Abstract
Of the Future City of Port Tranquility
On the lunar surface, nestled within Armstrong Crater, lies a city called Port Tranquility. This lunar colony, population 90,000, was first established as an outpost for space exploration and prospecting for lunar materials such as helium-3 and hydrogen. Today, it is home to the largest array of radio telescopes for studying the stars unimpeded by atmosphere and Earth-based radio noise.
Although sometimes considered a frontier settlement, Port Tranquility offers its citizens many services. Residents can enroll in a doctorial program in astronomy at Glenn University. Superb healthcare is provided at Neil Armstrong Hospital, where doctors are developing new therapies and treatments that take advantage of lunar gravity. The food supply comes from hydroponic farming and aquaculture, including aqua-farming of protein-enriched algae. This alga is also used for producing bioplastics and biofuels.
Port Tranquility has several E-malls for convenient shopping. Every residential neighborhood has a kiosk for multi-point distribution of all E-mall purchases. Lunar gravity sports, including “kite-surfing,” provide popular pastimes for Port Tranquilians. The lunar concert venues are virtual, holographic performances, where every teen gets a front-row seat.
Port Tranquility’s infrastructure includes our synthetic atmosphere, or “Synthesphere.” Each layer of this structure provides inhabitants with protection and life support. The outer layer uses LADAR to continually monitor near-Moon objects. Approaching space debris is demolished by a plasma force field. The Synthesphere’s middle layer controls and regulates air pressure and temperature. The innermost layer provides and maintains an atmospheric environment similar to Earth. Oxygen for this layer is provided by the process of hydrogen reduction, during which oxygen is extracted from the iron oxide in the lunar soil, or regolith. From five cubic yards of regolith, over 600 pounds of oxygen can be extracted.
Solar power provides Port Tranquility with an abundant source of energy. In fact, our leading industry is the manufacturing of photovoltaic cells. Although water is extremely rare on the moon, lunar ice was discovered and recovered from permanently shaded areas at the nearby lunar pole. The controlled thaw of lunar icebergs supplies water to the city. The Systematic Hydro-Operative REcycling System (SHORE) conserves, purifies, and recycles every drop.
Because of the lack of fossil fuels and limited oxygen supply, the one-person lunar vehicles, the “Snap Uni-Cars,” utilize solar power. These energy efficient pod-cars can be connected for additional cargo and passenger space. Roadways are formed by microwaving the regolith, with the Zam-Paver, a machine similar to a Zamboni. Metals and iron oxides are fused to create a glass-like surface. Mass transit and the delivery of goods and raw materials are provided via LunarTubes, an enclosed maglev system which takes advantage of the lower lunar gravity. Transportation to Earth is available via daily Earth shuttles. In order to lower the escape velocity and conserve fuel, a retractable space elevator takes shuttles to a height of about 100 kilometers before lift-off. Obviously, Port Tranquility is out of this world!
Essay
Research Essay
For Port Tranquility
Building the infrastructure of the first lunar colony, Port Tranquility, presented engineers with many challenges. The largest challenge was providing the colony with a sustainable, synthetic atmosphere. Port Tranquility’s Synthesphere not only protects the city from space debris, ultraviolet radiation, and cosmic rays, but also insures a safe environment for life on the lunar surface. The Synthesphere has three layers. The outer layer, called the Plasma Outer Force Field (POFF), protects the city from space debris, including asteroids. The middle layer, the MesoArc, controls and monitors the air pressure and temperature. The innermost layer, the Replicated Earth And Lunar Monitoring System (REALMS), provides breathable air for the residents.
Each layer is crucial to the safety of Port Tranquility. Potential threats to the population include: abnormal temperatures and air pressure, insufficient oxygen levels, damaging debris, and poor air quality. Because nanosensors, key components to our Synthesphere, are small, extremely efficient, and relatively inexpensive, many nanosensors can be strategically placed, allowing accurate data collection.
The nanosensors of the inner-most layer, REALMS, monitor air quality and insure oxygen levels between 20% and 22%. Each nanosensor is made of a material that chemically reacts with a specific gas in the air. As the amount of the specific gas increases, the chemical reaction emits a stronger electrical current. The nanosensors send the electrical output to custom designed processors, which analyze the air quality and either activate the various air filters, or the oxygen infusers.
In the middle layer, the MesoArc, nanosensors monitor air temperatures. Because of convection currents and the height of the MesoArc, temperatures can vary by 200 degrees within the dome. Therefore, most of the nanosensors are located on the lower portion, near the REALMS, where the ideal air temperature is between 50 and 85 degrees. These thermal nanosensors are made by coating one side of the surface of a Zinc oxide nanobelt with multilayer polymers. The self-contraction/expansion of the polymer builds up a strain in the piezoelectric nanobelt and induces a change in the voltage flowing through the nanobelt. If the thermal nanosensors indicate that the median temperatures are too high, infrared filters are activated by the control computers. When temperatures are too low, more infrared rays are allowed into the MesoArc.
This layer also stabilizes Port Tranquility’s essential air pressure so that it is within 5% of Earth’s standard atmospheric pressure. Using a tri-layered silicon dioxide microspring, called a microcoil, nanobarometers monitor the air pressure in the MesoArc. All barometric data is fed into an automatic sequential control system. To maintain proper air pressure, this system transmits instructions for the expansion and contraction of the MesoArc to raise or lower air pressure.
Our outer-most layer, the POFF, uses LADAR, or laser radar, to scan space debris within a 1000 kilometer radius of the Port. In the past, LADAR bounced laser beams off pivoting mirrors. To improve the speed and efficiency of the LADAR, engineers replaced the pivoting mirrors with crystal nano-reflectors called nanopolarizers that are rapidly pivoted by varying the electrical field. This allows the LADAR to scan the whole sky in 3.14 milliseconds and to detect an object as small as one millimeter in diameter. If near-moon objects get too close, the tracking computers activate the Plasma Outer Force Field which vaporizes the incoming debris.
Another key component of our infrastructure is the electrical engineer, who designed these complex systems to monitor this life-sustaining structure. The electrical engineer also supervised the fabrication and assembly of the Synthesphere and continues to assures its proper functioning in the rigorous lunar environment. The electrical engineer also analyzes data from the sensors and provides oversight of the entire system.
Normally the control systems automatically monitor and maintain the correct conditions. In the unlikely event the systems malfunction, a series of alerts will issue. Initially, E-alerts will be sent to monitoring engineers, who will correct conditions and/or send additional E-alerts to residents. If conditions worsen, video and audio signals will warn the populace, instructing inhabitants to prepare for evacuation. At Crisis Level, all citizens report to shelters. If systems fail, residents will be transported to Earth until conditions are restored, and tranquility has returned to the Port.
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