Humankind’s next step into space will require long-term habitation and shelter on the lunar surface, which will only be possible if pressurized habitats are available. Buildings on Earth are designed to take advantage of the superior compressive properties of the building material. On the other hand, this luxury will not be available on the Moon because the internal pressure in the building will result in the entire structure being under tension. The use of in situ fabricated glass-fiber composite and the recently developing rapid-prototyping type technology will be useful in fabricating pressurized lunar habitats. Hence, the main objective of the designer will be to reduce the tensile stresses and bring them to manageable limits. This work is concerned with the study of design changes that will result in efficient habitats on the Moon. Designs are presented in this paper that would tend to reduce the tensile stresses and increase the compressive stresses, making it possible to build habitats that will be practical and safe. Proper design and appropriate materials would be the key to building the habitats on the lunar surface. Some ideas for the recycling of carrier moduli have also been presented to reduce possible junk on the lunar surface.


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    Title :

    Conceptual Design of Pressurized Shelters on the Lunar Surface


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2012-05-18


    Size :

    72014-01-01 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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