
Designing a Full-Time Human Habitat on the Moon - gmck
https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/04/moon-village-som-mit-esa-space-urbanism-planning-habitat/587482/
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dr_dshiv
Extreme sports on the moon (moonball, dirtbiking, etc) might be able to pay
for themselves if there is sustained global media attention. There are large
existing radiation shielded structures on the moon in the form of lava tubes
[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_lava_tube](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_lava_tube)

The old economies were driven by commodities. Ours is driven by attention. How
might we build a multi-billion dollar media property on the moon?

~~~
A2017U1
Not sure if it can be called extreme but humans would be capable of self
powered flight in lunar gravity. Strap on some wings like those comical
attempts in the 1900’s and soar to your hearts content. I could see it being
very popular for space tourists.

~~~
dmurray
Wings aren't much use with zero atmosphere. You'd need some kind of a jetpack,
or a pressurised indoor arena to fly in.

~~~
A2017U1
The idea is it being in an enclosed livable area.

Outside with propulsion would be actually quite dangerous in comparison.

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marssaxman
> Outside with propulsion would be actually quite dangerous in comparison.

Ooh, really? Well, that sounds interesting; just how dangerous would you say
it is, compared to motorcycling, or free-climbing?

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A2017U1
This is funny to think about, I'm no expert but probably far more dangerous
unless your moon propulsion is dramatically restricted.

You need a fullbody suit to maintain it's integrity, so taking even a minor
spill is not a good idea. There's no terminal velocity either so if you go up
a reasonable amount and lose power you'd make a visible crater. You just keep
speeding up until reaching the moon's escape velocity (2.4km/s)

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maxerickson
The real answer is to figure out some interesting or profitable activity that
you can do there and then let the details take care of themselves.

Of course the government could pour massive resources into it to see what
happens, but we aren't really at the point economically or technologically
where that makes sense, at least in my arrogant opinion.

~~~
jedberg
I think you put the cart before the horse here. Back in the 1400's, people
were going out on ships to explore planet earth backed by monarchs on the
assumption that there would be resources to exploit _once they got there_. I
think the assumption here is that first we establish a colony on the moon, and
_then_ find a profitable activity.

~~~
maxerickson
That's not how colonization happened though. They went to exploit obvious
riches, not to see if they could find something to do.

And the early colonies were plenty underplanned and disastrous.

Also, that's what my second paragraph is about. Given our current resources
and capability, an experimental colony is a fool's errand.

~~~
incompatible
There were other differences. In those days, they were colonizing places where
they could easily adapt their existing ways of life. Their technological base
was small enough that the colonies could become relatively self-sufficient
quickly.

None of that would apply to a colony on the Moon: surviving there would
require advanced technology, and we don't know if it's even possible for
humans to survive in such low gravity for an extended period. A colony would
probably remain dependent on Earth to supply manufactured products, such as
semiconductors. Modern society uses a vast range of products. It probably
wouldn't be much more self-sufficient than the ISS, and it wouldn't survive if
Earth lost interest in supporting it.

~~~
maxerickson
It _wasn 't_ particularly easy to adapt. Lots of people died and it took
decades to get footholds.

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azeotropic
Compared to the moon, it was stupendously easy. There was air to breathe,
water to drink, and plants to eat, and reasonably safe levels of radiation. So
easy even a caveman could do it.

The only thing the moon has going for it is the apparent absence of
microorganisms that cause human disease.

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jfoutz
although i hate it, yeah. there are plenty of places humans don't live _on
earth_. Deserts and tundra are obvious. but like 70% of the surface is water,
and basically 0% of the population lives there.

Maybe we need to go down before we go up. Maybe we need to survive at a few
meters below sea level before we can handle living at a few kilometers above
it.

~~~
incompatible
Yes, I think even building a completely self-sufficient city in a desert on
Earth, with the ability to build its own equipment including computers may be
beyond us at this point. Obviously it would be a lot easier than doing it on
the Moon or Mars, but too much of the technology that would be needed is
locked up in trade secrets.

There's plenty of 3D space available at the surface of the Earth; it's not
exploited either because it's not profitable or because government rules
prevent it. Who wants to live in a desert in the middle of nowhere? But they
want to live on Mars? It would get old fast, especially with such a laggy
Internet connection.

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coenhyde
Here's another article about the moon settlement designed by SOM
[https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/11/moon-village-som-news-
desi...](https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/11/moon-village-som-news-design/)

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jbattle
Ben Bova had this all figured out a few decades ago. I this book as a kid and
found it utterly fascinating. To my kid-brain, all the details had clearly
been worked out and it was just a matter of getting some astronauts up there
to break regolith.

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1005249.Welcome_to_Moon_...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1005249.Welcome_to_Moon_Base)

I can't find a picture of it now (aside - in 2019 I actually find it
surprising when I _cant_ find a picture of something I remember) but there was
a thrilling section about how tourists at Moonbase could fly inside the low-
gravity / cavernous pressurized living quarters by donning large mylar wings.

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Animats
_but there was a thrilling section about how tourists at Moonbase could fly
inside the low-gravity / cavernous pressurized living quarters by donning
large mylar wings._

That's from "The Menace from Earth", by Heinlein.[1]

[1]
[https://www.baen.com/Chapters/0743498747/0743498747___2.htm](https://www.baen.com/Chapters/0743498747/0743498747___2.htm)

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robotomir
>the settlement would be clustered close to the crater’s water-ice deposits so
that water from the permanently shadowed depressions near the South Pole

Aren't the areas around the equator much easier to reach, in terms of delta v?

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vbuwivbiu
in light of the recent comments on HN about how extremely boring urban
environments can cause depression

surely this is an opportunity to build stunning gothic 3d-printed procedurally
generated fractal moon cities

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m3kw9
This is one of the places where “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in
the face” applies.

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dvh
Triangular joints makes no sense.

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dbcooper
There's no carbon on the moon.

~~~
RandomInteger4
Then we put some carbon on the moon.

EDIT: This is a perfectly valid reply to the lack of carbon asserted by the
parent comment. If it's not there, we put it there. How hard is that to
comprehend? Space stations and various materials requisite to the operation of
space stations didn't exist in orbit prior to us putting them there.

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imtringued
We can just skip the moon and go directly to mars then if we have to bring
everything from earth.

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RandomInteger4
The moon offers the advantage of very little gravity. We also know that the
moon contains a wealth of valuable raw materials. Add in some earth based
soil, water and plant life, and we have a valuable self-sustaining space
outpost for cheaper missions elsewhere in the solar system. Furthermore, most
of the moon operations would be automated to reduce the resources necessary to
sustain human life till an abundant supply is established through some form of
MRE factory.

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revskill
I don't want to see the gravity between Moon and Earth will change once Human
live there.

People could change nature with technology i think, and it's an unnatural
thing to the universe.

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vraivroo
People and their technology are part of both nature and the universe, so,
you're wrong.

