On the moon, build a colony

ESA presented at the European planetary science Congress a new project Moon Village — “lunar village”.

The project is aimed at organizing a full-fledged colony on the moon, we are talking not about building a small laboratory, and a full village, where researchers will live a long time together with their families.

According to Bernard foing, who oversees the project Moon Village, humanity can create a colony of several dozen on the surface the largest natural satellite of the planet already by 2040 years.

To maintain a thriving community for a long time the Moon Village project would require the use of local materials to sustain life and the construction of the structures. This requires finding ways of growing plants and the development of large-scale 3D printing technologies on the basis of the moon’s regolith and local ore, and also search of water extraction. Due to the fact that the ISS will be decommissioned by 2024, space agencies around the world will need to look for a place to conduct research in another place, and the surface of the moon well suited for this.

The Director General of ESA, Johann-Dietrich wörner described the scheme of the Moon Village as a key part of the development of Astronautics for the near future. He also noted that following the tradition of international cooperation on the ISS, Moon Village is a joint project of different countries.

“Our project is open to all interested parties and peoples,” explained Werner.

It is worth noting that people were not on the moon December 13, 1972, when it was visited by an American astronaut gene Kärnan. Forty years is a long time, and we must realize that the European space Agency while there is no basis for such an ambitious project, in addition to strong statements and several drawings.

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