Author: Andre King Date: January 6, 2025

Abstract#

This project aims to develop a system-agnostic Emergency and Contingency Operations Handbook to support human survival, safety, and decision-making in a permanent or semi-permanent space settlement. Conducted over a one-year period with a maximum budget of $37,000, the project focuses on identifying credible high-risk emergency scenarios and defining clear, actionable response protocols that can be executed autonomously during periods of limited or no communication with Earth. The handbook will address critical hazards including life-support failures, structural breaches, power and thermal loss, radiation events, and medical and psychological emergencies. Emphasis is placed on human factors, ensuring procedures are usable under stress by non-expert residents through simplified checklists, decision trees, and visual aids. Validation will be performed through expert review and structured tabletop simulations to assess clarity, response time, and error rates. The resulting handbook will serve as a foundational safety artifact for early space settlements, improving survivability, regulatory readiness, and stakeholder confidence while remaining adaptable to future habitat designs and missions.

Problem#

MoonDAO's mission to build self-sustaining lunar settlements and thereby expanding human exploration beyond Earth's borders is the future of adventure. However, how can we ensure that people who desire to explore the vastness of space can do so safely? When they strap themselves into that vessel that launches them outside of Earth's atmosphere and settle into their new space homes, what measures are in place that will keep these adventurers (hereby known as "Space Settlers") as safe as possible during the transition? Do they have to become successfully trained NASA Astronauts to be trained in safety protocols for living in these self-sustaining space homes? According to the official NASA Astronaut Selection Program, 10 out of 8,000 applicants were selected to take part in NASA's two-year rigorous astronaut training program since 2024. That may very well indicate that the best of the best are given an opportunity to be the most highly-trained specialists in space exploration, but for MoonDAO's objective to increase human space exploration by building self-sustaining space settlements, that number might be far too low. What if the Space Settlers don't have to go through two years of the most intense training that only 0.13% of applicants get to experience? What if, even in self-driving space vessels and self-sustaining space homes, there are protocols in place to ensure their safety and well-being? And what these protocols aren't so rigorous that only 0.13% can qualify for it, but still challenging enough to be effective and rewarding for those who complete it?

Solution#

The solution is handbook that outlines the worst-case scenarios and the best solutions in responses to these situations occur. This would be called "MoonDAO Lunar Emergency & Contingency Operations Handbook." It outlines the worst circumstances that would happen in a self-sustaining settlement, and provides step-by-step instructions on how to respond to them. The instructions and details provided in this handbook would be thoroughly evaluated and analyzed by aerospace safety consultants, psychology experts, medical advisors, and other subject matter experts necessary to the development of this document, and the wording would be clear and concise for all Settlers who take part of the training. This emergency operations handbook would be mandatory to learn, so that everyone can respond appropriately and timely to these unfortunate circumstances. This handbook would also be updated regularly, ensuring that safety is the top priority of all the Settlers.

Benefits#

The benefit to the emergency operations handbook is that it makes the Settlers feel safer, more confident, and more comfortable about settling in to their new home. They can respond in a coordinated manner to any emergency situation without panic, reducing the risk of injury or death, reducing property damage, and protecting MoonDAO's reputation by showing commitment to safety and well-being. This would also show compliance and legal obligations, helping to avoid fines and lawsuits that would damage the company reputation.

Risks#

There are risks associated with this solution. They are outlined below:

Risk #1: Over-Reliance on Paper Procedures#

Problem

• Real emergencies evolve faster than static manuals, causing delayed or inappropriate responses.

Mitigation

• Craft decision trees instead of rigid steps
• Implement priority principles (tasks that take precedence over others)
• Develop protocol triggers rather than scripted actions

Risk #2: Unknowns#

Problem

• First-generation Settlers may encounter unknown failure modes in space settlements that aren't covered in the handbook.

Mitigation

• Add "Generic Failure Response" protocols
• Add guidelines for improvisation
• Add Post-Incident review procedures for future reference

Risk #3: Human Cognitive Decline Under Stress#

Problem

• Protocols may not be followed correctly due to Settlers experiencing high stress, anxiety, fear, etc.

Mitigation

• Provide simplified emergency checklists
• Add visual flowcharts 
• Color-coded severity levels

Risk #4: Human Psychological Collapse#

Problem

• Settlers may experience mental health failure, which can lead to individual and/or group operational failure.

Mitigation

• Provide a behavioral checklist
• Include leadership succession rules
• Develop Humane isolation and containment procedures

Risk #5: Ethics and Legal Uncertainty#

Problem

• There may be no established law for life-or-death decisions in space settlements.

Mitigation

• Pre-defined ethical decision models
• Mission-aligned values framework
• Documented consent from residents pre-mission

Objectives Breakdown#

1. Specific#

The handbook will:

• Cover all major emergency courses relevant to a human space settlement, including:
  • Life support failure
  • Structural damage and breaches 
  • Power and thermal loss
  • Radiation and environmental hazards
  • Medical and psychological emergencies
• Provide step-by-step response protocols for each emergency, including:
  • Detection cues
  • Immediate response (first 60 seconds)
  • Stabilization (first 24 hours)
  • Recovery or evacuation
• Be usable across different habitat designs.
• Be usable offline, under stress, and by all Settlers.

