"Isothermal" Basic Single-Occupancy Cabin (Moon Version)

In the last century, humanity landed on the moon through the Apollo program, but with the end of the Cold War and the space race, this never happened again. Fortunately, new space technologies and advances in materials (such as full-flow staged combustion cycles and special high-strength fibers) have greatly reduced the cost of entering space. Traveling to other planets will be possible soon, with the primary goal being a return to the moon.

Before establishing fully developed colonies, small-scale living modules can initially facilitate low-cost lunar colonization. These modules must be small yet comprehensive enough to ensure the long-term safety of astronauts (or lunar tourists). They should also be deployable in different regions to serve as shelters during solar storms.

Living in the extreme environment of space is undoubtedly a challenge, but it must be addressed so that humanity can reach further into the stars. The initial intention of this project is to provide a new approach to extraterrestrial colony construction, enabling long-term habitation for individuals at the lowest possible cost and in accordance with current rocket transportation capabilities.

This project includes structure, materials, power module, gas management, heat management, mechanical structure and storage module. All contents strive to be authentic, so it is completely possible to replicate them in reality. The only problem is that I still don't have enough money to build it, even though it is much cheaper than the modules for the International Space Station.

This is one of the most complex 3D designs I have ever made, because it needs to be reference-worthy (realistic) and inspirational, which means I had to take physics into account when designing everything. In this article you will see how I came up with the data.

(I am a Canadian high school student and this is my after-school work. It does involve a lot of work and I think the pictures are not enough to fully show this design, so I highly recommend you download the model to see it.)

Autodesk Fusion 360: The modeling part of this project was all done in Autodesk Fusion 360, and all parts are completely original.

Autodesk 3Ds Max 2025: Used as a renderer, rendered images may be uploaded very quickly.

Bibliography:

Ice Confirmed at the Moon's Poles – Moon: NASA Science

Kilopower - NASA

By consulting Wikipedia and related content, we can know that the extreme nature of the lunar environment is mainly reflected in:

1. Large temperature difference between day and night: it can reach 127°C during the day and drop to -173°C at night.

2. Vacuum environment: no atmosphere.

3. Radiation: Due to the lack of atmosphere and magnetic field, the lunar surface is exposed to high levels of solar radiation and cosmic rays.

4. Micrometeorites: The lunar surface is often hit by micrometeorites.

5. Gravity: The gravity of the moon is about one-sixth of that of the earth.

6. Survival resources: The lunar environment is more extreme than the desert, with no liquid water or plants.

Solutions to the above problems:

1. Site selection

I chose the main deployment site at the South Pole of the Moon because according to NASA's research results, there is ice in the permanent shadow area (such as the bottom of the crater). This ice can be used as a water resource. At the same time, the permanent light area in the Antarctic region can provide a continuous energy supply for solar power generation.

2. Structure Design

Material and structural design can solve problems such as large temperature difference, vacuum, radiation, micrometeorites, etc. Considering that this ship must be small, and many modern missiles can be fired, we decided to set the diameter to 2.7m.

Radiation in Space:

• Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs)
• Solar Particle Events (SPEs)
• Secondary Neutrons

Material selection:

• Outer layer: Nextel ceramic fiber (5mm)
• Second layer: aluminum alloy (20mm)
• Third layer: PBO fiber (3mm)
• Inner layer: polyethylene (5mm)

Nextel Ceramic Fiber: Nextel ceramic fibers are used for both micrometeorite impact protection, thermal insulation, and provides some shielding against secondary neutrons and gamma rays.

Aluminum Alloy: Aluminum alloy provides primary structural strength; it is effective against SPEs and provides moderate shielding against GCRs.

PBO Fiber: Offers limited radiation protection, mainly used for increasing structural strength under high temperature conditions and also provide thermal insulation.

Polyethylene: Excellent for shielding against GCRs and SPEs due to high hydrogen content.

Process-Simulated impact:

• Speed: Orbital velocity of the Moon (1.68 km/s)
• Diameter of the meteorite=10 cm (0.1 m)
• Radius of the meteorite=0.05 m
• Volume of the meteorite=4/3πr^3=4/3π(0.05)^3≈5.24×10^(-4) m3
• Density of a typical meteorite=3500 kg/m3
• Mass=Density×Volume=3500×5.24×10^(−4)≈1.834 kg
• Kinetic Energy=1/2​mv^2=1/2×1.834×(1680)^2≈2.59×10^6 J
• Add redundancy factor=2×2.59×10^6 J=5.18×10^6 J=5.18 MJ
• Volume of Aluminum=Adjusted Kinetic Energy/Energy Absorption Capacity=5.18×10^6/300×10^6=0.0173 m3
• Energy Absorbed=Volume×Energy Absorption Capacity
• Nextel Ceramic Fiber Energy Absorbed=0.005 m3×600 MJ/m3=3 MJ
• Aluminum Energy Absorbed=0.02 m3×300 MJ/m3=6 MJ>5.18 MJ
• PBO Fiber Energy Absorbed=0.003 m3×120 MJ/m3=0.36 MJ
• Polyethylene Energy Absorbed=0.005 m3×60 MJ/m3=0.3 MJ
• Total Energy Absorbed=3 MJ+6 MJ+0.36 MJ+0.3 MJ=9.66 MJ
• Redundancy coefficient=9.66/5.18≈1.9

