- Winner of the international architecture competition "Moontopia" by eleven magazine
TEAM: Monika Lipińska, Laura Olivier, Lize Inci Ogun
The Lunar Light House project was developed to provide a novel system of protection against cosmic radiation specifically for a surface Lunar base. It’s main target was to find a technical solution which would allow for more freedom in shaping the base structure and also potentially for introducing natural sun light.
At the time of developing this project, there seldom were any ideas as to how to protect ourselves from radiation on Lunar bases. The shielding could not be brought from Earth because it would mean a lot of additional weight. That is why a reliable In-Situ Resource Utilisation method seemed to be the only option. When it comes to Lunar bases regolith – a loose layer of soil – could be used as a protective shield.
Lunar regolith had very good properties for this purpose, but on the other hand, covering the structures with it would diminish the flexibility of shaping the building. The other idea was to dig in the ground or to look for already existing caves. For example, recently big lava tubes were discovered on the Moon. From the radiation protection perspective this solution presented itself as very efficient, however it did not make introducing natural sun light possible.