Moonbase manual
- Moonbase
- manual
MOONBASE APPENDICES
NOTE: This is the Appendices, the first 90 pages of the manual are a
story, and are not necessary to play the game, but if anyone wants to add
them to this, be my guest!
QUICK REFERENCE
Your job as Moonbase Commander is to build a successful and self
supporting base. NASA will provide you with seed money but you have to
invest it wisely. Here are the basics you need to know.
Building a lunar base. Your crew needs four things to survive on the
Moon: Shelter, Power, Thermal Control, and Supplies. Your base will
function better if you keep all four of these in mind.
Shelter is provided by habitation modules.
Power and thermal control are provided by building power plants and
radiators and then hooking these up to other nodules with power cables
and thermal control pipes.
Supplies are provided by purchasing them from Earth or by growing your
own food in Greenhouses, finding water and making your own spare parts.
CASH.
You can raise cash by trading in one of the five commodities which are in
constant demand. You can invest in a plant that manufactures one of
these commodities and provide it with what it needs to run: Crew, Power,
Thermal Control and Resupply. You can then sell the goods you produce on
the open market. The five commodities sold at the Lunar Commodities
Exchange are Oxygen, Water, Helium-3. Electronics and Materials. Each of
these markets is unique and has a character all its own.
OXYGEN
Oxygen is needed to support life, but the quantities needed for this
purpose is relatively small. The major use for oxygen is as the primary
component in rocket propellant. When the Moonbase is established, the
level of rocket traffic around Earth will be very high. The demand for
rocket propellant will also be high. Oxygen is cheap on Earth, but it is
expensive to lift into orbit. Some of the things that affect the demand
for oxygen are the level of the rocket traffic making resupply runs to
and from the Moonbase, as well as any major space exploration missions to
other planets and associated activity around the Earth space stations.
WATER
Water is also needed to support life, but unlike oxygen, that is not how
the bulk of the water will be used. Water can be broken down by
electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen which together make both components
of a very powerful rocket propellant. The hydrogen is the fuel and the
oxygen id the oxidizer. Since they are used for essentially the same
purpose, many of the same things that affect the oxygen market will
affect the water market.
HELIUM-3
Helium-3 is the fuel in many of the nuclear fusion reactions being
studied as potential power sources. Helium-3 is a light isotope of
helium (common helium has a mass of 4) and is very rare on Earth. On the
Moon, however, the solar winds deposit Helium-3 in the Regolith, but not
in high concentrations. Large amounts of Regolith must be processed in
order to extract significant quantities of Helium-3. There presently is
a small demand for Helium-3 for research purposes, but if fusion power
generation were to be perfected, the demand for Helium-3 would grow
rapidly.
MANUFACTURING
Established industry, centres for processing lunar materials or
manufacturing electronic components.
ELECTRONICS
Unique electronic components can be built on the Moon because of its low
gravity and relatively extreme conditions. The quality of these
components is very high but they could be improved upon by research and
development work aimed specifically at the lunar electronics
manufacturing process. Lunar electronic components are in very high
demand on Earth but other nations have their eye on these markets.
MATERIALS
Many uses can be made of the materials available on the lunar surface and
it is possible that some of these could be of sufficient quality to be
sold back on Earth. A more likely occurrence, however, is the
possibility that something could be made on the Moon that would be needed
at the Earth space stations. On exploration missions to other planets,
it would be cheaper to transport materials from the Moon than from Earth.
Since the Moon's gravity is only about one sixth of the Earth's it would
be much easier to transport goods from the Moon to Earth Orbit that it is
to transport goods from the Earth's surface to Earth Orbit. The Moonbase
Materials Processing Plant produces solar power cells which are in demand
at the Earth space station and on the ion rockets which transports cargo
from the Earth to the Moon.
HABITATION
Place living structures on the Moon's surface. Put down four Space
Station Command Modules (SSCM) that house 4 persons each or go for a
larger inflatable habitat that can accommodate 50 persons. If you really
need large housing facilities, select the advanced habitat which holds
living quarters for 150 residents. You can try to generate additional
income for the base by constructing a hotel to lure rich tourists from
Earth. Recreation Centres give the inhabitants of Moonbase a place to
relax and exercise. All in all, having adequate housing and recreation
increases morale and overall base productivity.
SCIENCE
Get on NASA's good side by emplacing science facilities on the Moon.
Increase nuclear power, electronics and solar cell research with a
laboratory module. Look for life on distant planets with an astronomy
facility. Search the lunar surface for high concentrations of oxygen and
other valuable mineral deposits. Reduce your resupply costs for food by
building greenhouses.
MINING
Collect lunar regolith and process it into Lunar-derived Liquid OXygen
(LLOX). Use information from exploration to place Helium-3 and water
processing plants at points of high concentrations.
