Newt Gingrich just got a boner.

Does it come with blackjack and hookers?

Whalers?  Check!

Martin Landeau?  Check!


I think we're done here, unless somebody wnats to add a pic of TMA-1

RedVentrue: RedVentrue: "I woner if we could aqctually do this?"

WTH?

It is a good question... I mean, seriously, Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even ... really decided as to even go that far in wanting to do to look more like some moon base?

Does anyone else other than me wish it was this design from Daniel Libeskind that won was actually used and not dumbed down in a such a way that it makes the new "freedom tower" seem boring and looks to me like "just another office building"?

No need to do any thing fancy to build a moon base. Tunnels will do the job well, especially for human, plant and animal shelters that need to be protected from radiation and meterite impacts. The only bits that need to be above the surface are communications, observation decks, and landing runways or bays. Sunlight can be piped and filtered below ground to grow crops, heat water, smelt metal, etc.

If you want domes, they could easly be created by spraying rock over a balloon or light scaffolding base. You could build them of concrete or use blocks shaped like the ice blocks used to build igloos. The Moon's low gravity would make all of these techniques easier than on Earth.

The 3-d printer would come in handy for detail work such as door and window frames, or for creating columns and other architectural detail, and it would be a good way to build sensors and other useful gadgets right into walls (they could warn of collapse and stress, as well as leaks and other threats).

Space stations could be built using the same techniques. In fact, I've read some science fiction stories where space stations were built using moon rock slung from the moon by a gravity gun or from asteroids and other debris. With almost zero gravity, the molds and scaffolding don't have to be very strong. You could build a giant cylindrical base by moving a ring of light panels along, or make the classical ring-shaped station by moving the same sort of mold in a circle. You could even make the panels that serve to build the mold out of space dust and crushed rock.

The less payload you need to build a space station, the cheaper it would be to build large. Cheap transportation and communications could be provided by a station orbiting the Moon or possibly a station in the sweet spots between Earth and Moon where their gravity balance out ( Lagrange points, as they say in the space travel business).

The Moon is nothing but a gigantic pile of construction material. Once you have enough machine tools, you can start using local resources to make metal and synthetic stone articles cheaply on-site, including more machine tools.

MrSplifferton: I wonder what they would do for energy, drill for oil, or just build wind turbines?

Tidal power.  Tides are driven by the moon, so just imagine how strong they'd be on the moon.