I have obtained the SECRET plans for a military Lunar base. I could be in serious trouble if I released these plans while they were still classified, but they aren't anymore. The plans were first drawn up during the beginning stages of the cold war in 1959.
In the 1950s the race to space was on. The only two big kids left on the block after WWII were the United States and the Soviet Union, and they weren’t too friendly to each other. So what better way to show the other who was really better than to build one dope ass base on the moon to give the middle finger to those bastards?
Well, the Americans thought the commies were going to have their moon base up and running in 1968, so they had to do better – they had to have personnel build in 1965! Both the US Army and Air Force wanted to have an outpost on the moon for two reasons.
One:
There is a requirement for a manned military outpost on the moon. The lunar outpost is required to develop and protect potential United States interests on the moon; to develop techniques in moon-based surveillance of the earth and space, in communications relay, and in operations on the surface of the moon; to serve as a base for exploration of the moon, for further exploration into space and for military operations on the moon if required; and to support scientific investigations on the moon.
And two:
It is considered of the utmost importance that the moon be first occupied by the U.S. so that the U.S. can deny Soviet territorial, commercial, or technological claims. If a permanent base can be established first by the United States, the prestige and psychological advantage to the nation will be invaluable.
It was assigned the code name Project Horizon and given to NASA to figure out. The famous Wernher von Braun, from Germany’s V2 rocket research, got to work on planning how to do it, documenting the effort in a SECRET paper dated 20 Mar, 1959.
One thing though, the technology to get to the moon and back hadn’t been created yet. They were confident that it was a realistic objective and what they needed could be invented with enough time and funding. They said that it will be expensive whether they do it now, or in 10 years – but then the commies would already be there, so the U.S. has to start it now!
First, a scouting party of two men would be sent up to scout out the chosen spot and make sure there were no unpleasant surprises, like no moon people. If all was good, a 9-man construction team would be sent up, along with launches of all the equipment and supplies. Then the two man scouting party would depart. These 9 men were called the ‘advanced party’ and they would live in their ships and construct the living portion of the moon base.
When the 9 man team arrived it was expected to take 15 days to build, and could not take longer than 30, as their landing ship was not built to house them longer. What they needed to do was bury an airlock section and two 10ft wide by 20ft long pre-fab living quarters in a trench so that it was covered by at least 3ft of lunar soil.
To create the trench they would bury explosives, then use this kick ass 4500lb moon tractor to take all the loose soil out. If they needed to go deeper, just pop some more explosives in! It was estimated to take only 19 hours to get the trench dug, and another 6 to fill it in once the pre-fab units were placed down in it.
They would also need to create space for the nuclear generators that would power this whole operation, but it needed to be at least 12ft deep. This initial base would need a main 40kw nuclear generator and a 10kw backup/emergency one. Every moon base needs to have a few nukes, am I right?
Then once all that was up more sections would be sent and work could start on finishing up the base. In the living section they would add a dining/rec room, communication/offices, and medical. In a separate perpendicular section they would have spaces for a few science labs. As well as add two more nuclear generators, a 60km and a 5kw.
Cargo to orbit would be sent in packages of 48,000lbs and cargo to the moon would be sent in packages of 6,000lbs per load. They estimated that it would take 40 successful launches to test equipment and to bring support satellites into orbit. These launches would include such things as 6 lunar satellites, 7 lunar orbits, 8 lunar landings, 4 orbital return missions, and 15 trips for the pre build-up phase.
From August 1964 to November 1966 they expected to require 149 Saturn I/II rockets, launching an average of 5.3 missions per month to deliver to the moon a total of 245 tons, assuming a reliability rate of 80%. It was going to cost $4,250 per pound, but they hoped to use nuclear powered rockets by 1975 and that would possibly bring the cost down to $400 per pound. Total cost estimates over an 8 ½ year period were estimated to be $6,052,300,000, or an average of $700 million per year.
While living in the moon base, each person was allotted 4 pounds of food and 3 quarts of water per day. Water would be collected from the air in the base and also from waste and distilled. Each packet of food would be wrapped individually, and if desired to be hot would be heated by placing it in boiling water. If someone was working outside and couldn’t get in for lunch, they would have ‘paste foods’ in a collapsible container (think toothpaste). They even mentioned experimenting with algae and hydroponics.
Previous experience has demonstrated the morale values of fresh salads. Vegetables for salads may be provided by hydroponic culture, using wastes as nutrients, at least in part, and converting CO2 into O2 in the process, as with algae. Ultimately, plant wastes and algae can be used to feed poultry, which thrive in confinement and are relatively efficient energy converters, producing fresh eggs and meat. Meanwhile, attention will be given to the use of fish and other aquatic animals, such as Daphnia and mollusks, which normally feed on algae.
I wonder what rich people would pay for organically grown moon mollusks? Business opportunity here or what? Someone get me Elon Musk’s phone number.
Von Braun even urged the creation of a space station to serve as an intermediary location for servicing the moon base. This, he said, would lessen the energy requirements to get supplies into space, making this whole operation much cheaper over time. Flights back home would be every 3-4 months during the entire operation of the moon base.
They didn’t have the technology that we enjoy today, so they were worried about communication blackouts made by loss of line of sight. It was determined that the location of America’s space launch facility and communication base be somewhere near the equator. Four locations under consideration were Somalia, Manus Island, Christmas Island, and Maranhao Brazil. After considering logistical problems, Somalia and Manus Island were cut leaving the best options as the northern coast of Brazil then Christmas Island.
Just think, we could be up there living the moon dream with our space chickens and algae. It’s rather interesting thinking of this as how history could have played out if different choices had been taken. We could have moon farmers up there right now!
Do you think you have what it takes to work on the moon? Here were the requirements:
Don’t worry ladies, I am sure they would have allowed you once they ran some test to determine what actually being on the moon would do to your cycles.
I’m kidding!
Pls upvote still.