UTILITIES
Emplace a communication facility to learn news of war, depression, or
future missions from Earth. Build a maintenance facility to cut down
your hardware resupply costs. Improve overall safety on your base by
building roads and landing pads. Or use the bulldozer to destroy
everything!
THERMAL CONTROL
You must build radiators and connect them to other structures to radiate
heat and make up for the lack of an atmosphere.
POWER
Whether solar, fission, or fusion, a central source is needed to supply
power to almost every structure on your base.
APPENDIX 1
The following section describes the major components that you can use to
build your base and provide some technical details.
HABITATION FACILITIES
HAB MODULE:
This is the primary habitation designed for use on SSF or lunar base.
The habitation module is a complex of four Space Station Common Modules
connected by a node. The quarters provided by the basic hab are
relatively cramped and uncomfortable.
Resupply Needs: 400 kg/month
Power Needed: 20 kWe
Man Power 1
Crew Capacity: 16 crew members
INFLATABLE HAB:
Inflatable medium-sized habitation module which provides more comfortable
crew accommodations than the basic hab.
Resupply needs: 1600 kg/month
Power needed: 80 kWe
Man Power: 1
Crew Capacity: 50 crew members
ADVANCED HABITAT:
Largest habitation module available, provides the most comfortable crew
quarters as well as extensive common areas which help crew morale.
Resupply Needs: 4800 kg/month
Power Needed: 400 kWe
Man Power: 7
Crew Capacity: 150 crew members
RECREATION HABITAT:
Habitation module designed for recreational facilities, these are needed
to help keep the crew's morale high.
Resupply Needs: 200 kg/month
Power Needed: 80 kWe
Man Power: 3
HOTEL:
Hotels for tourists visiting the Moon. Tourists from Earth are
interested in visiting interesting surface features on the Moon and
historic sites.
Resupply Needs: 300 kg/month
Power Needed: 200 kWe
Man Power: 10
Tourist Capacity: 20 tourists
SCIENCE FACILITIES
SCIENCE LAB:
Module dedicated to scientific research and experimentation. Research
carried out in the Moonbase Science Labs can lead to discoveries in
nuclear fusion as well as processes to produce improved electronics in
the Moonbase Electronics Plants and improved solar power cells in the
Moonbase Materials Plants.
Resupply Needs: 10 kg/month
Power Needed: 30 kWe
Man Power: 4
ASTRONOMY:
Module designed to house astronomy equipment and crew. The astronomy
facilities are self-contained and do not require power and thermal
control.
Resupply Needs: 10 kg/month
Power Needed: 0 kWe
Man Power: 3
GREENHOUSE:
Greenhouses are facilities for growing food which can help reduce the
annual resupply costs and help make the base self-sufficient.
Resupply Needs: 2500 kg/month
Power Needed: 200 kWe
Man Power: 8
Production Rate: 5000 kg of food/month
POWER GENERATION FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT:
Power plant that uses nuclear fission reactions to generate power.
Resupply Needs: 100 kg/month
Power Needed: 0 kWe
Man Power: 4
Output Power: 1500 kWe
SOLAR:
Power system that converts solar energy to electrical power.
Resupply Needs: 10 kg/month
Power Needed: 0 kWe
Man Power: 1
Output Power: 400 kWe
FUSION:
Nuclear power plant using fusion to generate power. This is a cleaner,
safer way to generate power than nuclear fission.
Resupply Needs: 100 kg/month
Power Needed: 0 kWe
Man Power: 25
Output Power: 10000 kWe
MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS FACILITIES
LANDING PAD:
Landing pad for lunar landers. Landing pads make it safer for lander
operations and reduce the odds of landers crashing. As your base grows
large the number of lander flights increases so the need for landing pads
grows.
Resupply Needs: 100 kg/month
Power Needed: 0 kWE
Man Power: 2
COMMUNICATION:
Communication equipment for contacting Earth.
Resupply Needs: 1 kg/month
Power Needed: 5 kWe
Man Power: 2
MAINTENANCE:
Maintenance/repair facilities for base hardware. Building maintenance
facilities helps to reduce the annual hardware resupply costs.
Resupply Needs: 500 kg/month
Power Needed: 100 kWe
Man Power: 4
MINING AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES
WATER PROCESSING PLANT:
Water mining/processing facility. Water Processing Plants must be placed
at a site that contains water. Water can be located by explorations.
Resupply Needs: 80 kg/month
Power Needed: 800 kWe
Man Power: 35
Production Rate: 50 MT/month
LLOX PROCESSING PLANT:
Lunar-derived Liquid OXygen production plant. LLOX plants extract oxygen
by a reduction process from lunar regolith. Each facility requires a
Mobile Oxygen Miner to supply it with raw material.
