Field Trip 1: The Moon Base Project

The Moon Base Project: Learning More with Version 4
by Phil Youngblood, William Wall.

Come explore what living and working on a permanent base on the Moon might feel like. Join us on this unusual and imaginative field trip to learn about the challenges of living and working on the Moon and perhaps to better appreciate our home on Earth.

Naming Contest – Best entry receives L$5000!
We need a name! What would you name a futuristic virtual Moon Base imagined to be a place where residents would live and work sustainably on the Moon while upholding what The Science Circle stands for ( https://www.sciencecircle.org/mission-statement/ )?

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The Science Circle Moon Base Project was envisioned in the fall of 2022 as an exciting way to think about and visualize the physical and social sciences by learning about how to live and work on the Moon. After recruiting a team representing a diversity of expertise and perspectives, we met every Monday to share and discuss what we had learned that week. Over the course of the next year, we applied what we had learned to building three virtual versions of the base.

By 2024, we realized that what we had been learning may be of real interest to scientists, educators, and science enthusiasts in Second Life and beyond. We participated in two conferences (VWMOOC24 in August 2024 and the 18th VWBPE in May 2025), where we were well received and attracted the interest of a number of others. Now we are ready to apply what we learned from those conferences to a fourth version of the base and reach out to entities such as NASA, the ESA, educational institutions and museums.

In 2025, Robert Hendrix, MD (SL: Tagline) designed a Medical Bay for the SC Moon Base, which would be prepared to handle both regular medical care as well as the unique issues associated with living in low gravity and a pressurized environment on a hostile world. A draft build of the Medical Bay has been completed and the rest of the base envisioned and construction begun. Let’s explore these areas together and learn what decisions we have made about health and wellness here. Feedback and suggestions welcomed!