Rutgers 2007 Symposium on Lunar Settlements

This paper summarizes the major themes and ideas presented at a 4 1/2 day symposium on lunar settlements held at Rutgers University in June, 2007, sponsored by the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and organized by Haym Benaroya of that department. Presentations covered the political and economic aspects of lunar settlements, structures and transportation, the lunar environment, energy and power, medical aspects of lunar settlements, outpost site selection, and use of the Moon as a platform for astronomy. A keynote paper by H.H. Schmitt covered topics including legal aspects of lunar settlements and possible economic products such as helium-3, demonstrably valuable for production of short-lived medical isotopes and perhaps for thermonuclear energy. Potential medical problems, discussed by several speakers, including J. Logan and W. Rowe, included radiation exposure and the effect of long-term hypogravity, Lunar resources discussed by several speakers include lunar water from possible polar ice deposits, hydrogen, helium-3, and oxygen from the lunar regolith. Outpost site selection has been narrowed to the south polar regions, with Shackleton Crater and Malapert Mountain the most-favored candidates. Lunar settlement shelters were proposed by several speakers, a consensus being that these must be largely underground because of the radiation problem. The feasibility of agriculture in lunar settlements has been demonstrated by operating greenhouses in the Antarctic. The overall result of the symposium was a summary of the problems, prospects, and practicality of such settlements, now benefiting from three decades to assimilate the lunar experience of the 6 Apollo landing missions and the many robotic missions, American and Soviet.