Category: Lunar Base

Image credit: Krafft Ehricke Papers / Space Global

Image source: NASM

Selenopolis, named after Selene, Goddess of the Moon, is a lunar city-state that could exist by 2029. With a population of about 100,000, it contains all the comforts of “home” (Earth) — plus many features that we don’t have in the terrestrial environment.

Selenopolis is a network of “Quonset hut” – shaped “half tunnel” sections stretching across the lunar surface and covering about 100 square miles. Each section is several miles long, with internal dimensions of 3200 feet across at floor level, and 1600 feet height to the center of a curved ceiling. The sections are joined at dome-shaped intersections. The entire complex is laid out for expansion.

On the inside, each section is separated from the other by a solid but transparent “curtain”, because each section of the habitat represents a different Earth-like climate and season. Selenopolis embodies urban, rural, agricultural, industrial and resort areas, and the “weather” inside is controlled and simulated accordingly. In other words, normal atmosphere conditions for Earth are maintained, and the regional climates of Earth are simulated.

Real sunlight illuminates the interior. A system of mirrors reflects it through the ceiling. Since a lunar day is 15 Earth-dats long, some of the mirrors are colored to provide the same time-changes and sky colors that we experience on Earth, from morning to night, and from season to season.

Public utilities (water, power etc.) are sub-surface. There is also a sub surface lake.

Image credit: Krafft Ehricke Papers / Space Global

Image source: NASM