Moon Ramblings

The final cut

2008-03-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Woohee, it's been a fun quarter. I kind of feel like we just got started, just got rolling- and on a project this size, two months IS just getting started. I seriously hope that this is just the beginning. That these ideas will disperse and propogate in other hosts who are so inclined. That's why it's a "viral" project.

We analyzed so many aspects of life and how we, as architecture students*, can help it Not Suck.

We learned about hydroponics - did you know that it takes about 57 cubic meters of efficient hydroponics focusing on high- leaf crops to produce enough oxygen for a person?

We learned about space travel - did you know that astronauts have to pre-breathe oxygen for 6 hours before taking the half-hour to get into their suit to go on a space walk in order to prevent the bends?

We learned about the moon- did you know that breathing regolith, the lunar dust, may lead to lung complications as it's shardlike, like fiber glass?

We thought about psychology, sociology, recycling systems, organizing space, landscape.

Oh, and my Photoshop skills certainly increased.

Can I fail so's I can go again?

Final images

2008-03-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

Rendering intents

2008-02-29T15:49:00.001-08:00

What's it like?

2008-02-24T20:02:00.001-08:00

Here's a view of the greenspace/water reclamation area with long, low hydroponic bays behind. (They're plaid.) Things to keep in mind: there's no soil. Outdoor plantings will need to survuve with minimal root systems, and facilitate water recycling and filtration.

In the foreground is a "tree sculpture". We can't have oaks and maples, but we can have interesting planters that offer a lot of nooks and crannies to contain small succulents, ferns, ivy, strawberries, etc. Preferably edible. (Although, without pollinators like bees, flies and wind, actually getting fruit would be another story. Fiddlehead salad, anyone?)

In the background, you can see a ramp to the "highway", or base of the dome wall. Here, people can walk and look out over the moonscape, or vehicles can have a smooth surface in order to get around to more remote areas of the dome.

New Communities and their Biomes

2008-02-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

We will show further description of each community in a future post.

The Beginning of the combination and network of biomes. Biomes intersect or are located within a different community. Each biome bleeds into the outer areas of the communities, forming a "wilder" are for centralized scientific observation.

Biomes of dome's Biosphere

2008-02-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Process: Using the concept of our planet's biomes and how the influence our climate (or vice versa: I'm no scientist) the arrangement of various environments will be arranged on the dome.

PROBLEM!!!: Because the dome is in the moon, there are many factors that even with human design will not equal the environment of earth: we need to figure out what the environments will be like--> If we consider the desert, well just as the moon is, them what will be a grassland (Probability of not that type of vegetation) Then what can replace it, or more likely mimic or relate to it.

Midterm!

2008-02-11T03:53:00.001-08:00

Midterm Presentation

2008-02-11T03:29:00.001-08:00

http://www.csupomona.edu/~dserdio

Midterm! (Part 2)

2008-02-11T02:57:00.000-08:00

How many breaths?

2008-02-08T08:14:00.001-08:00

One very cool aspect of this project is all the stuff you are forced to think about. It helps to mindshare. Lately, I've been looking into hydroponics. Do you know how hard that is to do without resorting to drug humor?

I stumbled upon an article from the Arizona Star, http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/163564, which led me to the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, here: http://ag.arizona.edu/ceac/

I love this stuff! Here are people going to the freaking south pole and figuring this out. Here, we've been talking soy and tomatoes, when these smart folks already figured out that lettuce will give you more air for your space and nutrient investment. Also, they've been friendly and responsive to my dumb emails. Hopefully, one of the students or staff can direct me to some information about how much space these systems need, or rather, how much system a person needs.

In other news, we've reduced the dome drastically. It's gone from 25 mile diameter (about 490 square miles and a hell of a lot of volume) to a tenth of that. We know the human programming will fit within 6 square miles, and be much more efficient to establish and maintain.

2008-02-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

We have to think about the human factor very carefully. Even considering that initially, the inhabitants of a lunar colony would be healthy, able-bodied, and well-educated, we need to be very careful about their emotional health. Healthy, able and well-educated people can suffer from emotional distress and depression which exacerbate social conflict.

