Moon base

A moon base or moonbase is a facility enabling activity on the surface of a moon, or in our case, human activity at the Moon. It can initially be uncrewed (for remote scientific or observational purposes) or crewed with habitation facilities, and eventually extended to a moon village with lunar space stations in orbit around the Moon.

Habitat
Habitation modules typically have control rooms with communications to rover teams and Earth, laboratories with lunar sample analysis, life support and medical, dining facilities and a store. They need to have protection from micrometeorites, heat and ultraviolet rays. Water would be extracted from the lunar soil by a chemical reaction or hydroponics. Natural ice and water has also been detected on our Moon. A four-crew human base would need dozens of tonnes per year and there may be 10 billion tonnes per pole.

Underground colonies
Building the lunar colony underground would give protection from radiation and micrometeoroids. This would also greatly reduce the risk of air leakage, as the colony would be fully sealed from the outside except for a few exits to the surface. It would however be more complex, needing advanced excavating machines, hardening of tunnels, porous insulating material, inflatable self-sealing fabrics to retain air, etc. Eventually an underground city can be constructed. Farms set up underground would need artificial sunlight.

Surface colonies
A lunar base on the surface could be built with lunar soil and regolith which is composed of silica and iron that may be fused into a glass-like solid, to allow for the use of "lunar bricks". 3D-printer technology could use lunar regolith raw materials to produce lunar building structures while using enclosed inflatable habitats for housing the human occupants inside the hard-shell lunar structures. This would provide both radiation and temperature insulation and be made fast enough to complete a building in a week. A surface base would also need to be protected by improved radiation and micrometeoroid shielding and ideal locations harnessing natural cover could be cliffs or caves.

Location
A base on the equator would be the easiest to land and launch from and communicate with Earth, but lunar nights would be a challenge for power. The polar regions have icy deposits but landing and communications would be difficult. A far side telescope location would be better as it would be shielded from interference from Earth.

Energy
A nuclear fission reactor would fulfill most of a Moon base's power requirements. Helium-3 mining could be used to provide a substitute for tritium for potential production of fusion power in the future.

Solar energy is a possible source of power for a lunar base. Many of the raw materials needed for solar panel production can be extracted on site. Since lunar regolith contains structural metals like iron and aluminum, solar panels could be mounted high up on locally-built towers that might rotate to follow the Sun. Another option would be to leave the panels in orbit, and beam the power down as microwaves.

Combining fuel cells with electrolysis would provide a "perpetual" source of electricity – solar energy could be used to provide power during the lunar day, and fuel cells at night. During the lunar day, solar energy would also be used to electrolyze the water created in the fuel cells.

In situ resource utilization (ISRU)
ISRU would be used for the collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on the Moon. These include :


 * Water is primarily needed for fuel. Water is also critical for drinking, for growing food, producing oxygen, or numerous other industrial processes, all of which require a ready supply of water in the environment and the equipment to extract it. For water that is chemically bound to regolith, solid ice, or some manner of permafrost, sufficient heating can recover the water.


 * Rocket propellant production is by processing water ice detected at the poles, then electrolyzing the water to produce hydrogen and oxygen and cryogenically store them as liquids. The propellant hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can also be made from water. Aluminum as well as other metals can be used for rocket propellant made using lunar resources.


 * Solar cells could be produced from the materials present in lunar soil: silicon, aluminium, and glass. Solar arrays produced on the lunar surface can be used to support lunar surface operations as well as satellites off the lunar surface. The resultant generated power could even be transmitted down to Earth via microwave beams.


 * The colonization of the moon will require obtaining local building materials, such as regolith which contains silica and metallic oxides and about 43% oxygen by mass, and it is found everywhere on the Moon. Oxygen grabbed from soil could power scientifically or economically interesting outposts far from the poles, and produce useful by-products such as rare metals.
 * For food, plants would recycle organic waste and turn carbon dioxide into oxygen to breathe, creating a life support system. Food such as kale could be grown in sheltered greenhouses lit by LEDs.

