Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Inflatable Moon Base Gets Proposed


Experimental architecture firm Architecture and Vision is pitching their idea for an inflatable Moon base to accommodate the return of human exploration on the Moon. Their Moon Base Two design would be sent to the surface of the Moon via an Ares V heavy-lifter rocket where it would automatically deploy and inflate itself in preparation for occupancy by four astronauts for up to six months. Although it is designed to be a "long term" motel, Moon Base Two would allow for the study of a permanent human settlement on the Moon. If Bigelow says you can use blow-up space stations, why not a blow-up Moon base? No official response from NASA yet.



(Images: Architecture and Vision)
(Architecture and Vision via Gizmodo)

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does this shelter protect against meteorite strikes? Or, does the designer play the odds on this hazard?