NOTE: Niven has been updated to version 3.1, and can be found here:http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=5594
Update Notes: Fixed missing texture names missing from the base.cfg file; fixed a landing pad issue; fixed problems with the scenarios.
The base is located in the crater Jules Verne on lunar farside. It is home to the Schmitt Selenology Research Institute and the Jansky-Reber Radio Astronomy Observatory operating the Ryle-Pawsey VLA radio telescope.
With the base located on lunar farside, and hence shielded from most of the radio ânoiseâ Earth makes gives it an almost idea location for a radio telescope research facility.
The base is also a spaceport and repair facility â with nine landing pads each with a subsurface pressurized hangar capable of holding 2 Shuttle-Aâs or 3 Delta Glider sized vessels at a time.
Most of the structures are like icebergs with most of the volume below the surface in order to provide shielding against the occasional solar flare and coronal mass ejection. Each dome is actually a sphere with a diameter of 110 meters. Volume of each is 641,431 m3, which gives the entire habitat complex a total volume of 5.8 million m3. This is about 5 times the size of the Pentagon, or, about 2 times the size of the World Trade Center.
The baseâs power needs are supplied from 2 sources:Â the Sun itself via the 800 photoelectric panels, and a nuclear power plant for the long 2 week lunar night.
A tribute to Dennis Hare (Lazy D) is located near landing pad #1.
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