Concept of a 3D-Printed Voronoi Egg-Shaped Habitat for Permanent Lunar Outpost
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This article presents a natural egg-shaped construction of lunar base and presented different scenarios, along with possibilities for habitats. A 3D printed Voronoi based structure will be utilized for the purpose. The paper is written well, however, few important points needs to be addressed to improve the work. The paper should be published once the following points are addressed.
The abstract is well written, however, sentence connectivity lacks cohesiveness which needs to be improved.
The first paragraph of introduction explains in detail about the revolution of mankind exploration of space, which is a little irrelevant to technical knowledge and rather should be explaining the lunar surfaces and Voronoi structure details. Author needs to address the outcomings of references 26-30 instead of writing it could be found in papers. Author did not address the importance of egg-shaped habitat, why its needed and better for the current scenario. Also, why greenhouse effects are detailed in the introduction. What 3D printing technology is suitable for Moon environment and what changes are required compared to Earth.
In section 3.2, why n = 1.5 is selected along with L and B. If multiple solutions have been done and the optimized parameters are set as above, what conditions are checked and why these parameters are termed optimized here?
The authors need to address the availability and suitability of 3D printing techniques which will be suitable for the printing purposes along with the material properties to highlighting the mechanical properties. This will give a good insight to future studies. Also, explain, what concentration factors of Regolith will have an impact on these structures.
Author Response
Reviewer #1
The abstract is well written, however, sentence connectivity lacks cohesiveness which needs to be improved.
The abstract was amended.
The first paragraph of introduction explains in detail about the revolution of mankind exploration of space, which is a little irrelevant to technical knowledge and rather should be explaining the lunar surfaces and Voronoi structure details. Author needs to address the outcomings of references 26-30 instead of writing it could be found in papers.
The paragraph in question was removed from the manuscript. Some comments about lunar surface and Voronoi diagram were added to the Introduction. The text related to the pointed literature references has been corrected.
Author did not address the importance of egg-shaped habitat, why its needed and better for the current scenario.
Some comments were added to the Introduction reasoning the choice and advantages of the egg-shaped lunar habitat.
Also, why greenhouse effects are detailed in the introduction.
In the Introduction authors discuss the need of creating a greenhouse (a structure or a place) for cultivating crops. Authors do not discus the so-called “greenhouse effect”.
What 3D printing technology is suitable for Moon environment and what changes are required compared to Earth.
In the literature there are multiple 3D printing technologies which are planned to be used on the Moon (printing geopolymer or sulphur concrete seems the most promising). Authors do not point out any specific technology. The aim of the paper was to propose a lunar habitat which would be practical for astronauts (providing “vertical space”) and reasonably easy to be 3D printed using minimal volume of material. Therefore, in authors’ opinion location of the future habitat and covering it structure by regolith is of key importance.
In section 3.2, why n = 1.5 is selected along with L and B. If multiple solutions have been done and the optimized parameters are set as above, what conditions are checked and why these parameters are termed optimized here?
An egg shape is the example of a structure created by nature itself, which is resistant to a number of mechanical factors that might cause its destruction. In addition, the walls of the egg are closer to the vertical in its cross section than the walls of the sphere. For this reason, the structure can be more effectively divided into functional spaces for people living there. In section 3.2, n = 1.5 was selected along with L and B to model the ordinary chicken egg.
The authors need to address the availability and suitability of 3D printing techniques which will be suitable for the printing purposes along with the material properties to highlighting the mechanical properties. This will give a good insight to future studies. Also, explain, what concentration factors of Regolith will have an impact on these structures.
These topics are covered by an on-going research programme. The results of the research programme will be published in the future as a separate (and very complex) paper.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Reviewer #2
- When we talk about lattice cell structure, we must have the principle of finite element analysis FEA to read the properties of that design. So, the authors are supposed to show us FEA for a single-layer Voronoi structure on an egg-shaped surface, and a cut-out of the 3D Voronoi structure can be used for the entire outer wall thickness envelope.
Some comments were added to the manuscript regarding this issue.
- The authors are supposed to compare this 3D Voronoi on an egg-shaped with others and can they say it is the perfect design.
The paper has a conceptual character thus no thorough analysis comparing with other egg-shaped models were conducted.
- What is the type of materials’ properties, show us the properties of 3D printable geopolymer concrete.
This issue is under investigation at the moment. The on-going research programme is focused on printable lunar materials. The results of the programme will be published in a separate paper.
- How can the authors be able to print the samples with 3D technology, show us.
This issue is under investigation at the moment. The on-going research programme is focused on printable lunar materials. The results of the programme will be published in a separate paper.
- The goal was to check this variant of the solution: how printable lunar geopolymer should be conducted.
This issue is under investigation at the moment. The on-going research programme is focused on printable lunar materials. The results of the programme will be published in a separate paper.
- Check all the results and plots with the below references and add them to your references to show the principle of equivalent lattice cell structure idea to solve FEM:
- a) https://www.mdpi.com/2504-477X/3/2/33/htm
- b) https://www.mdpi.com/2504-477X/4/2/74
Thank you very much for the valuable links. Both publications were added to the references.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
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