In societal studies in disparate places, such as the traditional societies in Africa as well as American suburbia, there seems to be a limit to how many individuals a person can have in her sphere of societal influence. This is the range of people with whom one is very close, such as immediate family and close friends, to facial recognition, or "nodding" acquaintances. This number is about 300. Basically, we can only care about around 300 people before dehumanization of and by others sets in.

We think it would be a good idea to break up the organization of the colony into pods of about 300-350 people, then cluster these pods into "neighborhoods" of 1000 to 2000 individuals in order to make common services, such as medical services and transport, more efficiently deliverable. We also think that it would be a good idea to treat each of these neighborhoods very differently, architecturally. This would allow a) societal studies of how the residents react to different factors, b) experimentation of various forms, systems and materials, architecturally, while c) providing unique and close living situations, encouraging the residents to bond and take care of one another. This neighborhood differentiation would also help residents form identity bonds with the location, and encourage residents of verious pods and neighborhoods to mix. Different spaces will stimulate interest in a limited environment, and perhaps encourage "tourism". It also presents residents with environmental choices, which is a major factor of satisfaction with the built environment.

Questions we might want to address with different answers might involve organization of social spaces, compactness of living spaces vs public spaces, regular grid layout vs irregular grid, etc.

Another heavy psychological factor is that of daylighting. The lunar day is 27-29 days long: 14 days of light, 14 days of darkness, with some polar craters being in constant shadow. People can be adversely affected by this diurnal disruption.

Any green spaces or plantings would need careful selection, and would be an additional opportunity for study. Do arctic plants fare better? Will some strains adapt to the strange light cycle? (I believe, though, that the food-producing hydroponics would need to be kept inside controlled environments otherwise they wouldn't flower or produce fruit.)

We'd like to introduce factors that help the residents with this. Can we have shadow shelves which illuminate to simulate a more earth-like 24-hour cycle? We don't like the idea of enclosing everything. Would this kind of mitigation be effective?

Another consideration is: how do we get around? Scaling down the experiment to more of a human scale, the overall area of the colony would be very walkable. If there is an underground tram, as proposed in the initial PowerPoint, a secondary above-ground method might be more efficient. Maybe a cable pull system, combined with a rebounding membrane (trampoline) would accomplish rapid short-jaunt transport while encouraging aerobic and strength-maintaining upper and lower-body exercise. And come on. Tell me that wouldn't be a lot of fun.

Communities

2008-02-04T15:43:00.001-08:00

Each Community is formed by multiple structures, that form communal space for that community.

Individual units settle on the community structures.

Lunar Location

2008-02-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

Locating the communities in higher land makes sense. So assuming that we have interpreted the topography of this are correctly, then we are going to use this area as our city.

Maybe we should just concentrate our communities in a smaller part of the dome: resonably efficient.

We are colonizing Crater YOUNG D, which is about the size of our 25 mi dome. (Red circle)

The Green circles show the size of a 2 mi radius community

The yellow circles show a community half of that green's size (1mi radius)

The arrangement of each community, is based on a logical relation ship with the site, but otherewise random.

city sizes

2008-02-02T19:51:00.001-08:00

This is Florence: 1 sq mi of it: population of 400,000 peple in the city and 200,000 on the outskirts

This is Cal Poly: 1 square mile of it

2008-02-02T17:23:00.001-08:00

Moon Data

2008-02-01T18:17:00.001-08:00

These composite images (made up of many different orbits) show the lighting conditions at the north and south poles of the Moon throughout one lunar day. (One lunar day lasts 29 Earth days.) Note that for the north pole (left image), virtually every area gets some sunlight during some part of the lunar day. However, large areas of the south pole appear to be permanently dark (black on right polar image).
It has been calculated that temperatures in these permanently dark areas may be as cold as 40 to 50 Kelvin (-230o to -220o C), only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero. Moreover, these "cold traps" have existed on the Moon for at least the last 3-4 billion years - plenty of time to accumulate water from impacting comets.

This ones shows the permanet "dark" areas or craters with the red color blobs

The Moon's axis of rotation is nearly perpendicular to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, so the Sun always appears at or near the horizon in the polar regions of the Moon. Although the plane of the Moon's orbit about the Earth is inclined about 5o, it's equator is inclined about 6.5o, resulting in a 1.5o inclination of the Moon's spin axis to its orbital plane around the Sun. This means that the Sun always appears close to the horizon at the poles of the Moon.

