Building the Lunar Future: Roads, Pads, and Infrastructure for the Artemis Base Camp

While building roads may not be the most exciting task to perform on the Moon, it’s a vital one.

In this video we explain why lunar infrastructure, including roads, lunar landing pads and unpressurised shelters are needed to support the Artemis base camp and exploration, scientific and commercial activities on the Moon.

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00:00 Intro
01:41 The Traction Problem
05:21 Major Infrastructure Elements Needed for a Manned Lunar Base
05:45 Launch and Landing Pads (LLPs)
06:12 Roads
06:47 Unpressurised Shelters
07:16 Equipment Needed for Lunar Infrastructure Construction
07:34 Mobile Boom Crane
07:59 Soil Excavator and Surface Grader/Leveller
08:24 Haulers
08:44 Auxiliary Equipment
09:16 Preparing Roads: Grading, Levelling and Paving
11:58 Startups Working on Lunar Infrastructure Construction
12:11 Redwire: Mason Project
12:43 ICON Technologies: Project Olympus
13:24 Astroport and XArc: Lunatron System
13:52 Ethos Space Resources: Regolith Melting
14:41 Final Thoughts
15:21 Outro

Sources:

The Cost of Lunar Landing Pads with a Trade Study of Construction Methods: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/space.2022.0015

NASA Johnson Space Center: Lunar Surface Construction and Assembly Equipment Study, 1988 [PDF]: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19890005916/downloads/19890005916.pdf

Redwire Mason System: https://redwirespace.com/newsroom/redwires-innovative-construction-technology-could-pave-the-way-for-nasas-moon-missions/

Astroport: https://explorationarchitecture.com/astroport/

Icon Technologies - Project Olympus: https://www.iconbuild.com/projects/project-olympus