Abstract#

MoonDAO is building a permanent lunar settlement—and it's time to start designing it. The Lunar Base Design Initiative brings together space architects, systems engineers, habitat designers, and MoonDAO citizens to produce the first community-driven concept design for a lunar base.

This is Phase 1: three months of focused work to define what MoonDAO's lunar base could actually look like: its architecture, life support approach, power systems, and construction strategy. We're planning to deliver in Q2 a solid conceptual foundation.

When Phase 1 is done, MoonDAO will have a shared design language, a set of concept documents every citizen helped shape, and a clear plan for the deeper engineering work ahead.

Problem#

MoonDAO has successfully positioned itself as a decentralized gateway to space within the space community. Initiatives like the successful launch of two of its citizens and a third campaign to send Frank White to space is the key to a successful PR campaign. However, as the DAO matures its network, it also must show a long term vision and start to build on top of clear steps towards its ultimate goal, a Lunar Settlement.

We are currently living a second space race, and the presence of the private sector in this new race helped accelerate technologies and reduce the cost of reaching orbit. The DAO must align its growth process with the long term trends both in the crypto ecosystem and space exploration field.

What in the past sounded like pure fantasy, today is possible to see on the horizon. A Lunar Settlement envisioned, designed and built by a decentralized network is no longer just a dream, it is achievable if based on clear and logical steps.

The Lunar Settlement:

As a decentralized network with fluctuating budget and number of citizens, it is hard to plan a completely autonomous and independent settlement, this would require from the DAO a complete space program or predictable annual budget for sending provisions and help from Earth when necessary. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that MoonDAO's settlement must be near an existing, or future international settlement.

In order to connect to an existing or future settlement infrastructure, MoonDAO must understand how to contribute to this emerging lunar economy and design a solution aligned with the standards used by big players in the field. Those are key questions to decide the location, purpose of this settlement, how to make it financially sustainable and what design solutions to adopt. However, independent from its purpose, one key element is mandatory, its capacity to sustain humans.

Solution#

The Lunar Base Design proposal aims to bridge MoonDAO's long term vision with big trends in the space industry, and also serve as a north star for the DAO's long term investments in projects and partnerships with startups.

From the diagram above, this proposal aims to focus on the step #1. The decision on where to locate MoonDAO's Lunar Settlement must be based on how to make it financially sustainable and possible. This will determine a cascade of design constraints and standards such as local resources, economical potential of the area and design based on international standards used by main space agencies and companies.

This proposal will focus on the First Module (LB - 1) of the Lunar Base, which is the habitat. However, the design takes into account future modules which can be designed based on community consensus on where the DAO must focus its future efforts. These modules must reflect the economical purpose of the settlement, whether it will be tourism, science lab for universities, product test base for companies, mining a station, 3D printing factory, etc.

More than just planning and rendering pictures of a habitat, this is the first step in giving a face to the long term goals of the community and sparking debates on what future paths the DAO must follow.

Deliverables#

All deliverables are sized to reflect part-time capacity over 85 days.

1. Habitat Concept Document (8-12 pages)#

• Overall settlement architecture: site selection criteria, layout, module configuration
• Habitat module concepts: pressurized volume, structural approach, radiation shielding strategy
• Scalability principles from minimal footprint to full settlement, including options for joining existing programs

Owner: Max Medina, Rina Faber, William Schineider Rabelo

2. Visual Concept Package#

• Site layout diagrams
• Habitat module renders and floor plan sketches
• Architectural trade-off visuals

Owner: Max Medina, Praneeth Basavaraju

3. Systems Overview Report (6–8 pages)#

• Life support: atmosphere, water recycling
• Power generation: solar, battery storage, contingency
• Preliminary mass/volume estimates for key consumables (water, atmosphere, lighting loads) based on NASA/ESA reference data
• ISRU approaches and non-3D-printing fabrication pathways
• Ventilation and indoor air quality requirements (with CFD summary)

Owner: William Schineider Rabelo, Aleksey Petrov, Stefan Aleksa Đurđević

4. Community Design Brief (1-3 pages)#

• Summary of citizen input through MoonDAO ideation discord chanel
• Open questions and trade-offs documented transparently

Owner: William Schineider Rabelo, Max Medina, Stefan Aleksa Đurđević

5. Phase 2 Roadmap (3–4 pages)#

• Scope for detailed engineering in Phase 2 (Q3 2026)
• Team and resource requirements
• Connection to analog prototyping (Prospera, Honduras)
• Simulation integration pathway (open-source lunar simulator)

Owner: Max Medina, Rina Faber, William Schineider Rabelo

Minimum Viable Deliverable#

If the team delivers only the Habitat Concept Document, Visual Concept Package, and Systems Overview Report, Phase 1 is considered successful. The Community Brief and Phase 2 Roadmap are high-value but non-blocking.

