The Housing Problem
Levittown, circa 1948
Making Room for the first City on the Moon
A famous comedian once had a skit about 'How to Become a Millionaire".
It started out like this:
"First, get a million dollars...."
Well, it got a laugh.
We can't do that on the Moon. We cannot send a thousand people all at once.
Why? Because there is no place for them to live.
So, if our goal is to house a thousand people, we must figure out how much space that will take and how to build the space.
Fine. But let's first establish some standards: what level of comfort are we aiming for?
Will we be satisfied with a crowded barracks, a little outpost with everyone stuffed together, cheek-by-jowl?
Certainly not!
We want a HOME, not an outpost or a barracks.
So, the level of comfort should be broadly similar to that which we experience on Earth.
In other words, somewhere near 30 square meters per person living space. Perhaps less for families with children (because a living room, say, will be used by all), perhaps a bit more for single people.
I will spare you all of the math and jump to a reasonable answer:
A concrete dome 100 meters across, with a shallow curve of about 1:4 ratio (thus about 25 meters high) will house a thousand people comfortably.
And please note, I am not proposing one such dome; I am proposing four. One for residences, one for working space, one for growing food, and one as a park. The park is essential as merely having it tells us several things: we are here to stay, we are bringing our natural world with us, and we intend to be magnificent.
So then, why a dome particularly? Because the technology and process for erecting domes is well-developed and they can be erected with positively startling speed. They are also extremely strong for their mass and use materials very efficiently.
The question then becomes: how many people does it take to build domes of this size?
Read on.
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