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Dan Espen[_2_]

writes:

When Newt Gingrich becomes president, I plan to build a house on the
moon. I'm making plans now. How deep into the earth should I put the
foundation? Errrrr. wait a minute, that should read "How deep into the
*MOON* should I put the foundation"?

Good job, just caused me to read one of those scientific papers filled
with formulas and lunar landing measurements.

The good news is you can build a basement, there is no flooding so
you don't need to build on a slab.

The bad news is that building on or near the surface will kill you
there is way too much radiation.

First I tried to get an idea about whether the moon has a radioactive
core which would lead to rising temperatures as you dig down.

There's no evidence for a molten interior but some of the landing sites
showed surface variation in temperature based on the presence of
thorium. That's good because thorium will heat the rocks and the
effect increases with depth.

Making some really wild guesses the article estimates that at 60Km
the temperature would be 1200C (2000F). That's near the temperature
of a lit match. So don't dig that deep.

My guess is that around 3K you'd be getting close to temperatures
that humans could survive and farm. So bring a big shovel and plan
to dig at least a few kilometers down. You won't really need a
traditional foundation, just drive some rebar into the rocks and
cement in place.

Even at that depth, the moon won't hold an atmosphere so you're
going to need an airtight roof. I'd bring along some of those
light pipes where you collect sunlight on the roof and then direct
it down to the living area.

Or you could bring a few cases of those 100W incandescents.
Then you could maybe did a few inches less deep and forget about
seeing the sun.

Don't worry about building codes. It's the moon, anything goes.

--
Dan Espen