Abingdon News No.54

4 May 2020 Abingdon News Earth toLEO Inorder to assemble themoonbase, a largemasswillneed tobe launched to themoon, and itwill also have a safe crew launch capability.This is achievedwith this rocket,with a large, fully reusable first stage,disposable second stage and launch abort system,with a capacityof40 tonnes. Earthorbit to lunarorbit Themoon LEO launch vehiclemustbe fully reusable, refillableon themoon and able togoquickly enough to have a high carrying capacity.This is achievedwith anuclear rocket,which heats hydrogen and fires itout thebackof the rocket inorder togenerate thrust.This hydrogen canbeproducedon themoon.  Moon to lunarorbit To take crew and equipment from themoon’s surface to rendezvouswith the earth to lunarorbit vehicle, a reusable system is needed. It is conventionally fuelledwithhydrogen and lox. Transport We havedesignedSpaceFactory as a commercially viablemoonbase.There aremany challenges in achieving this, andwe havedeveloped creative and realistic solutions to all theseproblems. Inorder to show these solutions,wehaveused a numberofmethods including flowdiagrams,drawings and especiallydesigning a full 3DCADmodelof the base, usingprofessional architectural software,AutodeskRevit andFusion 360. Introduction to Project Moon Base Fundamentally, thisbase needs toprovide living space and life support for the 40peoplewhowillbe living there for several years at a time.Thebasewillbemade upmainlyof easy tomanufacture repeatingmodules,which canbemanufacturedon themoon and addedover time inorder to improve thebase.Therewill also be two largedomeswhichwillprovidemore space for larger equipment,where the rawmaterialswillbeprocessed and the satelliteswillbe assembled.  Someof thebasewill need tobe sent from earth (the first crewmodule, theparts for the large assembly hall, the chemicalprocessing, solarpanels the vehicles including the crane and the excavation vehicle.Once this is established, thebasewillbe able to support a fewpeople, andhas limited capacity. It canhowever expand, addingmore crewmodules,building themain assembly hall for satellites, aswell as addingmoreworkshops andmodules togrow food.Complex computer systems such asPLCswill alsobe incorporated across thebase allowing for a streamlined and efficientworking inside thebase.After thebase is fully established, it can thenmoveon to its role as aplace forbuilding satellites and supporting activities in space. Much of the lunar surface ismade out of anorthite, a feldspar mineral containing aluminium, as well as calcium, silicon and oxygen. We can extract the aluminium by sintering a cathode out of powdered anorthite, and electrolysing this in amolten calcium chloride bathwith an inert anode.Wewill import the reaction vessel and other resources necessary for the reaction, then use the aluminium produced to manufacture the rest of the base. Once the base is operational, we will use the aluminium to build satellites.  Aluminium Extraction Space factorywillwork tomanufacture and launch satellites from themoon to LEO.Thiswillbe ableundercut current launchoptions such asSpaceX because the launchof satellites canbemademuch easier and fully reusable. The satelliteswillbemade,bymass, at least75%on themoon, as the solar panels, aluminium and fuel canbemadeon themoon,while complex computersor sensorswill stillbe launched from earth.  Commercial Activity Mining Activity Weneeded to comeupwith a vehicle todo the miningon themoon, looking forwater ice, to providehydrogen andoxygen, aswell as regolith fromwhich aluminium couldbe extracted. We looked into thedifferent explosives thatwe coulduse, and theone thatwould allowus todo thison themoon,without air, and in themost efficientwaypossible,wasdynamite. Lower School Holiday Challenges Boys in the Lower School were given the option to undertake various challenges over the Easter holiday. Culinary activities included cooking (and clearing up) a two course meal to baking an Easter cake. Musicians were asked to attempt to play a tune on water-filled glasses and film fans were challenged to recreate a scene from a Star Wars film. Other tasks included designing experiments, models, and obstacle courses, or undertaking chores around the house. A huge amount of creativity was shown by the many excellent entries but particular congratulations go to the following: Joint runners up - Oliver Sherratt and Finn Walsh - Overall winner - Sam Wormald. Blott Matthews awards Four teams of lower sixth boys took on the Blott Matthews Engineering challenge to celebrate the ten Apollo lunar missions and the 50th anniversary of the first of the six Apollo Moon landings. The teams worked extremely hard creating a commercial activity on the Moon, designing a Moon base and transportation. Unfortunately the presentation day was cancelled but their outstanding work was recognised with a first for team Space Factory, a third and two merit awards and a prize for best poster. AlexOldham FreddieMartin WillShorrocks BenShaw HugoLeedham JamesRobinson Matthew Jones LiamHilditch Transportation Integrated, Reusable,Efficient. Our transportation designuses these three key values to create thebest solution forourneedsgetting toand from the moon.Weareusinga3 stage system to help increase the reusabilityaspectof the designand increaseefficiency.From theearth to earthorbit,earthorbit to lunarorbitand finallydown to the lunar surface.Each stage isoutlined indetail inour document,withdetaileddesigns foreachof the stages.The key elementof the first stage is theuseofadouble fuselage transportaircraft in conjunctionwithaVirginGalacticderived spaceplane toget