Lava Tubes on Luna - Why build a lunar space station?

 

" ... a graduate student in Purdue's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, led the study that examined whether empty lava tubes more than 1 kilometer wide could remain structurally stable on the moon.

The Purdue team found that if lunar lava tubes existed with a strong arched shape like those on Earth, they would be stable at sizes up to 5,000 meters, or several miles wide, on the moon.

"This wouldn't be possible on Earth, but gravity is much lower on the moon and lunar rock doesn't have to withstand the same weathering and erosion,” Blair reported. "In theory, huge lava tubes — big enough to easily house a city — could be structurally sound on the moon."  Space.com

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Cosmic radiation is heavy on the surface of the moon.  Without a lot of shielding it will fry your innards.  This Purdue University study tells us that large, long, voids exist below the surface of Luna.  These were evidently created by lava flows long ago.  The study also claims that in the low gravity field of the moon, these tubes would be sufficiently stable to house a large lunar base for mining of rare earths and other activities.

This brings to mind the lunar colony in Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."  In that novel, the lunar folk were miners whose mineral production was delivered to earth by being fired from rail guns at an impact area in the Pacific ocean from which they were retrieved by ships

For me the possibility of such a colony and base raises the issue of why the US and Russia are intent on building a lunar orbit space station.  Why could not anything that would be done in lunar orbit not be done at a lunar cave base?  pl 

https://www.space.com/28894-moon-lava-tubes-underground-cities.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress

Comments

[JJackson]

I don't see a problem in anchoring into rock but the tensile strength of the tether is not the only problem. Having seen the damage accrued, on solar panels on our existing satellites, it would also need the bulk to sustain damage. The low lunar gravity means the lunar GEO is at 55,000km and the counter mass must be beyond this and a function of mass*distance which makes the tether very long unless you add a propulsion system (presumably solar powered) at the end of the tether to add tension. If the tether could be made of polymer that could be 'painted on' in place then the cargo carrier could include a repair mechanism to resurface/repair micro meteorite damage as it goes.

[JJackson]

An after thought.
What we need is a giant space spider. This would be taken out to the Lagrange Point. It would need two spinnerets one facing the moon and the other earth. The spinnerets would extrude the the two tethers and the two bodies gravities would extend the threads in opposite direction. The rate of extrusion could be balanced to maintain station. Now all we need is one of the sites chemists to come up with a ways to spin a carbon fibre hawser from binary liquids which can be shuttled up from earth as required.

[Martin Oline]

Well, it looked good on the drawing board. The Navy is scrapping it's $500mn rail gun. Link from RT which contains a link to Popular Mechanics:

https://www.rt.com/usa/412055-railgun-navy-hvp-funds/