WORKING TOGETHER TO ADVANCE SPACE DEVELOPMENT

.

WHY INFLATABLES?
We advocate the the initial permanent base be constructed of inflatable modules. There are already three inflatable habitats in space constructed by Bigelow Aerospace Corp. The advantage of inflatables is that you can pack a very large habitat into a small payload space. For example, a 100-tonne Starship payload would be able to deliver a base to the surface of the Moon or Mars of between two and three acres!. Inflatables can be made of very strong materials (e.g. Kevlar) and can be (overpressure) tested on Earth before launch. In contrast, aluminum cylinders are relatively small and 3D-printed habitats require a lot of binder and/or lots of energy, lots of time, and could not be tested in laboratory conditions prior to usage.

MODULES
Our InstaBase concept is composed of nine modules including: BedHab, BathHab, LivingHab, ArtsHab, lookout Tower, WorkHab, two GreenHabs, and a SpinHab. They could be shipped separately or constructed as a single unit. Shielding would be accomplished by dropping or pumping material between two outer walls. For the Moon that would be dirt and for Mars it would be water.

INITIAL PERMANENT BASE
We advocate that the first base for the historic Initial Permanent Crew on the Moon and Mars should be sized for the crew (we suggest eight people on the Moon) and have all of the facilities needed to support such a crew including high levels of recycling, the extraction and processing of local resources, and the ability to grow all of the food needed to supply their full nutrition.