to theEarth SpaceStation.Thiswill consistofa conjoined flight to70,000ftwhere the spaceplanewilldetachand slingshot intoLEO.Bothaircraftwillperform a conventional runway landingupon return toearth.The secondand third stagesutiliseamore conventional rocketpowered transport systemhowever its modularpropertiesgreatly increase theefficiencyof the system.The system asawhole is strung togetherbyorbiting space stations. space stations, oncearound theearthonearound themoon toprovidedockingportsand temporary storageaswellasessential safetyandescape routes in theeventofa seriousemergency. Our commercialactivityachieves the challengingprospectof makingmoneyon themoon,andprovidesuswithapurpose forwhich togo to themoon.Our fundamental idea is toextractHe 3 from the lunar surface,and then theplan is to transport itback toEarth inorder to beused for futurenuclear fusion reactionsand scientific research.Thealuminium canalsobeextracted from the lunar surfacebut thiswillbemostlyusedon themoon. TheHabandOrision’sLunarSpaceStation can alsobeusedasapotential stopoffpointor accomodationpoint forother commercialmissions to themoon aswellas futuregovernment missions toMars. CommercialActivity The Habwillbe fully kittedout with fullamenities and life support systems for theastronautson themoon. Waterwillbeprovided from themoon. Facilitieswill include;amedicalbay, workshop, livingarea, storageamongst otheressential facilities.Life supportwill beprovidedbyoxygen from the aluminiumprocessingandothergasses to makeup theatmosphere.Foodwillbe providedbyagricultureonce the permanentHabhasbeenbuilt. Due to the lack ofatmosphere on themoon the Habmustbeable to withstand the intense radiationaswellas withstanding thepressure differenceand keeping theastronautson the moon safeand in comfort.The InitialHab willbe constructed ina shortamountof timewith themainHabbeingbuilt overa longer periodof time. Theminingoperationwillbeundertakenusing remotelyoperatedmining vehicles. (ROVs)TheROVswillmakeapit mine inorder toextract regolith from the lunar surface.Lunar regolith isprimarily composedof thealuminiumore anthorite.Aluminiumwillbeextracted from theanthoriteusing theFFCCambridge extractionprocess.Thealuminiumextractedwillbe forged indies to createaluminium plates,used in the later constructionof theHab.The second stageofHab construction will require trenches tobedug in the lunar regolith.Thehabitationmoduleswillbe constructed fromdie-castaluminiumplateswithin the trenches,pressurised to livewithin, andburiedunder the regolith removed to form the trenches forprotection. Mining andSecondStageHab Habitation Habitation Mining: Weourplanningonmakingmostofourmoneybymininghydrogen-3 usinga convoy typemining system tomineand sortourproducts.The miningwillbe carriedout remotelybya speciallydesigned roverwhich will fracture relatively smallportionsof regolithata time,before anotherbarrel like rover connected to it collectsallof the rubble.We will thenextract ilmeniteore (containing titanium) from this rubbleusing magneticbeneficiationbeforeheating the remaining regolithand condensing thegasesevolved to collect thehydrogen-3.The remaining rubble can thenbeejectedout the rearof the convoy filling the trench itmakes.We can then send theentire convoywithallminedgoodsback to the baseatoncemaking theentireprocessmore efficient.Oncebackatbase the tritium canbe shippedoffusingour railgun andwewillplace the ilmenite into storageas it isn’t currentlyeconomically viable to send it to earthwith rockets. Transport: To transportourastronautsandequipment toand from themoonwe chose touseSpaceXStarship rocket esignutilising thereFalconSuperHeavyas itsbooster rocket.This fully reusable rocket hasa launch costofunder2millionUSDand canhold100 tonsof cargo.The starship is poweredby6newlydesigned raptorenginesusingamixtureof liquidoxygenand cryogenicmethaneand theSuperHeavyboosteruses37of theseengineseach providing2MNof thrust. Ourspace station,positionedat the1st lagrangepoint (L1)between the earthand themoonwillactas the communicationshubbetween the lunarbaseandearthaswellas reducing transport costs and timesby transferringastronautsontoa specialised lunar lander.Thestation isdesigned to comfortably support4peopl but fitup to25 inan emergency.L1 isa saddlepointandwill requireactive station keeping so itwill haveapermanent crewof3 whichwillbe rotated to the lunarbaseevery3 weeks. Habitation Our lunarbasewillbe located In thePearyCrater.TheBasewillbe constructedoutof individualkevlarpods withmetal struts to maintain thekevlar.They willbepressure-sealedwitha secondarykevlar ‘bubble surrounding the struts.Wewillalsobuildan additional solid support froma3Dprinted layerof lunar regolithSurrounding it,actingasanexoskeleton.Thebasewillbe in thebottomofamicro craterand coveredwith rubble toprotect from solar radiation.Weplan to lay the solarpanelsusingautonomous robots that produce the solarpanels internally from siliconpurified from lunar regolith.Wewill transportfish spermandeggsaswellas seedpotatoes to theMoon tomature/grow touse asourmain food sourcealongsidewithother supplements.Wewill sourcewater from the lunar ice capswithemergencywaterbeing imported from theEarth. Team Farr Out Railgun: Inorder to improve theeconomic viabilityofourproject,wedecidedto usea railgun to transportourminedmaterial from themoonback to earth.Thisdrastically reduces the fuelweneed toundertakeour miningendeavour,andgiven that transportbetween themoonand the earth isoneof themai limiting factorsofanyLunarb sedactivity this hugelyadvantageous,especiallywhen lookinga futureexpansionof ouractivity. STONKS SpaceTransportOfNuKlearSubstances