Lunar Base and Settlement Library

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Lunar Bases & Settlement Library

Space Settlement Library NSS Main Library

LUNA GAIA: A Closed-Loop Habitat for the Moon. Design for a >90% self-sufficient 11-person base by a team of 30 space scientists. International Space University, 2007, 168 pages. [PDF 7.0 MB off site]

Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century. Edited by W. W. Mendell. Lunar and Planetary Institute, 1985, 866 pages.

The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century. Edited by W. W. Mendell. NASA Conferences Publication 3166, Volume 1 (Parts 1-4) & Volume 2 (Parts 5-8), 1992, 706 pages. [Complete online copy]

Resources of Near-Earth Space, Part II: The Moon, edited by John S. Lewis, Mildred S. Matthews, and Mary L. Guerrieri, University of Arizona Press. 1993. Complete online book.

Lunar Resources Utilization for Space Construction. Study conducted for NASA by General Dynamics Convair Division in 1979 concluded that lunar resources could supply 90% of the material for power satellite production and become cost effective if more than 30 satellites are produced. A nice summary of this study appears in Toward Distant Suns, Chapter 8.

Replicating Systems Concepts: Self-Replicating Lunar Factory and Demonstration. Chapter 5 from Advanced Automation for Space Missions, NASA Conference Publication 2255, 1982. 150 pages. [HTML] [PDF 11 MB]

Geologic History of the Moon, by Don Wilhelms. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1348, 1987. The cornerstone technical reference for lunar geology. 302 pages. [Complete online copy with PDF available]. Hosted by Arizona State University.

Additional papers

2010: Mission and Implementation of an Affordable Lunar Return. Paul D. Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute, and Tony Lavoie, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Submitted to Space Manufacturing 14 Conference, Space Studies Institute. December 2010. 30 pages [PDF 1.4 MB]. Also available from Spudis Lunar Resources.
2008: Space Settlements, Property Rights, and International Law: Could a Lunar Settlement Claim the Lunar Real Estate it Needs to Survive? Alan Wasser and Douglas Jobes. Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Vol. 73, No. 1. 42 pages. [PDF 0.1 MB]
2006: Structural Design of a Lunar Habitat. F. Ruess, J. Schänzlin, and H. Benaroya. J Aerospace Engineering, Vol.19, No.3. 25 pages. [PDF 2.9 MB]
2005: Public-Private Models for Lunar Development and Commerce. E. Sadeh, D. Livingston, T. Matula, H. Benaroya. Space Policy 21. 9 pages. [PDF 220K]
2005: Materials Refining for Solar Array Production on the Moon. Geoffrey A. Landis. NASA/TM-2005-214014. 25 pages. [PDF 700K]
2004: Development of the Moon. Michael B. Duke, Lisa R. Gaddis, G. Jeffrey Taylor, Harrison H. Schmitt. 77 pages. [PDF 1.1 MB]
2003: Lunar Surface Reference Missions: A Description of Human and Robotic Surface Activities. NASA/TP-2003-210793. 132 pages. [PDF 11 MB]
2002: The Case for Commercial Lunar Ice Mining: Final Report of the NASA Exploration Team. 78 pages. [PDF 2.3 MB]
2000: System Architecture Development for a Self-Sustaining Lunar Colony. Douglas O'Handley. 69 pages. [PDF 1.4 MB]
1993: Early Lunar Resource Utilization: A Key to Human Exploration. AIAA 93-4784 [HTML]
1990: Geoscience and a Lunar Base: A Comprehensive Plan for Lunar Exploration. NASA Conference Publication 3070. 79 pages. [PDF 6.5 MB]
1981: Report of Workshop on Methodology for Evaluating Potential Lunar Resource Sites. NASA Technical Memorandum 58235. 58 pages. [PDF 3.5 MB]
1980: Handbook of Lunar Materials. NASA Reference Publication 1057. Technical report: the physical, chemical, thermodynamic, and geologic data on lunar rocks, minerals, and processes are summarized, and a set of data on metals that might be extracted from lunar materials is presented. 183 pages. [PDF 3.4 MB]