All outputs published on GitHub under:

• Documentation: CC BY 4.0 license
• Any code or calculation scripts: MIT license

High-Impact Output#

To ensure Phase 1 produces tangible value beyond documentation, the project delivers two high-impact outputs that directly bridge concept design with real-world application and validation.

Analog Prototype Foundation (Prospera, Honduras)

The habitat design could serve as the base architectural model for a future analog prototype on Earth, proposed to be developed in Prospera, Honduras.

This enables:

• Translation of lunar design principles into a physical prototype
• Testing of spatial, environmental, and human factors in real conditions
• A pathway toward validating construction logic and user experience before lunar deployment

Benefits

For MoonDAO:#

• First mover: MoonDAO becomes the first decentralized community to produce an open-source lunar base concept
• Citizen engagement: citizens' opinions will be taken into account
• Technical credibility: A concrete concept document signals to partners, sponsors, and the broader space community that MoonDAO is serious about building
• Platform for Phase 2: A solid conceptual foundation dramatically reduces the effort required for detailed engineering work in subsequent phases

For the Space Sector:#

• Open-source reference design: Any team—university, startup, or space agency—can build on MoonDAO's concept under a permissive license
• Human-centered lunar design: Integrating health, performance, and wellbeing factors from the start, rather than retrofitting them later
• Analog validation pathway: Concepts developed here can feed directly into terrestrial analog prototypes (e.g., Prospera, Honduras), creating real-world test cases before reaching the Moon

Risks

Objectives#

Goal: Produce a conceptual design package that any MoonDAO citizen, partner, or external engineer can pick up, understand, and build on — with all design choices, assumptions, and open questions documented transparently.

Key Results:

• Visual Concept Package published (site layout diagrams, habitat renders, floor plans)
• Habitat Concept Document covering architecture, module layout, shielding strategy, and scalability
• Systems Overview Report covering life support, power, ventilation, and preliminary sizing estimates
• Community Design Brief published summarizing citizen input
• All assumptions cited against NASA/ESA reference data
• Full package published openly on GitHub under CC BY 4.0 (documentation) and MIT (code/scripts)

Team#

Workstream A — Architectural Design#

Focus: What the base looks, feels, and functions like for humans

Workstream A produces: Site layout diagrams, habitat module concepts, floor plans, spatial renders, and human-centered design principles.

Workstream B — Systems Engineering#

Focus: What makes the base survivable, functional, and scalable

Workstream B produces: Life support overview, power systems concepts, HVAC preliminary sizing, ISRU approach summary.

Integration & Project Lead#

Integration point: Week 5 — Workstream A shares spatial layouts with Workstream B. Systems sizing is calibrated against architectural volumes. This is the single mandatory cross-workstream sync.

Multisig Address: To be created before first transaction Note: All team members are participating at approximately 30% time (~2 hrs/day over 85 days)

Bios and Social Links

Project Lead:

Rina Faber

Rina Faber is a PhD-level space researcher specializing in planetary science, space medicine, and lunar mission systems. With more than 12 years of experience, she combines expertise in hyperspectral remote sensing, crew health risk management, and mission simulation to support sustainable human presence on the Moon.

At the Federal Science and Clinical Center for Space Medicine and Biology (FMBA Russia), She serves as Acting Head of the Health Risk Management and Cosmonaut Performance Department. She currently leads development of an analog mission laboratory that simulates lunar surface conditions. Her work focuses on lunar dust toxicity, radiation risks, crew performance optimization, and the development of integrated countermeasures for long-duration missions.

Rina Faber is Co-founder and COO of LunCo, where she works on LunCoSim — an AI-enhanced open-source lunar mission design and simulation platform. She contributed to the scientific preparation of the Luna-26 mission and the ESA ExoMars program, with emphasis on data processing and calibration strategies for planetary instruments. Faber holds a Master's degree both in Astrophysics and Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. She is currently a PhD candidate, focusing on Martian mineralogy using hyperspectral data and deep learning.

