Is it possible to realize the dream of building a moon base?

Since ancient times, man has dreamed of building his home on the moon. In ancient China folklore, there is a beautiful myth that Chang 'e and WU GANG lived in the Moon Palace. It was a group of imaginative visionaries and science fiction writers who first proposed the establishment of a lunar base. Entering the 2 1 century, building a lunar base will no longer be an illusion, but will become a practical action.

1987 10, at the congress of the international academy of astronautics, nearly a thousand scientists and engineers from more than 50 countries jointly proposed to build an international lunar base. 1in April, 1995, scientists from all over the world discussed the international development strategy of building a lunar base. At present, the United States, Japan, the European Space Agency and other countries and organizations have put forward plans to build a lunar base, and have begun to prepare for the implementation of the lunar base plan.

The question now is, how will mankind build a lunar base and develop and utilize the rich resources of this celestial body closest to the earth?

(1) Develop and utilize the moon resources for the benefit of mankind.

(2) Make use of the moon's superior resources for scientific research and experiments.

(3) According to the step-by-step development strategy of the lunar base, a permanently inhabited base and a lunar village will eventually be established on the lunar surface.

Where is the lunar base built?

When building a lunar base, one of the first problems encountered is site selection, that is, where the lunar base is most suitable.

According to the requirements and characteristics of developing the moon, there will be different types and functions of bases, and different types and functions of bases will have different requirements for the location of bases, such as:

(1) The lunar observatory should be located on the back of the moon, which can shield the radio noise emitted by the earth.

Mineral resources development base should choose to build a base in areas rich in mineral resources.

(2) The north and south poles of the moon may be a reasonable replacement area for the rocket propellant production base, because there may be a lot of water ice there.

(3) For the scientific research base, the following conditions should be met: it can maintain smooth communication with the earth; Good lighting conditions can make full use of solar energy; Meet the needs of preparing life-sustaining consumables such as oxygen and water; The surrounding resources are rich, which can meet the needs of research and utilization of lunar resources; The terrain is relatively wide and flat, which is conducive to the take-off and landing of the spacecraft.

The polar regions of the moon spend about 70% ~ 80% of their time under sunlight. Solar cells can provide enough electricity for the lunar base, and the polar temperature difference is small. There are a large number of moon seas in polar regions, which should be an ideal area for establishing lunar scientific research.

Lunar robot pioneer

Because the moon environment is very bad, people can't live without life support system. Astronauts must wear heavy moon suits and carry heavy portable life support systems on the moon. You can't work outside the living area for too long. However, the robot does not need special lunar protective clothing, nor does it need to build a closed living room and provide complex environmental control and life support systems for the robot, so it can work on the moon for a long time. Robots can also undertake dangerous and special tasks, such as entering the permanent shadow area of the north and south poles of the extremely cold moon for detection. In the lunar base construction, robots can give full play to their skills and take the lead in the base construction.

In the future, in the work of building a lunar base, various lunar robots will be needed, such as:

(1) Hercules robot. This kind of robot has great strength and is suitable for heavy physical work, such as loading and unloading, carrying and installing large structural parts.

(2) Omni-directional hand robot. It can undertake a variety of tasks in the construction of lunar base, which can not only complete general physical work such as excavation, but also carry out some fine operations such as construction and installation.

(3) Intelligent robots. Responsible for all kinds of fine operations, such as the installation, operation and maintenance of precision instruments and equipment.

(4) Experimental robot. Samples were taken on the surface of the moon as needed, and experimental analysis was carried out.

(5) Road-building robots. Responsible for the construction of the spacecraft landing site, such as digging, leveling land, building roads, etc.

(6) Other working robots, such as construction robots, robot repairmen, danger-removing robots and robots that undertake daily chores in the construction of the lunar base.

Staged construction

Building a lunar base is a long process, which needs to be built step by step from small to large.

Establish an outpost

The early temporary lunar outposts were small in scale. The most basic facilities of this outpost should include: a radiation-proof living cabin suitable for astronauts, an experimental cabin and a logistics cabin that can provide life support and food; There is a connecting cabin with an air door for astronauts to get in and out of the lunar surface, an energy cabin for providing energy and a lunar transport vehicle.

Using unmanned spacecraft, the mobile living quarters and modules made on the ground will be transported to the moon, which will be docked into a whole by lunar robots to build a short-term manned lunar outpost.

Experiments on extracting water and oxygen from lunar soil, developing lunar resources and cultivating plants will be carried out at the lunar outpost to prepare for the construction of a permanent lunar base. At the same time, using the high vacuum and low gravity environment of the moon, small-scale production of drugs and special materials.

The first group of people is about 4-6. In addition to professional astronauts, members may include geologists, chemists, construction engineers, biologists or professionals in other fields. This stage needs to rely on the earth to provide supplies, generally rotating once every six months.

Establish a semi-permanent lunar base

The semi-permanent lunar base consists of a multi-purpose lunar base module, a special equipment module, a scientific laboratory, a large-scale observation platform and a lunar factory, which are connected by channels. The basic energy is provided by the completed lunar solar power station. At this stage, the lunar base mainly produces water and oxygen, materials for the construction of the permanent lunar base, research on the circular ecosystem and production of propellant, and produces a small amount of energy materials such as helium -3. This stage is composed of about 24 astronauts and various experts, and generally rotates once a year, laying the foundation for the establishment of a permanent moon base.

Establish a permanent lunar base

The permanent moon base consists of equipment factory, agricultural factory, moon harbor, hospital and other functional units. Its main task is to develop and utilize the lunar resources on a large scale, provide the earth's energy demand, conduct comprehensive and in-depth lunar research and astronomical observation, and build a Mars transit station. It is an autonomous and all-round moon base where hundreds of people can live and work for a long time.

Establish a Moon Village or Moon City

On the basis of the permanent lunar base, we will continue to expand to self-sufficiency and establish a closed cycle.

As a permanent settlement on the moon, there are transportation machines, material processing plants and manufacturing workshops in this settlement. Their equipment can process materials on the moon, manufacture more mechanical equipment, build more material processing plants and manufacturing workshops, and realize large-scale production capacity. Using the manufacturing and processing capabilities of the base, scientific research bases, laboratories, medical centers and rocket fuel production plants can be built on the moon, further improving the capabilities of space exploration and lunar resources development. Lunar settlements can develop various manufacturing industries, synthesize air and water, grow crops and raise animals. Moon Village or Moon City has an advanced and perfect regenerative life support system, which makes oxygen, water, food, daily necessities, power supply and rocket fuel self-sufficient and no longer depends on the material supply of the earth. In addition, it also solves the problems of cosmic radiation protection and the adaptation of lunar gravity.

With the development of space technology and the implementation of the plan to return to the moon, it is expected to be in the late 2 1 century or later. The moon base will appear in front of the world.