Practical Lunar Surface Site Selection Criteria to Optimize Habitat Environmental Control

• Main Authors: O'Hara, William, Matty, Jennifer
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems 2023
• Subjects: Lunar; Moon; Habitat; Habitation; Site Selection; ECLS; Radiation Mitigation; Thermal Control; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Canada; South Pole; Antarc*; South pole
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2346/94724

William O'Hara, Blue Origin, LLC, USA Jennifer Matty, Blue Origin, LLC, USA ICES502: Space Architecture The 52nd International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Calgary, Canada, on 16 July 2023 through 20 July 2023. Site selection criteria for a lunar habitat requires the consideration of a variety of factors ranging from view of the sun to proximity to spacecraft landing sites. All of these driving factors are traded against each other to arrive at candidate landing sites, as recently highlighted in NASA's site selection for the Artemis III mission. Selecting sites amongst the desolate, diverse and shadowy terrain of the south pole is a challenge likely not seen since the placement of McMurdo Base in the Antarctic or the placement of homesteads in the days of the western expansion in the United States. While not obvious, one class of considerations for site selection criteria has to do with reducing habitat environmental risks. Specifically considering temperature control, radiation mitigation and dust mitigation as hazards and systems design challenges, we strive to find solutions that minimize cost, mass and complexity. Surface construction and regolith moving, shielding and environmental systems are candidate solutions we target for developing efficiencies. To that end, we looked at how topographic features on the lunar south pole can be used to optimize habitat environmental control by minimizing the need for heavy machinery or complex systems. While these are ultimately traded against other priorities, it is important to consider them and their relative importance and practicability. The candidate site selection criteria resulting from this assessment are discussed in this paper.