Also Rina was a participant in the Voyager City lunar base project, developed in collaboration with Max Medina, which received an Honourable Mention at the Australian Space Architecture Challenge (ASAC 2025).

Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rina-faber/

Initial Team:

William Schineider Rabelo

Civil Engineer with specialization in Geoscience by the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), holds a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering (PUCPR) focused on Computational Fluid Dynamics applied to Transport Phenomena, with thesis on the Annex 68 of the International Energy Agency in Indoor Air Quality. Currently a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering (PUCPR) in the fields of Machine Learning and Computational Fluid Dynamics. Leads the ventilation design and indoor air quality, bridging the gap between Human Factors and Systems Sizing.

Social Links: https://www.instagram.com/schineiderrabelo

Max Medina

Max Medina is a space architect, director at LAVA Architects, and space architect, currently an astronaut candidate at Titans Space Industries. He has led international projects from urban developments to space architecture proposals, playing a key role in defining the overall vision and spatial design of future settlements beyond Earth. His work has earned recognition and awards for contributions to architecture and space, and he has delivered lectures and workshops in multiple countries, sharing a forward-looking vision where architecture becomes a tool to shape the future of humanity.

Social Links: www.linkedin.com/in/max-medina-2508b518b

Praneeth Aashwinay Space architect and product designer. Expertise in AI-assisted design tools. Leads spatial and architectural concepts for habitat modules.

Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/praneeth-aashwinay-88b5ba1a4

Stefan Aleksa

Product Manager at LunCo, alumnus of International Space University. Background in systems architecture for Moon, Mars, and Europa missions.

Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-a-dj

Aleksey Petrov Aleksey Petrov is a turbomachine technologist and Siemens Amesim specialist with a strong passion for human spaceflight. He volunteered in a dry immersion experiment studying the effects of microgravity on the human body.

He specializes in fluid systems, thermal management, and energy calculations, and leads preliminary sizing of HVAC fans, water reserves, and lighting energy consumption. His core expertise lies in the development and production of turbopumps for rocket engines.

He began his career as an Engineer at JSC Energomash V.P. Glushko for over two years, improving turbopump production technology, performing standardization calculations, redesigning documentation, and identifying manufacturing defects.

He then worked for five years as a Research Engineer at the JSC Institute of Transport Economics and Development, developing transport models, creating methodologies, conducting data analysis, and coordinating projects.

Social Links: https://linkedin.com/in/alexey-petrov-2021

Table A#

Deliverable: preliminary sizing estimates of engineering systems in Systems Overview. | | Multisig signers |

@rinafaber :eth:0x47CC4c7FEf42187F9f7901838F316B033e92bE05

@schineiderrabelo: eth:0xe6d26d4b4785679e029a406c1e85b2a72e2c603b

@.maxmedina: eth:0x64cCc6844Fc55f6Bf88B0dE14198482027e63900

@alexey_petrov.: eth:0xf8b8dbd8f51378d58554a1da8cd3d8241a8cb6d3

@Praneeth_Aashwinay

eth:0xf8694E13Fe7A53d93f272E91E1DA9FB5Ae1AC6fd @0410919: eth:0xf9b86a59375617e1e8a548e3ed82742e658fe7fc |

Timeline (Table B)#

Roadmap: Phase 2 Preview (Q3 2026)#

Phase 2 takes the concept into simulation and begins analog prototyping. Expected Q3 2026:

• Digital twin: Community-explorable replica of the MoonDAO base built within the simulator
• Systems validation in simulation: Life support, power, thermal, and HVAC validated before committing to physical materials
• Detailed structural and material specifications informed by simulation results
• Analog prototype at Prospera (Honduras) — physical construction plan for a prototype once simulation validation is complete

Budget (Table C)#

These are fixed costs to make this project happen.

| | Contributor's bonuses | 1000$ | Active contributors and helpers will be rewarded up to $200 per person. Participation is determined with Coordinape. Unused funds will be returned. | | Tools & Software | 300 $ | AI design tools, simulation software licenses, collaboration tools. Unused funds will be returned. | | Total | 4300$ | |

Transactions (Table D)#