Colonizing - PneumoCell Is Working On An Inflatable Lunar Habitat

     In my last post, I discussed plans to use native materials and additives from Earth to create bricks that could be used to construct habitats on the Moon and Mars. There are a number of different ideas for the construction of habitats on the Moon.
     Recently, NASA established potential landing sites near the south pole of the Moon for future crewed missions of its Artemis program. Astronauts will need serious protection from the harsh lunar environment. A recent proposal could provide the needed protection.
     The Austrian company PneumoCell has developed the PneumoPlanet inflatable habitat concept for the Moon. This habitat could contain sixteen greenhouses and up to thirty-two astronauts.
     Philipp Gläser is a postdoctoral researcher at the Berlin Technical University and a co-author on a study outlining the PneumoPlanet concept. He said, “PneumoPlanet is an ultra-light inflatable structure covered by regolith that will operate self-sufficiently by producing and recycling its own oxygen and food using solar power. It can therefore serve as a permanent lunar outpost enabling various future missions to use it as a base. The habitat protects against cosmic radiation and micrometeorites, keeping the crew safe and allowing for longer mission durations.”
     PneumoPlanet has received funding from the European Space Agency (ESA). The new study suggests that the habitat could be located near one of the lunar poles. Sunlight is more plentiful at the lunar poles because the Moon has a tiny axial tilt. Ideally, PneumoPlanet would be installed close to a ‘permanently shadowed region’ (PSR). This is a polar crater floor that has been in darkness for eons. Such craters may contain large amounts of water ice.
      Thomas Herzig is the architect and lead designer of PneumoPlanet. He is also the founder and CEO of PneumoCell. He said that he is passionate about PneumoPlanet and its potential for assisting future lunar astronauts. He stresses that no other habitat concept offers what PneumoPlanet can offer in terms of overall design. He was specifically referring to the capability to contain greenhouses.
      Herzig said, “All the effort and energy for 3D printing of massive walls and ceilings is not necessary. The most important innovation lies in the mirrors that reflect the visible sunlight in an optimal wavelength range into a greenhouse, while all the harmful particle radiation is kept out. Inside that greenhouse, we can self-sufficiently produce oxygen and food in a natural way from natural sunlight only, and the greenhouse also is a natural living space for the crew.”
       Herzig appears in a promotional video where he states that PneumoPlanet’s mirrors will be hoisted with carbon fiber tubes on a rotating magnetic ring that will track the direction of sunlight. This arrangement will allow natural sunlight to pass through a transparent foil and enter the greenhouses with sixty five kilowatts of energy. This is equivalent to about two hundred and sixty-five watts per square meter. This level of energy is ideal for photosynthesis to take place. With humans scheduled to return to the lunar surface in the next few years with the Artemis missions, PneumoPlanet would be a viable choice for a lunar habitat.