits the earth each day:

• See https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/is-it-dusty-in-here-or-is-it-just-the-14-tons-of-meteorite-dust-that-settles-to-earth-every

• 100 tons per day of meteor materials hits the earth - most ends up in the atmosphere
• 14 tons per day of very small meteorites
• 10 tons per day of meteorites large enough to see

• 80% of solar system dust is from comets (essentially evaporating)
  • See https://arxiv.org/pdf/1109.2983.pdf (regarding the origin of dust and micro-meteorites that comprise the Zodiacal cloud)
    • In particular, it seems to come from Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs)

• 60% of micrometeorites in Antarctica are believed to be from comets:
  • See https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/antarctic-study-shows-how-much-space-dust-hits-earth-every-year/

How much meteorite material hits the moon each day:

• 2800 lbs?

LRO measurements indicate moreeteor hits than expected

• https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/earths-moon-hit-by-surprising-number-of-meteoroids/
• Surface may turn over every 81,000 years, instead of every few million years, due to secondary splotches from primary impacts

Antarctica stations [edit section]

There will likely be a lot of similarities between tourism and stations in Antarctica, and tourism and stations on the moon.

• See Antarctica Info

Social and societal aspects of space travel, industry and colonization [edit section]

This is a pretty interesting read:

• https://www.space.com/responsible-space-settlement-benefit-humanity

Check back on this research - planned for 2024 and 2025:

• https://bassconnections.duke.edu/project-teams/future-space-settlements-lessons-history-2024-2025