We Should Build a Village on the Moon

[Waspie_Dwarf]

The new director of the ESA wants to build a village on the Moon

Professor Johann-Dietrich Woerner has only been Director General of the European Space Agency for a week, but he already has some pretty bold plans.

Asked by the BBC what his vision was for the future of space exploration is, he avoided hackneyed responses about the economic and social benefits of it and answered the question directly.

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[Doc Socks Junior]

Yes. Yes. Oh...yes.

Go Dr. Woerner.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

I volunteer to be Number 6.

[AZDZ]

Oh hell yes!

[Welsh Shaun]

Now thats a bit more realistic

[Grandpa Greenman]

YES!! It is about time for a moon base.

[McNessy]

If we cant survive on the moon what chances do we have on mars. What better place to learn.

[alibongo]

there is no atmosphere on the moon, Mars has an atmosphere.We should plant trees on Mars and terraform it.

[Calibeliever]

there is no atmosphere on the moon, Mars has an atmosphere.We should plant trees on Mars and terraform it.

Mars does have an atmosphere but it is less than 1% as thick as ours. Picture being about 20 miles up (the top of Everest is about 5 1/2 mi, jets fly at around 7 mi). Plants and people (and pets) wouldn't survive long in that environment, there's nothing to breathe. So, our atmospheric requirements on Mars and the Moon will be practically the same.

Plus, the moon has one HUGE advantage over Mars: It only takes about 2 days to get there. Thus, resupply and rescue become much more realistic and our margin for error can be increased.

[alibongo]

Yeah, but if we terraformed it the atmosphere would become thicker and breathable.

[Calibeliever]

Yeah, but if we terraformed it the atmosphere would become thicker and breathable.

It's not completely impossible, but it's close. Even if we were to transport all of the massive equipment, with it's enormous energy needs, to that planet and waited generations while we built up enough greenhouse gasses to make it livable, there's still the little problem that Mars has no magnetic shielding. The solar wind that our magnetic field protects us from would continually strip away the atmosphere we create to the point that it would be a losing game. The benefit would probably never outweigh the cost.

[alibongo]

we should try terraforming the moon then.I saw a bit about terraforming in a film, dead good it was in making a planet habitable.

Edited July 15, 2015 by alibongo

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

It's not completely impossible, but it's close. Even if we were to transport all of the massive equipment, with it's enormous energy needs, to that planet and waited generations while we built up enough greenhouse gasses to make it livable, there's still the little problem that Mars has no magnetic shielding. The solar wind that our magnetic field protects us from would continually strip away the atmosphere we create to the point that it would be a losing game. The benefit would probably never outweigh the cost.

Also Mars has very little nitrogen. Since that is 78 % of Earths atmosphere, that is a pretty big problem right there.

we should try terraforming the moon then.I saw a bit about terraforming in a film, dead good it was in making a planet habitable.

The Moon has very little of the most basic building blocks of a biosphere, such as hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. In addition it doesn't have any magnetic field and it its gravity is too small to hold on to an atmosphere for any reasonable amount of time.

No amount of "I saw it in a film" will change that. Sorry to be such a spoilsport !

I believe that partial terraforming (aka para terraforming) on Mars could be possible, such as building domes or roofs over natural features on Mars. There are several craters and canyons that could concievable be turned in to "small" biospheres, but unfortunately not the whole planet.

[toast]

We should plant trees on Mars and terraform it.

And what type of tree do you think will grow in an enviroment with temperatures down to -130°C ?

[BeastieRunner]

Ground control to Major Tom ...

[+DieChecker]

A song popped into my head....

-- If you believed..... ESA put a man on the Moon.... Man on the Moon.......---

Apologies to REM....

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rem/manonthemoon.html

[+DieChecker]

Seriously though I think it would be a good idea. The Moon isn't that far away and supplies could be sent there reasonably (which is to say EXPENSIVE, but do-able) easily.

The best way to live there would be well underground to protect against radiation from the Sun and Cosmic Rays. Contrary to comic books, and sci-fi movies, Cosmic Rays don't give you powers, they will destroy parts of your body so that you slowly die. BUT... Just a few feet of stone provides all the protection a human requires for normal protective purposes.

It would also be a good place from which to go grab asteroids, and THOSE would have carbon, water and minerals on them that the colony would need. These could be put into orbit around the Moon and harvested as needed.

[Zalmoxis]

It's inevitable that as space travel becomes more frequent that the Moon would become a vacation getaway for anyone who wants to stay in the Moon Hotel or whatever they would call it. I would go sub-surface if I had the money to build a moon base or a moon hotel.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

It should b pointed out that whilst NASA currently has no plans for a return to the Moon (preferring to look towards Mars instead) the Russians do plan to send Cosmonauts to the Moon and eventually build a base there.

ESA has a long history of co-operation with both NASA and Roscosomos (the Russian Federal Space Agency). ESA is already aligned with NASA's plans for Mars exploration... the service module of the Orion spacecraft will be European (based on the successful ATV). It seems to me that ESA is also aligning itself with Russian lunar plans ensuring that, in the not too distant future, European astronauts will be leaving footprints on the Moon and Mars (and quite possibly in Earth orbit on board the Chinese space station).

[+DieChecker]

Question: What is the "ownership" status of the Moon? Is it like Antarctica where it can't be owned by a nation, but probably will be divided up into national access areas? Could a person buy land on the Moon?

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

Question: What is the "ownership" status of the Moon? Is it like Antarctica where it can't be owned by a nation, but probably will be divided up into national access areas? Could a person buy land on the Moon?

A friendly and helpful person ( ) have allready answered that question for you in another thread: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=283309&st=15#entry5578245

[TheGreatBeliever]

I do believe space colonisation will come. But its still a long way..

[Bavarian Raven]

And what type of tree do you think will grow in an enviroment with temperatures down to -130°C ?

Though I'm sure some lichens and the like from earth could survive on mars near the equator. Cool experiment it would be.

[Bavarian Raven]

Question: What is the "ownership" status of the Moon? Is it like Antarctica where it can't be owned by a nation, but probably will be divided up into national access areas? Could a person buy land on the Moon?

Theoretically no one can claim it. But once we start building anything of worth there, watch that treaty vanish.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Theoretically no one can claim it. But once we start building anything of worth there, watch that treaty vanish.

There is no need for the treaty to vanish. Although the Moon can not be claimed any base on the Moon would remain the property of the nation which put it there. As an analogy, no one can claim the vast majority of the Atlantic ocean but the ships that sail on it DO belong to someone.