Hey, look at these diagrams. Now I get it. but I guess this means that the South Pole's craters have permanent darknes/cold

Unit designs

2008-02-01T17:49:00.001-08:00

Variation 2: Multiple use of same spaces: Utility Core: Waste removal collection for recycling

Variation 1: Changing heights fo Floors & Ceilings to provide functions

Module structure

Possible structure with module

Use of module to shape unit

Where do we go from here?

2008-01-29T17:49:00.001-08:00

The next step: continuing to define the "rules". What if our module was flexible, connected by cables? What if we looked at it like tailoring. Sure, you can buy off-the-rack. It's fine for everyday wear. But for special needs, you alter your garment. Why not your office or home?

If silicates are readily available and processable, I can see sturdy glass fabrics, like silicone baking sheets, making interesting skins: Flexible, any color, translucent or opaque, textured or smooth. Dude! Your house could be PLAID.

The modules could alternately be rigid, able to work with the tensile skins to create intersting forms.

Idea for a public assembly/large space-style "circus tent", like a hangar.

Doesn't everyone sing Sondheim in the kitchen?

Idea for ways to furnish irregular spaces. Why not line the walls with pockets for small articles, with bubble closets for larger ones?

Critique

2008-01-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

Professor Fox liked our prototype, and enjoyed playing with the leftover bits as we demonstrated how the two systems could integrate, the strengths and weaknesses of them both. He suggested changing the module to a layered unit, with the clear tubes inside of the larger ones, and the larger ones made of soft material, like silicates. This solution would provide both the branching flexibility of the smaller units with the surfacing capabilities of the larger units. He also recommended we think about how people will react to a nubby surface as a floor or countertop.

We're going to work out a palatte of parts, then, and attempt to solve some of the trouble spots.

Production

2008-01-23T16:55:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Dafne and I knuckled down to producing our prototypes. It was challenging to accomodate curved geometry on linear machines.

We had a mass-production-a-rama.

Kit of Parts.

Integrated modules: the clear modules lend themselves to flexibility, as they can make any obtuse angle coming from the joints.

Seating prototype. Having the diameter of the module the same size or larger than the joint limits branching, but provides a surface.

We did have a lot of fun playing with them!

Practical Measures

2008-01-19T12:54:00.001-08:00

We've evolved our modules to a couple of variations. The smaller cylindrical variation allows more directional flexibility. Both modules' diameters are based on our available joint modelling material (38mm ping-pong balls). The narrower module, left is based on the diameter necessary to fit six cylinders onto a ping-pong ball, allowing regular branching in all three axes, or any obtuse angle from the joint.

We'll use acrylic tubing for manufacturing these, although in our imaginations they could be formed of sheet stock in situ. I expect our initial model to resemble a habitrail.

The broader module, shown flattened on the right, shares the 38mm diameter of the joint. These will allow us to create relatively gap-free "finish" surfaces. We've sized them so, lengthwise, they will be compatible.

Above is a layout sample for manufacture. It would be relatively easy to customize these modules for specific angles by moving the relative positions of the joint nests (ie holes).

2008-01-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

1 module used for extesion: ability to connect with each other to increase length

connection questions: 1) dealing with small gaps. How do we seal?

2) Can we just assume engineering will take care of it?

our module continued

2008-01-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

Scale

Creating "fabrics" with our module (or more like planes.)

This would allow us to grow in all different directions.

x,y,z structure

The Flat Module

2008-01-17T16:15:00.000-08:00

The fill module will probably be punched from flat stock. The dashed line represents the lap line for rolling and securing. The teeth on the end will help units lock together.

Module model

2008-01-16T16:56:00.001-08:00

Module A "Joint"

Module B "Fill"

2008-01-14T18:28:00.000-08:00

The Module, Part 2

2008-01-14T15:21:00.001-08:00

Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah. What does this mean?

It means: Simplify.

If you want a lot of stuff to work together, you need a lowest common denometer. You want the most options for angular branching so your forms aren't limited to right angles? Look to your (or your geeky friend's) dice bag:

The more surfaces, the more options, until you get a sphere.

