Living on a moon....

A harsh mistress

You may not think about it, because it's not common on good ol' terra firma but radiation is blasting out across the solar system every microsecond... some will strike the surface or atmosphere of a planet. This radiation is shielded from us by the very makeup of earth. However, out in space, it may be a completely different story.

Because of this, lunar habitats are going to require a slightly different construction plan than earth neighborhoods or the space station. You've all seen the drawings of huge domed cities on the surface of a planet or moon. This is only going to help the incoming radiation and the atmosphere. This does not help, however, our big concern: Is the surface of a lunar body harmfully radioactive to long-term habitation?

Since we don't have radiological studies of every potential habitat out in space, we have to start designing as if the answer is yes. We will need to create a bed of radiation absorbing materials that does not re-transmit or at the least redirects it away from the settlement. What might this structure look like? A layer of highly dense material, an ice layer, and a second layer of dense material? I myself do not know. What I do know is that even here on earth we are concerned about health hazards from the ground such as radon and carbon monoxide. Building for these settlements may catapult forward construction here on earth and protection from these dangers.

Until next time...