THE PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE
SPACE DEVELOPMENT
- establishing an initial infrastructure on the Moon -


HARDWARE HABS

\

StorageHab(s)
You can never have enough storage, right? All sorts of things need to be stored -- spare parts and equipment, dried and refrigerated food, supplies shipped from Earth to be sold to the residents in the StoreHab, and raw materials and parts constructed from local resources (ISRU). These storage habs would be sized and strategically placed near where they would be accessed.

Metallurgy Area
This isn't a specialty hab but is included for completeness sake. It is an area outside of the machining shop where metal containing ore is heated using concentrated sunlight and electric arc furnaces. After undergoing some refining processes, the purified metals could be cast into forms including blocks for later machining, rolled into sheet metal, extruded as bars, formed to produce tubes, and even sprayed to make powder for 3D printing. All of this would be done outdoors and not brough into the habs until the metals' heat had discipated.

Metal pieces could be stored outside and brought in only when needed in order to not use up storage space within the base.

If habitats are eventually constructed from locally-produced sheet metal, all of this construction would be completed using automated systems using outdoor jigs.

MachineHab
In this habitat, locally-produce (or recycled) metals would be machined in order to produce parts. These parts could be used for the furniture and parts used inside the habitats. This would also be where 3D printers would produce particularly complex pieces of equipment. But just because 3D printers can make just about any object, other processes can be much faster and give smoother surfaces as needed. So each machining process would be chosen as best for each particular part.

AssemblyHab
The AssemblyHab is where parts would be stored and where workers, whether human or (tele)robotic would work 24/7 assembling equipment needed by the growing base. It is entirely possible that the assembly of equipment could become an increasingly automated process. With the use of jigs, the position of parts of be assembled would be precise. Robotic arms could be trained to assemble an increasing number of equipment. Crew on Earth working 24/7 could provide high-level oversight of the processes in case some part of the process exceeded limits. At the is point the crew could provide intelligent intervention.

AssemblyHabs could be key part of the exponentially growing base where more robots harvesting more metals to make more robots which make locally-made parts and habitats until the rate of growth keeps up with the rate at which people are moving off Earth.


Next: Agricultural Habs