So, a sphere is a very robust, simple form. What about the JOINT? Sure, the sphere could be the joint, if you poke holes into it, and your fill coule be sticks or planes with sticks sticking out of them and you're back to Tinkertoys. Or...

What if the joint is an inherent aspect of the fill?

Congratulations. We've just reinvented the burdock.

Neat things, unless you're trying to get them off the flanks of a squirmy, wooly dog. They inspired the invention of Velcro . So, what if you made burdocks with teeny, tiny hooks? Hooks so small, they wouldn't catch on fabric? What if you made those hooks smart, so they'd release on command?

Congratulations, we just thought up spider feet.

Spider feet are "smart" velcro. When the spider wants to move, unconscious controls make these little micrometer-scale hairs release. It all has to do with Van der Waals forces, which I am in no way qualified to explain.

So! Spider feet, spheres, burdocks- where's this going?

What if the "robot" came down to a matrix of smart velcro? Smart velcro that essentially broke down to "yes" and "no" binary commands? Movement would be progressive and cooperative between two surfaces, a ripple of "yes" commands, meaning grab and hold, propelling the skin (and the form within) forward across another skin/form, while in its wake leaving a trail of "No", meaning release, commands? The possibilites are infinite.

If this was on an electronic scale, could this smart velcro also devote a percntage of its binary transmission to transmitting data? So a structure is also a computer with human interface?

Someone probably already came up with this idea. GMTA?

The Module

2008-01-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

Our next step is to come up with a module. The idea is: if you have a limited number of "primitives" with a set of rules governing how they interact, you have boundaries to work within. Examples include music, where in the Western scale we recombine twelve tones with a time matrix. And language, where a set number of sounds are recombined to create words, which are further modified by grammar.

Dafne and I talked about the nature of building. In the videos on robotic, self-building structures, we noticed that there were two aspects to pay attention to. These aspects are the JOINT and the FILL. Essentially, Tinkertoys (a Playskool product).

Your FILL can be as dumb as you like. It can be a stick, or a plane - something structural. The Fill and Joint work together to make a system.

We saw some robotics which were, essentially, a very fancy set of joints and fills. These robots could find each other, lock together to make form, move across each other cooperatively. The fills, in turn, could be compartments for other mechanisms or walls. It was pretty keen. The downside of these smart joints is how much effort goes into making them smart. How much coding does it take to get them to find each other, navigate, climb and assemble into shapes?

Here is where I plug architect and smarty-pants, A Scott Howe. Check out his website: http://bureau.west.cmu.edu/~ash/

We started bouncing ideas off of each other. What would be robust, expandable systems which would be transported efficiently AND/OR easily fabricated AND/OR self-replicating?

The problem with the moon is getting stuff there. But once there, solar energy is abundant. There is no life, so environmental concerns are minimal (within reason- we probably want to preserve a water table, if there is one).

Also keep in mind that gravity is 1/6th that of earth. Structures won't need to resist as much force, so building elements can be much smaller than our typical trabeated construction. This opens the door for tensile structures - why use a girder when a cable will do?

This also means that joints, typically being weak points in construction, will be less of a concern. I mean, on earth, a structure made of joints would be pretty weak. But if we use the same materials with 1/6th the load to support, that weakness is less of an issue.

Urs' Images Part Deux

2008-01-14T13:14:00.001-08:00

Unknown Artist

CA early 1960s

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/01/martian2bcity2.jpg

There's a lot to love about the heroic naivete of SciFi Pulp. WWII was over, humans had harnessed the power of the atom, Americans were full of smug assurance that we were the "Good Guys" and the universe would open to us, complete with all the comforts of home plus new delights to be discovered. Sure, there might be rough patches here and there, but only enough to make things interesting, opportunities to prove virility.

Here we have ideal suburban living, complete with a garage, covered entry, satellite TV and hot servile female.

Moon Base

1970's BBC series, UFO

A classic from the era of Space 1999 and Buck Rogers. The Apollo mission was still fresh in peoples' minds, and they had images with eerie lighting and space-grit-covered once-white ships, battered from the intense heat of re-entry to take the gloss off of the technocolor dreams of 1950s pulp. This modular set design feels more real to me than the CGI perfection of popular images such as the Halo game series.

