Luna City

At last, a city on our moon.

Summary

The establishment of a permanent settlement on the Moon is being considered by space agencies and interest groups, and some promising locations (e.g. near the lunar poles or in recently discovered large lava tubes) have been identified. We intend to participate in initial robotic and/or crewed explorations finalized to the establishment of lunar habitats, and then in the development of Luna City, a large colony on the Moon.

The Moon is the logical next step on the outer space frontier, and already identified business cases will soon unlock the funding needed for lunar settlement. Firmly persuaded that Luna City will be a reality in a few decades, we intend to play a role in all phases of its development, from conception to establishment and operations.

Discussion

LUNAVSAT: Lunar Navigation Satellite Network

This is a new thread for the LUNAVSAT project. Background in the old thread: https://spacedecentral.net/forum/posts/a-simple-and-cheap-first-moon-mission-lunar-cubesat LUNAVSAT is a GPS-like satellite network for the Moon. It should start with a realistic and cheap proof of concept. Then, the goal should be to deploy a satellite network able to provide sub-meter positioning signals to a receiver anywhere on the lunar surface. Business model: selling access to the date (decryption keys). X tokens (FTL or a dedicated token) buy Y minutes of access. Tokens can be traded, therefore funding the mission with token sales is viable. This is a pick-and-shovel business. There will be (I hope) all sorts of lunar projects at different locations and with different objectives, but all will need accurate positioning data.

Lunar Soil Autoconditioner (LSA) Project Proposal

Proposal: An automated device for the transformation of Lunar regolith into growing soil for human food production. Rationale: Numerous studies have been conducted over several decades on the reconstitution of lunar regolith into workable farming soil. The time may have come to automate the best of the available state-of-the-art in this area of inquiry into a small and reliable processing facility for generating soil stockpiles. The general process would be as follows: Collect Lunar Regolith from the local area. Sift the collected regolith to appropriate granular size. Load sifted regolith into growth chambers. Add liquid growth medium and appropriate biomass seed to growth chambers. Inculcate growth of biomass plants to appropriate level of maturity. Empty growth chamber into grinder/composter and re-cycle biomass-enchanced regolith into growth chambers. Re-run Steps 4 through 6 until conditioned regolith qualifies as soil. Stockpile soil in storage facility. Disciplines needed, subject to revision: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Botany, Hydraulics Design, Control System Design