2. Measurable#

Success will be measured by:

• Number of emergency scenarios covered and validated
• Time required for users to identify correct response actions during simulations
• Error rates during tabletop and scenario-based drills
• Expert review acceptance and revision counts

3. Achievable#

Given the constraints of the project, the handbook will:

• Focus on procedural guidance instead of physical system design
• Leverage existing public NASA/ESA research, incident analyses, and habitat studies
• Require small expert consultations, not long-term staffing
• Use tabletop simulations instead of expensive live testing

The scope is intentionally limited to first-generation Settlers, making it achievable within the given budget and time.

4. Relevant#

The handbook directly supports:

• Human survivability in long-duration space habitats
• Readiness for regular commercial space operations
• Risk reduction for future lunar or orbital space settlements
• Investor and public trust in permanent human space presence

It targets human response under emergency conditions in space, which is likely the biggest concern for Settlers, investors, and the public.

5. Time-Bound#

The project will be completed within 12 months, with milestones such as:

• Months 1–2: Scope definition and hazard identification
• Months 3–6: Draft emergency protocols and decision frameworks
• Months 7–9: Tabletop simulations and expert validation
• Months 10–11: Revisions and usability optimization
• Month 12: Final handbook delivery and documentation

Explicit SMART Objectives (Concise Form)#

1. By Month 6, document and draft response protocols for at least 90% of identified high-severity emergency courses relevant to a human space settlement.
2. By Month 9, validate the handbook through a minimum of 10 structured tabletop emergency simulations, demonstrating that Settlers can identify correct first actions within 60 seconds in at least 80% of scenarios.
3. By Month 12, deliver a finalized, offline-capable handbook that receives formal review approval from at least three subject-matter experts (e.g., aerospace safety experts, medical advisors, psychologists).

Key Success Metrics#

1. Emergency Response Time Metric#

• Target: Median time to identify correct first action in no more than 60 seconds.
• Why it matters: Speed is critical in various types of scenarios.

2. Protocol Coverage Metric#

• Target: At least 90% coverage of known high-risk emergency categories.
• Why it matters: Ensures comprehensive survivability planning.

3. Simulation Accuracy#

• Target: Less than 20% critical procedural errors during tabletop drills.
• Why it matters: Measures clarity and usability under stress.

4. Expert Validation Score#

• Target: At least 3 independent expert endorsements with no unresolved critical findings.
• Why it matters: Establishes technical and operational credibility.

Final Note#

Under these constraints, success is not perfection, but measurable survivability improvement. A handbook meeting these SMART objectives would meaningfully reduce fatal risk in early space settlements and serve as a foundation for future expansion.

Member(s) responsible for OKR and their role:

• ALL

Team (Table A)#

Project Lead: The Project Lead and representative for the project within the MoonDAO Senate. The Project Lead is responsible for:

1. Attending weekly town hall meetings, reviewing incoming proposals and voting on them within the Senate. Missed attendance will result in a 5% penalty to the rocketeer’s retroactive rewards.
2. Creating weekly updates to the community on the progress of the project in the “progress” channel on DIscord.
3. Adding team members, removing team members, and making decisions about the use of the budget throughout the lifetime of the project.
4. Managing the multi-sig Treasury for the project as well as the payments for each of the members.
5. Creating the Final Report and returning unused funds to the MoonDAO Treasury.

Initial Team: Projects may not need an initial team. It can just be an individual submitting a proposal. You may also create generic roles and hire other teammates after the project is approved. As a general rule of thumb, try to keep teams small and focused in the beginning, with clear roles, deliverables, and OKRs for each member. Team members are responsible for:

1. Posting a weekly update in the “progress” channel on Discord with their contributions that week. Not posting a weekly update will result in a 5% penalty to their retroactive rewards.

Timeline (Table B)

Deadline for the project: End of Q3. Transactions (Table C) Please write out the specific transactions that need to be executed if this proposal passes. Please include the exact amount and token type and the receiving address (this is the multi-sig if there is more than one transaction that needs to be executed throughout the lifetime of this project.)

--- nance-actions
- type: Request Budget
  payload:
    budget:
      - token: ETH
        amount: "11.39"
        justification: Aerospace Safety Consulting
      - token: ETH
        amount: "1.85"
        justification: Psychology Expert Consulting
      - token: ETH
        amount: "1.54"
        justification: Medical Advisor Consulting
      - token: ETH
        amount: "1.85"
        justification: Systems Engineer Analyst Consulting
      - token: ETH
        amount: "1.23"
        justification: Tabletop Simulations Development
      - token: ETH
        amount: "1.23"
        justification: Writing, Editing, & Layout
  uuid: 433678c86cb84fcfadc0506e0678f1bb
  chainId: 1