Inflatable Concrete Shelters
- Thread starter phavoc
- Start date
That's pretty impressive - a section of men with one truck (for bringing the shelters to the site), a JCB (preparing the site, lifting the shelters off the truck, dragging out them out and then burying them later on with earth), a large fan unit (and generator to run it) and a hose pipe could set up a medical facility or a forward base in around 36 hours - and a lot of that time would probably be setting up their own tent for their overnight stay, the filling of sandbags for the entrance-ways and then burying the shelters the next day. The actual inflation would probably happen while one team was soaking the previous shelter and while the other team was dragging the next into position.
24 to 36 hours after they turn up at the site, there'd be a base ready for staff to move into and 48 hours later, it'd probably be fully operational.
24 to 36 hours after they turn up at the site, there'd be a base ready for staff to move into and 48 hours later, it'd probably be fully operational.
The specs say that the inside can be easily sterilized, so if you did want to create a semi-permanent field hospital or aid station you could have one up and running pretty quickly. I don't see any reason why that after it's cured you sprayed on some sort of plastic lining that easily disinfects.
I saw a retail price of about $27,000 per shelter. Cheap for the military to buy, bury, abandon.
I wonder if they've deployed any in Afghanistan as bunkers?
I saw a retail price of about $27,000 per shelter. Cheap for the military to buy, bury, abandon.
I wonder if they've deployed any in Afghanistan as bunkers?
Captain Jonah
Mongoose
I saw a US company a while ago that did this with domes for buildings as well. Cannot remember the name but they inflated a dome and pumped in concrete. left it to set then cut windows and doors.
Very handy for rust and his colony building. Also since we have samples of lunar and mars surface materials and since both places have ice you can put together a large base very quickly by just taking the inflatable shapes and the concrete. Though I seem to remember someone had developed a reagent that could make concrete on mars anyway so you just needed to ship over a small unit and some chemicals to mix up concrete from mars rock and dust and ice.
Dig a few holes or use some handy crater wall caves and away you go.
We have the ability to build and run a lunar or mars colony, we just don't have any way to get it there. Maybe Branson will start doing lunar tours :lol:
Very handy for rust and his colony building. Also since we have samples of lunar and mars surface materials and since both places have ice you can put together a large base very quickly by just taking the inflatable shapes and the concrete. Though I seem to remember someone had developed a reagent that could make concrete on mars anyway so you just needed to ship over a small unit and some chemicals to mix up concrete from mars rock and dust and ice.
Dig a few holes or use some handy crater wall caves and away you go.
We have the ability to build and run a lunar or mars colony, we just don't have any way to get it there. Maybe Branson will start doing lunar tours :lol:
far-trader
Mongoose
Captain Jonah said:
Or maybe you're thinking of lunar regolith concrete? Lunarcrete was the catchphrase iirc. Long ago proposed and all that was needed was a robotic harvester digging up the topsoil. I seem to recall it also generated oxygen by processing the bound ozone. The missing ingredient being water (maybe, might have been a pressure and heat process) which might be had from frosty crater shadows or just subsurface. You don't need a lot of water for concrete, and it is largely recoverable as the mix cures.
Even if concrete was a no go, simply inflating a plastic form and burying it in lunar regolith would provide a safe shelter.
Captain Jonah said:
We long have had the ability to build on the moon or mars. It's debatable if either is suited to long term habitation due to the low gravity. And we're unlikely to find out until we try. The big hurdle though is getting out of our deep heavy gravity well. A simple engineering problem that only lacks the vision and money to solve. Maybe a Branson will lead the way like the gentlemen explorers who have long used their wealth and influence in pursuit of being the first (and subsequent) to climb 'important' mountains.
For lunar shelters the best thing would be to have an inflatable dome, say of ballistic cloth, and once inflated you go inside and put up structural support on the roof and walls, then bury the whole thing in about 3 meters or so of regolith for radiation and meteor protection. There's no reason to ship the mass of concrete cloth to the moon when something much lighter with tubular aluminim support.
If you really wanted security and protection, you could always inflate a second one inside the first, add additional internal supports and you'd have a pretty secure and lightweight shelter. The only 'heavy' thing would be your airlock mechanism, which you'd probably want to ship as an entire piece.
Heck, you could use the same concept basically and build covered shelters for vehicles and equipment and such. Just leave both ends open and cover with regolith. I can see the most important piece of equipment a lunar base might have would be an earth mover!
If you really wanted security and protection, you could always inflate a second one inside the first, add additional internal supports and you'd have a pretty secure and lightweight shelter. The only 'heavy' thing would be your airlock mechanism, which you'd probably want to ship as an entire piece.
Heck, you could use the same concept basically and build covered shelters for vehicles and equipment and such. Just leave both ends open and cover with regolith. I can see the most important piece of equipment a lunar base might have would be an earth mover!
Captain Jonah
Mongoose
Far Trader. That could be the stuff, I do remember it was a process that produced air as well so that's most likely it. I'm getting old though as I thought it was about Mars. Oh well.
Virgin spaceways. Branson Spaceport etc :lol:
Though to be honest I think its going to be far better for actual business types and as you say gentleman explorers. If we wait for the government bureaucracies we will be dead of old age before we get to Travel for ourselves :shock:
Virgin spaceways. Branson Spaceport etc :lol:
Though to be honest I think its going to be far better for actual business types and as you say gentleman explorers. If we wait for the government bureaucracies we will be dead of old age before we get to Travel for ourselves :shock:
Yep - till the LRO/LCROSS mission, we really didn't have much idea that any amount of water was available on the moon, since the Apollo rocks showed little water...far-trader said:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/lro-lcross-impact.html
http://www.sciencenewsline.com/space/2010102112000042.html
P.S. - as of last month, my father (he assembled the primary instrument for surface water confirmation) said the PI said there are still no good theories on why so much mercury.
Tunneling might be the best method if the ground is good and solid... besides automatic structure with less transported material, the radiation protection and thermal protection (things our atmo does for us) would be superior.
Captain Jonah
Mongoose
As long as I'm not going mad (or senile) and can still remember things 
I thought it was Mars.
Anyway I have two things to say about stage 4 while raining. Plastic sheets :lol:
I thought it was Mars.
Anyway I have two things to say about stage 4 while raining. Plastic sheets :lol:
