Methods for Constructing a Lunar Base.
The Apollo missions proved that the United States is capable of putting men on the moon. The ISS demonstrates what is achievable when the human race pitches in to create something extraordinary. The world assembled a place where humans can live, work, and accomplish wondrous things in space. A lunar colony will have certain advantages over a space station during its construction. The presence of gravity stops the possible loss of equipment and people. The availability of materials also provides an invaluable resource for colonists. .
The first step to establish such a habitat is the construction of said habitat. There is much discussion over which type of structure is best suited for extended periods. Several styles are available and all have their place. They are: landed self-contained structures, rigid modules, inflatable modules/membranes, tunneling/coring and exploited caverns (Benaroya et.al. 36).
The simplest to start with are the inflatable modules. Once on site, they are erected, inflated, and ready to occupy. Once constructed, the shelter requires shielding from solar radiation. On Earth, the atmosphere stops the radiation from negatively affecting the biosphere. The moon has no atmosphere and therefore has no shielding. The current idea to protect the shelter is to bury the shelter under at least a minimum of 2.5 meters of lunar soil, called regolith (Benaroya et.al. 37). The next option would be to utilize current underground covers and lava tubes. These subsurface voids are already shielded and would only need to be rendered airtight to become useful. .
Powering the installation comes next. A small fission reaction would be able to power the entire facility (Gavert 1037). Another viable possibility, if the colony is near the poles, is solar power. At the poles sunlight is constant. Both of these options also benefit from storage cells to store power in an emergency (Benaroya 117).