Plan beyond a single outpost. Explore how location, sunlight and the rhythm of the Moon shape a surface network.
Mission control / Choose an architecture
LUNAR OPERATIONS / BASE ARCHITECTURESGLOBAL VIEW · SELECT AN ARCHITECTURE
EXCURSION / TERRAIN PROFILE
Connecting RidgePolar hub
Field site
LOLA terrain · relief enlarged 4×
Enlarged view
A world of possibilities
Where does the network begin?
A base's location sets the conditions for everything that follows: power generation, heat rejection, night survival and movement across the surface.
Choose an architecture above to explore its role in a lunar network. Choose an architecture to compare candidate regions, paired bases and their crew flights.
From globe to ground
The globe locates candidate regions. Moon Base One demonstrates the surface systems and robots of the base concept; it is not a surveyed landing-site selection.
01 / Equatorial environment
Build around a regular rhythm.
Near the equator, a solar day lasts roughly 29.5 Earth days: about 14¾ days of daylight followed by 14¾ days of darkness. This gives operations a predictable cadence for producing, storing and using energy.
Thermal flux changes sharply through that cycle. Sunlit surfaces absorb solar energy; after sunset, they lose heat by radiation. With almost no atmosphere, there is little atmospheric moderation. Exposed surface temperatures can reach about 127°C in full sunlight and fall to about −173°C in darkness.
The base must reject heat during the day and protect equipment through the long night. Insulation, thermal shelters, stored energy and planned shutdowns become part of the operating schedule. Local slopes and shadows still affect sunrise, sunset and solar access.
Candidate study regions
Five illustrative anchors within 10° of the equator. These are regions to investigate, not approved base sites. Select a name to centre it on the globe.
An eastern mare study region, anchored to the published Apollo 11 coordinates. A future base would require a separate site survey away from historic hardware.
A western mare study region, anchored to the published Apollo 12 coordinates. The marker locates the region; it does not propose building on the historic landing site.
A low-latitude lunar swirl and a candidate for magnetic-environment science. Its distinctive surface pattern makes it a useful region to compare with other equatorial sites.
A broad far-side crater region for comparing terrain and logistics. Direct Earth visibility is unavailable, so relay communications would be part of the base architecture.
Environment & location sources
Surface temperatures and atmosphere: NASA Moon Facts. Day/night timing and thermal design: NASA lunar infrastructure study. Each region's coordinates are linked in its description. Temperature figures describe exposed lunar surfaces, not the temperature inside a designed habitat.
02 / Polar environment
Settle near the sunlight.
Highly illuminated crater rims and ridges offer long stretches of solar access. Shackleton’s rim and the nearby Connecting Ridge are natural places to begin a south-polar study.
The Sun stays low on the horizon. These crests still experience shadow periods; stored energy and a terrain survey remain essential. Shackleton’s crater interior is permanently shadowed.
Life at the outpost sets a quieter rhythm: an occasional supply delivery, surface operations, then a crew return. Select a region to see its dotted transport paths; click a flying dot to follow the mission.
Candidate study regions
Five high-illumination study anchors at the south and north poles. Their positions come from a lunar laser-altimetry study; they are not approved landing sites. Nearby anchors share a small area at this globe scale.
An Abdulezer Pair links two bases at nearly opposite longitudes and high latitude in the same hemisphere. Opposite longitude places their days roughly half a lunar cycle apart. High latitude brings the twins closer together across the pole.
A crew visit arrives from Earth at dawn. Before dusk reaches the occupied base, the crew takes a quick flight to its twin, landing early in daylight. After two or three transfers, the crew returns home before the final base’s dusk. The bases support focused fieldwork at two interesting regions through one shared visit.
The paired mission concept is exploratory. Actual landing areas, local illumination, communications and flight energy require further study.
Candidate study pairs
Select a complete pair to reveal both bases and their flight arc. Every base belongs to one pair only. Selecting either globe label selects its whole pair.
The reference pair links western-limb crater terrain with the Belkovich region near Mare Humboldtianum. A wider Belkovich study could investigate the nearby Compton–Belkovich volcanic complex; that complex is a separate feature, not the base marker.
A proposed comparison of Poncelet’s lava-flooded crater floor and worn rim with northern far-side impact terrain around Schwarzschild. Two local field programmes share one alternating crew visit.
A proposed crater-evolution study linking Goldschmidt with Plaskett’s terraced walls and central peak. Plaskett’s uplifted peak offers a window into material from beneath the crater floor.
A southern comparison of high-latitude crater terrain around Boguslawsky and Zeeman’s unusual mountain massif. Zeeman’s massif is a specific geological puzzle for focused fieldwork.
Locations & exploration sources
Feature positions: USGS lunar nomenclature, with individual links beside each base. Each pair links its science background. These pairings are proposed study concepts; no agency has selected these paired base sites. Crater centres are regional anchors, not landing pads.
04 / Polar excursions
One home base. Many field trips.
A central base on Connecting Ridge supports trips to nearby south-polar regions, with every excursion returning home.
Rovers travel up to 150 km. They set out at the destination’s dawn, arrive later, and drive back to the hub before night reaches the field site. More distant destinations use crew flights: land at dawn, launch home before dusk, and continue through local night if needed.
This view shows an illustrative southern-summer daylight cycle. The polar hub stays sunlit in this example. Other seasons and local terrain change illumination and access.
Connecting Ridge · Polar hub
89.44° S · 137.17° W
Home base, crew support and the starting point for every spoke.
Drag to orbit the Moon · scroll or pinch to zoom · select a named region to bring it into view. The globe also responds to arrow keys. Click a moving dot to follow its vehicle; press Escape or Stop tracking to release.
One cycler arrives from Earth, enters lunar orbit, receives two or three landers, then departs for Earth orbit. Landers launch west to east; a retrograde burn starts an elliptical return coast, followed by powered landing. This follows the Cislunar Economy service sequence. Reference orbit: 100 km. Local paths, altitude and time are illustrative and enlarged. Lunar descent background ↗
Occasional resupply and crew-return missions serve the selected region. Dotted arcs show approach, powered landing, ascent, a brief lunar-orbit crew transfer and departure toward Earth. One dot represents each mission journey. Paths and time are enlarged and compressed; Earth is outside this local view. The south-polar sequence is Artemis-inspired ↗; north-polar routes extend the same concept.
The gold dot follows one crew visit: arrival from Earth at dawn, two or three quick flights between the twins, then a return toward Earth before dusk. Crews lift off as dusk approaches and reach their twin early in its lunar day. The mint dotted arc crosses above the Moon between paired bases. Launch and landing are powered; the middle section follows a two-body ballistic coast. The moving shadow and day/night labels explain each transfer. Sunlight assumes a level horizon and zero solar declination; local terrain, route heights and timing are illustrative.
The Moon shows the global context and daylight cycle; the neighboring framed hologram shows the excursion in side profile over measured LOLA terrain, with relief enlarged four times. Use the Moon zoom buttons for a closer look, or the hologram controls to inspect its route. Mint dotted lines follow rover excursions on the surface; gold dotted arcs show crew flights beyond 150 km. Click a moving dot to follow its whole excursion. Flights arrive at dawn; rovers start driving at dawn and arrive later. Rovers are home before local night; flights launch before dusk and may cross darkness on the return. Paths, speeds and the southern-summer sunlight model are illustrative.