Resupply Needs: 70 kg/month
Power Needed: 300 kWe
Man Power: 16
Production Rate: 150 MT/month
MOBILE OXYGEN MINER:
The Mobile Oxygen Miner digs up Regolith and transports it to the Oxygen
Processing Plant. Three Miners are needed to supply each LLOX Processing
Plant.
Resupply Needs: 10 kg/month
Power Needed: 50 kWe
Man Power: 16
Mining Rate: 15000 MT of regolith/month
HELIUM-3 PROCESSING PLANT:
Helium-3 mining/processing facility. This is a mobile miner and
processor. Helium-3 is available in such small quantities that the
volume of Regolith that must be processed is extremely large.
Resupply Needs: 100 kg/month
Power Needed: 200 kWe
Man Power: 20
Production Rate: 3 kg/month
ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING PLANT:
Plant for producing electronic components from lunar materials.
Electronics produced on the Moon have to compete with those produced at
the space stations and at other lunar bases.
Resupply Needs: 5000 kg/month
Power Needed: 1000 kWe
Man Power: 80
Unit Production: 1000 units/month
MATERIALS PROCESSING PLANT:
Plant for producing solar cells from lunar materials.
Resupply Needs: 1000 kg/month
Power Needed: 200 kWe
Man Power: 40
Production Rate: 500 solar cells/month
THERMAL CONTROL FACILITIES
RADIATOR:
The radiators are the primary component of the base thermal control
system. A heat exchange fluid is circulated throughout the buildings on
the base and then piped to the radiators where the heat is exchanged and
radiated into space.
Resupply Needs: 10 kg/month
Power Needed: 0 kWe
Man Power: 1
Heat Rejected: 5000 kWe
APPENDIX 2
PLAYING HINTS
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
When you begin each new scenario, your base crew consists of YOU -
period. So once you've made your site selection, start simple. After
all, NASA has only given you a limited amount of cash to get started.
Place an SSCM, one RADIATOR and perhaps one PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY. This
will be more than adequate to get things moving. Next, check your
population needs and refer to the APPENDIX for SSCM capacity and crew
requirements for the power and thermal units (See Example below).
With a small base of operations in place, your next task is to start
producing something that can be sold - oxygen is the most abundant.
Oxygen will be found in concentrations up to 40 percent, so the higher
the concentration, the better your productivity. Once you have located a
suitable mining site, build a LLOX PLANT and give it at least one LLOX
MINER. Now, quickly check the crew requirement for the total facility -
Plant, Miner, Power and Radiator - and increase your crew and housing
accordingly. You do not need to place housing at the facility site, but
you can if you want to.
With these elements in place, check your PRODUCTIVITY box under
OPERATIONS. You should see the level of LLOX productivity rising from
zero, which means you have products to sell (check the MARKETS box).
Now, you need to keep your miners happy. If you don't have enough cash
to build the structures you need, sell some or all your Oxygen inventory.
And watch your RESUPPLY at the start of each new year. You MUST resupply
your base. If you fail to resupply, your mining and processing
facilities will breakdown and your productivity will drop - which leaves
you with no inventory to sell when you need it. You'll notice more often
than not that resupply will destroy your cash balance. This is when you
need to sell your inventory, and then add to your base. Check the DEMAND
chart under MARKETS to see what is needed, then select an appropriate
facility and place it in the the same manner as previous units.
The next facility that you should construct is COMMUNICATIONS. Up to
this point in the scenario, your yellow INFORMATION BAR has remained
inoperative. Placing a COMMUNICATIONS facility will get your market
information flowing so you can keep a constant eye on prices without
accessing the Sell or DEMAND boxes. The INFORMATION BAR also warns you
of some elements that will affect your productivity or market
productivity. Building LANDING PADS will make lander operations safer,
reducing the chances of a crash.
NEGOTIATING A STRIKE
If you don't keep your miners happy, they'll start complaining ... and a
miner strike can ruin everything. Placing a GREENHOUSE and a RECREATION
CENTRE at your base to provide the crew with fresh food and something to
do when they aren't working. Make sure you check the crew, housing,
power and thermal requirements for each module, and increase them when
needed. You MUST balance these factors each time you enlarge your base,
or productivity will start to slip.
TOURISTS - WHEN AND WHERE TO BUILD HOTELS
At some point, you may decide to start up a tourist trade. Placing a
HOTEL works the same way as any other structure, and requires attention
to crew, power and thermal control. You can place a HOTEL anywhere on
the playing grid, but it is best to select a site close to some
interesting selenographic feature - a cluster of craters, for instance.
This placement will not affect your tourist income, but this income WILL
rise if you locate one or more of the special 'features'.
HOTELS do not need to be placed close to your base. A single
PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY and RADIATOR are sufficient to run the facility, which
eliminates the need for proximity to the base. Nor is it necessary to
place a LANDING PAD in the vicinity of the HOTEL. It may, however, be
detrimental to your tourism operations if you place your HOTELS close to
mines, processing plants and power facilities, if only from an aesthetic
point of view.