Power source: Solar panels and Kilopower reactors.

Heat source: Thermal conduction, electrical heat generation and reactor waste heat.

Water source: Ice from the lunar south pole.

Oxygen source: Electrolyzed water.

Food source: Pre-stocked food, canned food, nutritional pills.

3. Functional Design

Through functional design, I can answer the question of how to live on the moon.

A lunar habitat would require the following basic life support requirements:

• Oxygen
• Water
• Food
• Heat

And other comfort requirements:

• Bed
• Activity space
• Work area
• Bathroom
• Storage space

Below I will explain step by step how it solves these problems and is made.

The following video shows the production process. I modeled them in three parts: the main body, the multi-purpose workbench, and the Kilopower reactor.

Since Fusion 360 does not support adjusting angles during playback, there are many internal structure modeling that cannot be shown in the video, which will be written later.

The Cabin is cylindrical in shape and is supported on the lunar surface by deployable hatch brackets at a certain height above the ground.

The docking port at the head of the cabin is used for expansion. Although this is only a single-person living cabin, the reservation of the docking port means adding more different types of cabins to form a lunar colony building with a connecting corridor.

The circular hinge allows the door to be opened and closed at a large angle.

There are two main doors at the front and rear, each of which is closed by two hatch covers, the lower hatch cover also serves as a support. In order to open the hatch, I set up 4 pistons for each hatch, a total of 16 pistons to smoothly open the hatch and provide a solid locking structure.

The hatch is closed with a special locking mechanism, which is electric, but I still have the redundant option of closing it manually, just by pulling the handle. The piston drives the gear, which drives the belt to rotate, opening or closing the locking mechanism.

I show here the schematic diagram of my motor, each piston is composed of a screw, a screw sleeve and a high torque motor.

The airlock is close to the entrance to save space. The independent airlock can provide a closed environment to isolate the main chamber from the external vacuum environment. At the same time, the airlock has both disinfection and cleaning functions to ensure that no moon dust enters the room.

Like the docking port, the airlock has the same mechanical hinges, which are piston-driven to ensure safety.

The walls of the main chamber are made using the 4 layers of material mentioned above.

On the left side of the main compartment are the work area (front) and the bed (back), and additional storage space are on top. The work area is equipped with a height-adjustable seat that can also move forward and backward along the slide rails.

The special workbench in the work area is a specially designed computer case that can be equipped with a huge monitor screen and a portable monitor stand on the side. At the same time, it can also take into account heat dissipation, and the front baffle can prevent dust from entering.

The bed at the rear is a full-size bed that can meet the sleeping needs of the occupants. The side portholes are made of tempered glass to meet the viewing needs. The gold-plated coating on the surface can resist cosmic rays.

There is a storage space under the bed, and I designed a small door to open it.

On the right side of the main room, I set up a huge countertop with an induction cooker for heating and a sink for washing items. Below them are some storage spaces.

On the far right side of the cabinet is a small refrigerator for storing items that need to be kept cold.

The bathroom is at the back. It has a sloping floor to collect water, a side space to store toiletries, and a door in the middle to stop the water from flowing into the living room. The toilet and shower head are retractable. The toilet is not connected to the flushing system because I use a high-temperature oven to treat feces to save water. All waste water will be transported to the water purifier for filtration and purification before being reused.

The Aft Chamber contains all the water purification systems, electronic control systems, water storage tanks, water decomposition systems, air circulation systems and heat circulation systems. They all have corresponding colored pipe connections. Download the file I provided to see this better.

The blue marked area is the water purifier and heater, and the huge tank on the right is the water storage tank.

The communication system is installed on the top of the cabin, together with the solar panels.

"Isothermal" Basic Single-Occupancy Cabin is my conception of a space micro-colonial building, which makes single-person space living a reality through a volume and size that can be transported by a launch vehicle.

Finally, I reiterate: If you are interested, please download the 3D model I provided, which is more detailed than the picture.

Felex Xu