Minimal Lunar Infrastructure to Facilitate the Construction of Sustainable Structures

This paper presents concepts and designs for a system architecture meant to serve as an initial habitat for a human crew on the lunar surface. The system architecture’s objective is to support a crew of four on a fourteen day mission to transfer cargo from a lander to a small lunar habitat using a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV). Trade studies are conducted to evaluate the possible capabilities of each element. Design drivers for both the habitat and the LTV are identified and analyzed. During LTV design development, automation became the major design variable to drive cargo transfer scenario development. Three degrees of automation are made distinct and evaluated. Mission and system design implications for each degree of automation are evaluated. Increasing the automated capabilities of mission elements may lead to greater efficiency and safety for the crew. However, significant increases to cost and mass often accompanies any additional complexity and capabilities. The evaluation and analysis of LTV’s optimal capabilities influenced the set of requirements for designing a small lunar habitat that had to be designed for use in late 2020 and to be located at lunar south pole. The habitat design aimed to be lander agnostic with an approximate twelve-meter squared volume optimized for the crew of four during a two-week mission. The design of both elements, the rover and habitat, considered them as a system that evolutionary meant to become a part of an overall lunar surface systems infrastructure. This study concluded that elements in systems need to be minimally designed while maintaining an acceptable level of crew safety. Mixed crew and robotic operations will be necessary to the expansion of lunar outpost. This lunar outpost requires a minimally designed prefabricated habitat to begin operations.