GLOSSARY
AI - Artificial Intelligence - computer systems designed to imitate
intelligent behaviour such as understanding languages, solving problems,
and learning.
ALS - Advanced Launch System - launch vehicle being designed by the Air
Force to carry 50 metric ton payloads to LEO.
APOLLO - U.S. manned Lunar missions flown in the late 1960's and early
1970's; led to first Lunar landings.
BASE - a permanent occupied set of buildings or shelters that provide
life support and work facilities.
BIOSPHERE - a closed-ecology system in which biological systems provide
mutual support and recycling of water, air, and food.
CELSS - Closed-Ecology Life Support System - a mechanical or biological
system that recycles the water, air, and food needed to support a human
crew on a spacecraft, space station, or lunar base.
CRATER - deep depressions formed by meteor impacts.
ECLSS - Environment Control and Life Support Systems - mechanical systems
that maintains climate, oxygen levels, and usable water levels for life
support.
ELV - Expendable Launch Vehicle - non-reusable rocket.
ESA - European Space Agency
EVA - Extra-Vehicular Activity - a spacewalk
FAR SIDE - the side of the Moon which does not face the Earth.
GAMMA RAYS - electromagnetic radiation emitted by radioactive decay; more
deadly than X-rays.
GEO - Geostationary Earth Orbit - a circular orbit (altitude of about
22300 miles above the Earth's surface and inclination near 0 degrees) in
which an object moves around a planet at the same rate as the Earth
rotates, thus making it appear stationary with respect to points on the
planet's surface.
GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit - orbit designed to take a satellite
from LEO to GEO.
HEAT PIPES - sealed pipes filled with a fluid that can be vaporized and
later condensed to carry heat away from vital hardware.
HELIOSPHERE - region of space in which the effects of the Sun's solar
wind and interplanetary magnetic field can be felt.
HELIUM-3 - a helium compound used as a safer fuel for fusion reactors;
found in the Lunar regolith.
HLLV - Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle - launch vehicle designed to carry 100
metric tons to LEO.
IUS - Inertial Upper Stage - upper rocket stage designed to propel
payloads from LEO to higher orbits.
LEM - Lunar Excursion Module - name for the landing vehicles with ascent
stages used in the Apollo missions.
LEO - Low Earth Orbit - Earth orbit with a maximum altitude of about
1,000 kilometres.
LIBERATION POINTS - points in space at which the gravitational forces of
attracting bodies balance, allowing an object to remain at the point if
placed there with the correct velocity (also called Lagrange points).
LLOX - Lunar-derived Liquid OXygen.
LUNA PROBES - series of Moon reconnaissance probes launched by the
U.S.S.R. between 1959 and 1976.
LUNAR DAY - amount of time it takes for the Moon to rotate once with
respect to the Sun; 27.3 Earth days.
MASS-DRIVER - an electromagnetic accelerating device used to propel
material into orbit from a planet's (or moon) surface.
MICROGRAVITY - extremely low level of gravity (near zero-g)
MIR - third generation Soviet space station
MT - Metric ton (1000 kg)
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDA - Japanese space agency
OMV - Orbital Manoeuvring Vehicle - a spacecraft designed to move other
spacecraft in orbit and handle refuelling operations.
OUTPOST - an initial shelter erected on a planet's surface to provide
temporary shelter for crew.
PAM - Payload Assist Module - small upper stage rocket used to boost
satellites from LEO to higher orbits.
RANGER PROBES - series of U.S. photo-reconnaissence probes sent to the
Moon in the early 1960's.
REGOLITH - mixture of soil and rock fragments found on the surface of the
Moon.
SEI - Space Exploration Initiative - plan proposed by President Bush to
establish a manned space station, a manned lunar base, and a manned
mission to Mars.
SPACEPORT - orbiting transportation centre that provides facilities for
transferring crew between spacecraft and provides repair and refuelling
services for spacecraft.
SPECIFIC IMPULSE - a measure of engine performance calculated by dividing
the engine's thrust by the product of the fuel mass flow rate and the
gravitational acceleration constant.
SSCM - Space Station Communication Module - habitation module designed
for use on the Space Station Freedom; can be used as an habitation module
on the Moon.
SSF - Space Station Freedom - U.S. space station to be launched in the
mid-1990's.
SHUTTLE - reusable orbiting vehicle which is launched with the help of
two solid rocket boosters and a main fuel tank that feeds fuel to the
orbiter's engines; also known as the STS - Space Transportation System.
SURVEYOR PROBE - early U.S. lunar probes launched in the mid-1960's to
analyse possible landing sites for the Apollo missions; performed soil
analysis.
TELE-OPERATED - a system, such as a drill or spacecraft, that can be
remotely controlled.
End.
