Mechanics of Materials in Lunar Base Design

Abstract

The construction of a lunar base has been thought about for almost five decades. The earliest concepts dealt with size and shape concepts rather than actual design of structures and equipment. As the exploration of space has received emphasis in more recent times, the need to consider the factors of design and design approaches have received more attention. It still is not possible to completely rationalize the design of a habitat, for example, but we are now very aware of the need to include the fracture and fatigue properties of the materials of which the hardware of a lunar infrastructure is constructed. It is reasonably certain that the same techniques used for terrestrial designs can be used for lunar bases provided the space environment is taken into account. The extensive amount of research on fracture and fatigue that has been and is being conducted, along with the ease and speed of computation of their effects on alternative design features will be invaluable in providing a highly reliable, safe lunar base.