"We went to the moon 50 years ago, yet today we have more computing power with our iPhones than the computers that sent men into space," Naveen Jain, one of the entrepreneurs working with NASA and co-founder of Moon Express, tells Caminiti. Earlier this year, NASA teamed up with several companies to come up with ways to mine the moon for precious elements and materials, including gold, cobalt, iron, palladium, platinum, tungsten and Helium-3, reports Susan Caminiti for CNBC. And most of the hardest work could be done before any moon settlers got there with the help of drones and robots.īut while the first moon settlers in the ESA’s complex would likely be scientists and researchers, entrepreneurs are already developing ways to take advantage of the moon’s natural resources. Settlements could be built inside the deep craters that litter the moon’s surface, which would protect residents from dangers like cosmic radiation, micro-meteors and severe temperatures.
When completed, a working moon village could look like a mix of buildings built from natural materials like cement made from moon rocks and soil and of repurposed modules from the International Space Station. But while astronauts haven’t been back to the moon since 1972, technological advancements make a moon settlement less of a setting out of science fiction and more of a design and logistical problem, Spector writes. With the International Space Station geared to shut down around 2024, Woerner believes it’s time to start planning the next phase of humanity’s foothold in space. “A moon village not meaning a few houses, the town hall, and a church - the moon village would consist of a settlement using the capabilities of different space-faring nations in the fields of robotic as well as human activities.” “Why not have a moon village?” Johann-Dietrich Woerner, the new director-general of the ESA, tells Julian Spector for CityLab. Now, the European Space Agency is planning to go back – and to move in.
It’s been almost 50 years since humans have set foot on the moon.
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