Conceptual Design for a Self-Sufficient, Permanently-Crewed Lunar Base

With the Artemis program and a wave of other lunar exploration missions planned for the 2030s, humanity has strong potential to establish a sustained lunar surface presence by the end of the century. The emergence of this new cislunar economy warrants envisioning what form this permanent foothold might take to guide technological development. A conceptual design for an early participant in this paradigm was developed at the 2024 Space Station Design Workshop, resulting in the Space Habitat for Advanced Resource Collection (SHARC) mission. SHARC envisions a commercial venture for a lunar settlement, utilizing In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and In-Space Manufacturing and Assembly (ISMA) to achieve self-sufficiency and export adequate surplus propellant to profit from the predicted growth of the lunar economy. It outlines a path to a permanent foothold in the cislunar region, enabling further sustainable exploration. The main base, situated at the lunar south pole, consists of an inhabited surface settlement, a primarily automated ISRU/ISAM cluster, and launch, communication, and habitation infrastructure. In lunar orbit, the surplus propellant is transferred to customers at the Orbital Refueling Centralized Architecture (ORCA) station, supporting additional missions to or beyond cislunar space. This mission design encompasses trade studies and baseline designs for subsystems critical to this lunar infrastructure network. The concept employs mission analysis to identify lunar sites with favorable power and thermal environments, combining structural design with life support, human factors, and radiation protection to ensure crew health, safety, and the smooth operation of SHARC through transportation, robotics, and communications. The concept utilizes high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) technologies where feasible and highlights key lower-TRL technologies necessary for sustained long-term operations. Profitability, potential risks, and commercial utility are examined to evaluate the mission's feasibility.