Earth to the Moon
Conventional rockets have been used for most lunar explorations but are expensive and unreliable. Alternatives are Elon Musk's starship and space elevators.

Lunar Space Elevator
A lunar space elevator could be used to move mechanical climbing vehicle up and down a tethered cable that is set between the surface of the Moon and a docking port suspended tens of thousands of kilometers above in space. It would be made using lunar materials, and the elevator could also be used to transport supplies and materials from the surface of the moon into the Earth's orbit and vice versa.

On the surface
Lunar colonists would need the ability to transport cargo and people to and from modules and spacecraft, and to carry out scientific study of a larger area of the lunar surface for long periods of time. Heavy, pressurized lunar rovers would be used for long-duration treks across the Moon's surface. They must contain all facilities and supplies to house a few crew for weeks. They will have remote manipulators mounted on the rover front to select, pick up, and retrieve samples without exiting the rover. Rovers could scoop up ice-filled soil and warm it in ovens to release water. The ovens could be powered wirelessly, by training high-power lasers onto photovoltaic cells on the rover.

If multiple bases were established on the lunar surface, they could be linked together by permanent railway systems. Both conventional and magnetic levitation (maglev) systems are possible.

Surface to space
One way to get materials and products from the Moon to an interplanetary way station might be with a mass driver, a magnetically accelerated projectile launcher. Cargo would be picked up from orbit by a shuttle craft using ion propulsion or solar sails and delivered to Earth orbit.

A lunar space elevator or momentum exchange tether system is also possible.

Moon village
A moon base could evolve into a moon village of international public and private investors, scientists, engineers, universities, and businessmen coming together to discuss interests and capabilities to build and share infrastructure on the Moon and in cislunar space for a variety of purposes. This collaboration and open nature would encompass any kind of lunar activities, whether robotic or astronauts, 3D printed habitats, refueling stations, relay orbiters, astronomy, exploiting resources, or even tourism.

Artemis Program
The Artemis Program will support the creation of multiple facilities to enable long-term missions to the lunar surface. This is a partnership between NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA).


 * Lunar Gateway is a planned small space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, habitation module for astronauts, holding area for rovers and robots, and a dock for spacecraft.
 * Human Landing System (HLS), a reusable lunar lander that will carry astronauts to and from the surface.
 * Artemis Base Camp will support the long-term exploration of the surface.

News

 * Artemis launched to the moon on 16 November 2022.

International Lunar Research Station (ILRS)
The ILRS is a merger of Russia and China’s plans for lunar exploration. Five facilities will make up the ILRS


 * Cislunar Transportation Facility (CLF) – an orbital station similar to the Lunar Gateway.
 * Support Facility on a lunar surface (similar to the Artemis Base Camp) that will include a command center, a global Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) network, an energy supply system, a thermal management system, and various support modules.


 * Lunar Transportation and Operation Facility (LTOF), where lunar vehicles will be stowed and maintained when not in use. This will include transporting cargo to other facilities, conducting exploration missions on the surface, or missions to explore the interior of stable lava tubes.
 * Lunar Scientific Facility, which will support lunar science operations on the surface, in-orbit, or in deep space.


 * Ground Support and Application Facility (GSAF), which is intended to offer operational support to communications and missions. It will also serve as a data center for lunar and deep-space missions, which China and Russia previously agreed to establish as part of their joint lunar efforts.

Once construction is complete around 2030, the base architecture will be:


 * IRLS-1 – establishment of the command center, basic energy, and telecommunications facilities
 * IRLS-2 – establishment of lunar research exploration facilities (sample collection, lunar physics, geology, lava tubes)
 * IRLS-3 – establishment of lunar ISRU technology verification facilities
 * IRLS-4 – verification of general technologies like biomedical experiments, sample collection, and return
 * IRLS-5 – establishment of lunar-based astronomy and Earth observation facilities