Hong Kong, 22 February 2011 ————– Architect Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP was selected by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) New England Chapter as the recipient of the “Technical Feasibility and Excellence Award” for his lunar habitat proposal in the recent international “Moon City Competition.”
Organized by SHIFTboston, and supported by various organizations which included the AIAA New England Chapter, the Boston Society of Architects and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), the “Moon Capital” competition sought submissions from around the world for the creation of a technically-viable architectural design concept for a second-generation 60-person lunar habitat to be constructed in the year 2069, commemorating the 100th anniversary of mankind’s first lunar landing. The international competition required participants to produce a conceptual architectural design for an 8,000 sq m self-sustaining lunar scientific research base at the rim of a crater at the moon’s South Pole.
According to the competition organizers, of the 102 entries received from across the world, only 16 entries were deemed technically viable relative to the exacting specifications and criteria required by the competition. Schmidt’s entry and a close competitor tied for first place in the technical feasibility category and were each given awards.
Schmidt’s winning modular design concept provides a pueblo-style subterranean facility open on one side to Shackleton Crater to allow for consistent Earth views due to the synchronous rotation of the two bodies, yet shield the bulk of the facility from radiation above with a 3-meter layer of lunar regolith. The design of the modular subterranean facility revolves around an agricultural core at the heart of the facility, surrounded by accommodation, laboratories and various support facilities. In addition to supplying the residents with a source of fresh vegetables and agro research areas, the agricultural core would be naturally lit from above through a network of vertical light tubes illuminated by a rotating array of reflectors and photovoltaic cells at the lunar surface. The array would track the sun on its 29-day horizontal course across the horizon of the proposed polar location, provide natural light to subterranean areas below, and capture solar energy to assist in the power generation requirements of the facility.
A polar site was selected for its near-continuous exposure to sunlight, and potential for harvesting nearby water from the large quantities of surface water ice discovered in 2008 by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Schmidt’s design of providing exterior Earth views and interior views of the agricultural core from the surrounding accommodation and laboratories coupled with maintaining human circadian rhythms through the admission of controlled amounts of natural filtered sunlight was closely aligned with the competition’s criteria of maximizing human comfort for the occupants who might be deployed there for extended periods of time.
The winning entries will be used as the basis for the upcoming collaborative design and construction of a mock-up terrestrial base slated for construction in Worcester, MA, USA for use in various local educational and research programs promoting lunar colonization and research.
Winning competition proposals were featured in Scientific American in November 2010, and Schmidt’s award-winning proposal will be part of a traveling exhibition at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, USA between February and April 2011. Schmidt has also been invited to present and discuss his award-winning concept at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and at a special session at the 3-day AIAA National Space 2011 Conference to be held 27 – 29 September 2011 in Long Beach, CA, USA at the Long Beach Convention Center.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation. Competition organizer SHIFTboston is an organization seeking to catalyze change and promote the future of the urban environment through international competitions. With over 31,000 members, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest professional society devoted to the global aerospace profession and in promoting the progress of engineering and science in aviation, space and defense. As one of the first engineering and technology universities in the US, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is on the cutting edge of many research areas including biotechnology, fuel cells, information security, materials processing and nanotechnology. WPI’s best-known alumnus was Robert H. Goddard, the “father of modern rocketry.”