Cover Art, Season 3 Lost in Space DVD

Space Travel in the throes of the Sexual Revolution, or Women Can Wear Short Skirts While They Make The Goddamn Coffee. See also: Star Trek, the original series.

Suburbs 2100

Dawid Michalczyk

http://www.art.eonworks.com/gallery/sci-fi/sci-fi_city-199805.html

This is interesting, and kind of quaint in the same way that Lost In Space is quaint. Sure, it's futuristic and all, but if we can make flying cars, why would we clutter our skylines with wires and flying petrol stations? I think it conveys the dystopian bleakness of what we expect to come from commercial enterprise. As in, extraterrestrial colonization is most likely to happen when there's financial incentive to make it happen. Like European expansion into the Americas, resources and commerce was the driving force. People pioneered in order to grab land and opportunities before others did.

The downside of this type of pioneering is, the work and railroad towns that sprung up as a result of enterprise weren't artful or lovely. They were functional and dangerous. Everyone was there to make a buck. I think this image conveys that fear pretty well.

Images from Urs

2008-01-14T13:10:00.001-08:00

Assignment 1A was to find some images of space colonization. Let's begin.

Moon Colony
I found this image here: http://powerforce.moo.jp/page184.html

Unfortunately, my Japanese isn't good enough to make out more than some of the titles in Katakana (my kanji is lacking). I wish I could tell you the artist's name. I like the distortion created by the dome. A very recent, cold rendition.

As David Bowie sang about sailors fighting on the dance floor, he asked, is there life on Mars?

Mars Colony

Source: http://www.marssociety.org/

Ah. Space colonization as the equivalent to trailers scattered across the Mojave Desert! I CAN FEEL THE SIREN SONG! BOOK NOW FOR YOUR RED DIRT FARM VACATION! YOU, TOO, CAN LIVE IN AN INFLATED CLEAR PLASTIC NURSING SOW!

I would attribute this image to the late 1980s by the cut of the space suit. It's a very practical view: survival reliant upon self-sufficient pods. My question is, why would people travel all that way just to survive?

Cover, NSS 2008 Space Settlement Calendar (sold out)

http://www.nss.org/settlement/calendar/buy.htm

Although the focus of this work is on a "halo"-style environment, I really liked the human touches which I feel a colony will need to survive. People like changes of scenery, we like things to be scaled appropriately for our viewing pace. A colony of 10,000 people won't have Chicago or LA-scaled buildings and avenues. Transportation will be a defining aspect. Will a small colony rely upon solar scooters of some sort? Can a small colony afford the expenditure of materials and resources for individual transportation, or rely on efficient mass transit?

These questions will, ultimately, define livable spaces. If everything is too overscaled and institutional, people won't feel comfortable there.

POSTED IMAGES BY Dafne

2008-01-11T17:33:00.000-08:00

Early Base A, 1994 NASA study, called A Design Reference Mission for Mars, considered the installation of a human base which would utilize Martian resources for fuel and air. Depicted here, the base would consist of redundant systems in case of emergency or equipment failures. Two, identical habitats would have attached greenhouses, airlocks, and rock sample racks which could be accessed by robot arms and small airlock for hands-on examination. A small nuclear generator, in a nearby crater, provides initial electrical energy.
Carter Emmart

Paine Base Late NASA Administrator (1968-1970), Thomas O. Paine directed this vision of an advanced outpost/colony on Mars. Large use of solar electric farms would provide power, while colonists live in high rises warmed by mirrors reflecting in additional light during the day. Vast radial greenhouse farming in inflatables give way toward more permanent underground farming beneath glass autoclaved in solar furnaces. Liftoff and landing facilities are distanced for safety, and monitored from a high central tower. Carter Emmart

Kevin Hand. The Green Side of the Moon Scientists design a self-sustaining lunar habitat that would make Al Gore proud. See our interactive infographic inside By Gregory Mone December 2007

Here on Ganymede is a good spot for a base, as is Callisto. Using solar power in space as a free source of endless energy will certainly be the best method of generating power. Already on Earth, we have conducted bio-sphere experiments successfully for indoor, hydroponic farming. These lunar bases would operate on the same principles, writ large.

From Boing Boing: According to NASA, “A couple of space colony summer studies were conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s. Colonies housing about 10,000 people were designed. A number of artistic renderings of the concepts were made.”