Building a Moon Base

If we took a deep crater on the moon and covered it with a glass dome...
Would we be able to build a sustainable environment inside with our current technology?

My thoughts.
I think its possible. First we would need a large lake inside the dome.
Then we need to add some healthy soil filled with bio organisms for decomposition. So bring up lots of compost heaps. After the soil is stabilized we can add plant life and trees.
Then add some life to the water with plants small fish and other microorganisms. After the environment is stable add the people and build a small base.


I know the cost of transporting all this junk to the moon will be more then we can afford but its not about cost its about Can we do it.

Ok add some more ideas or anyhing i may have forgotten.

Other than the cost, logistics, (which can be solved) and the "will" to do it, the only other major problem I see is radiation. solar and otherwise, is there a type of "glass" that would insulate against damaging or deadly types of radiation availabe?

Although some posts here describe that there already are remnants of artificial glass domes on the moon..

[edit on 16-11-2008 by SideWynder]

reply to post by Darkice19

Ok add some more ideas or anyhing i may have forgotten.

I would enjoy commenting. Ok. This maybe thought of "offtopic", but it still fits into the theme of the thread. Darkice19 said "moonbase"? Oh..(Which moon???) A moonbase doesnot mean the moon that floats around the earth, because there are other moon's that are outthere around in our own galaxy. Why haven't the sciencists thought about those moons?

moon craters means the moons gets inpacted right,or does it not get hit by asteroids now.and glass breaks at high temp and low temps expansion and retraction .and besides the mormans have bases and tunnels filled with artilly humvees and millions of rounds.or is that in utah under the temple.

Why on Earth would you want a glass dome enclosing the whole thing? It would create huge problems getting rid of the heat.

There are cheaper and more practical ways of doing it.
Moon base Announced by NASA

[edit on 16-11-2008 by Phage]

reply to post by Phage


Hi, Phage, I can't get your link to work, it takes me to National Geographic, but not the article. I tried to use the search function there, it didn't help either.

So in case anyone else has this problem, here is an article about this on BBC's website:
news.bbc.co.uk...

Also in New York Times:
www.nytimes.com...

Originally posted by ziggystar60
reply to post by Phage

 

Hi, Phage, I can't get your link to work, it takes me to National Geographic, but not the article. I tried to use the search function there, it didn't help either.

How very odd.
Maybe a search on the Nat Geo site would work.

I have to agree with Phage and Ziggy, the dome idea is way to complicated and costly, not to mention extremely time consuming, if we are to get there by 2020 as Pres. G.Bush had stated. It would have to be practical in all senses of this kind of application.

US space agency Nasa says it is planning to start work on a base on the Moon after astronauts begin flying back there in 2020. The maps and graphics below show how and where man could live on the Moon.

But, then again, it has been on the drawing boards of scientists for years.

Here's an artists rendition from an earlier idea:



And here's the recent ideology of the base that would be purposed as an out post on the moon:


Not a lot of differences, but very practical for fast habitation of the chosen astronauts.

Nasa wants to have returned to the Moon by 2020, with 30-day residential missions by 2024, increasing to six months by the end of that year.
Nasa says the global space community has identified six key aims for lunar exploration.

By 2025, Nasa hopes to have developed the capabilities required to enable further steps into space - possibly expanding lunar exploration and/or manned missions to Mars.

(1) The heavy-lift Ares 5 rocket blasts off from Earth carrying a lunar lander and a "departure stage"
(2) Several days later, astronauts launch on an Ares 1 rocket inside their Orion vehicle (CEV)
(3) The Orion docks with the lander and departure stage in Earth orbit and then heads to the Moon
(4) Having done its job of boosting the Orion and lunar lander on their way, the departure stage is jettisoned
(5) At the Moon, the astronauts leave the Orion and enter the lander for the trip to the lunar surface
(6) After exploring the lunar landscape for seven days, the crew blasts off in a portion of the lander
(7) In Moon orbit, they re-join the waiting robot-minded Orion and begin the journey back to Earth
(8) On the way, the service component of the Orion is jettisoned. This leaves just the crew capsule to enter the atmosphere
(9) A heatshield protects the capsule; parachutes bring it down on dry land, probably in California

And it seems they have the ideal placement of this outpost on the moon already for optimal sun for solar powered capabilities.


news.bbc.co.uk...
Though this topic has been talked to by others before, many times, it still makes me feel as if I will see it as a "reality" other than a "Drawing Board dream". Always an interesting topic, "Great thread OP, it will be our reality soon."