On a planet without atmosphere, sustaining human life is very difficult and dangerous, especially during short sunlit period when low temperature prevails. To counter these environmental stresses, the author offer an innovative artificial "Evergreen" dome, an inflated hemisphere with interiors continuously providing a climate like that of Florida, Italy and Spain. The "Evergreen" dome theory is developed, substantiated by computations that show it is possible for current technology to construct and heat large enclosed volumes inexpensively. Specifically, a satisfactory result is reached by using magnetic suspended at high altitude sunlight reflectors and a special double thin film as a skin, which concentrates solar energy inside the dome while, at the same time, markedly decreasing the heat loss to exterior space. Offered design may be employed for settlements on the Moon, Mars, asteroids and satellites.
The real development of outer space (permanent human life in space) requires two conditions: allsufficient space settlement and artificial life conditions close to those prevailing currently on the Earth. (Such a goal extends what is already being attempted in the Earth-biosphere-for example at the 1 st Advanced Architecture Contest, "Self-Sufficient Housing", sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, Spain, during 2006.) The first condition demands production of all main components needed for human life: food, oxidizer, and energy within the outer space and Solar System body colony. The second requisite condition is a large surface settlement having useful plants, flowers, water pool, walking and sport areas, etc. All these conditions may be realized within large 'greenhouses' [1] that will produce food, oxidizer and "the good life" conditions.
Human life in space and on other places will be more comfortable if it uses the author’s macroproject proposal -staying in outer space without special spacesuit [2], p.335 (mass of current spacesuit reaches 180 kg). The idea of this paper may be used also for control of Earth’s regional and global weather and for converting Earth’s desert and polar regions into edenic subtropical gardens [3]- [4].
The current conditions in Moon, Mars and Space are far from comfortable. For example, the Moon does not have useful atmosphere, the day and night continues for 14 Earth days each, there are space radiation, etc.
Especially during wintertime, Mars could provide only a meager and uncomfortable life-style for humans, offering low temperatures, strong winds. The distance north or south from the planet’s equator is amongst the most significant measured environmental variables underlying the physical differences of the planet. In other words, future humans living in the Moon and Mars must be more comfortable for humans to explore and properly exploit these places.
Possibly the first true architectural attempt at constructing effective artificial life-support systems on the climatically harsh Moon will be the building of greenhouses. Greenhouses are maintained nearly automatically by heating, cooling, irrigation, nutrition and plant disease management equipment. Humans share commonalities in their responses to natural environmental stresses that are stimulated by night cold, day heat, absent of atmosphere, so on. Darkness everywhere inflicts the same personal visual discomfort and disorientation as cosmonauts/astronauts experience during their space-walksthat of being adrift in featureless space! With special clothing and shelters, humans can adapt successfully to the planet Mars, for example. Incontrovertibly, living in Moon, Mars is difficult, even when tempered by strong conventional protective buildings.
Our macro-engineering concept of inexpensive-to-construct-and-operate “Evergreen” inflated surface domes is supported by computations, making our macroproject speculation more than a daydream. Innovations are needed, and wanted, to realize such structures in the Moon of our unique but continuously changing life.
Our design for Moon-Mars people-housing “Evergreen” dome is presented in Fig. 1, which includes the thin inflated film dome. The innovations are listed here: (1) the construction is airinflatable; (2) each dome is fabricated with very thin, transparent film (thickness is 0.2 to 0.4 mm) without rigid supports; (3) the enclosing film is a two-layered structural element with air between the layers to provide insulation; (4) the construction form is that of a hemisphere, or in the instance of a roadway/railway a half-tube, and part of the film has control transparency and a thin aluminum layer about 1 or less that functions as the gigantic collector of solar incident solar radiation (heat). Surplus heat collected may be used to generate electricity or furnish mechanical energy; and (5) the dome is equipped with sunlight controlling louvers [AKA, “jalousie”, a blind or shutter having adjustable slats to regulate the passage of air and sunlight] with one side thinly coated with reflective polished aluminum of about 1 thickness. Real-time control of the sunlight’s entrance into the dome and nighttime heat’s exit is governed by the shingle-like louvers or a control transparency of the dome film.
Variant 1 of artificial inflatable Dome for Moon and Mars is shown in Fig. 1. Dome has top thin double film 4 covered given area and single under ground layer 6. The space between layers 4 -6 is about 3 meters and it is filled by air. The support cables 5 connect the top and underground layers and Dome looks as a big air-inflated beach sunbathing or swimming mattress. The Dome includes hermetic sections connected by corridors 2 and hermetic lock chambers 3. Top film has control transparency (reflectivity). That allows control temperature affecting the dome. Top film also is double. When a meteorite pushes hole in the top double film, the lower layer
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