Rutgers Symposium on Lunar Settlements

Rutgers University will be holding a conference on lunar settlements June 3-7, 2007. The conference will cover all aspects of developing a lunar program and how best to build and establish a manned presence on the moon. This is one of the ultimate applications of the space elevator and because of this Dr. Edwards will be presenting a scenario for development of a lunar outpost that utilizes a space elevator. This presentation is based on a proposal that was submitted by a diverse team in response to NASA’s early call for concepts.
The proposing team included:

Dr. Hyam Benaroya, Rutgers University
Dr. Michael Duke, Colorado School of Mines
Mr. Ben Shelef, Spaceward Foundation
Dr. Paul Spudis, JHU – APL
Dr. Hermann Koelle, Berlin Technical University
Ms. Patricia Russell, NIAC
Dr. Bryan Laubscher, LANL
Ms. Pamela Luskin, Futron Corporation
Dr. David Raitt, ESA – ESTEC

The proposal was a detailed assessment of how a large lunar settlement (ave. 69 people) could be built in the coming years for approximately $68B. The unique features were the use of two Earth-based space elevators, mature lander and manned modules similar to those of the Apollo program and because of the large large capacity a large amount of redundant modules and supply depots. The risk associated with this proposal is all up front in the final development of the space elevator. At a final cost of half that estimated for the NASA program and a much larger capacity along with a strong self-sustaining business aspect the program should be considered (personal bias of course).