AMERICAN and Chinese lunar colonies might be just a decade away – but there are some serious risks.
A senior scientist has detailed plans for long-term Moon bases, and why there's a danger you might have missed.
Lunar bases could use frozen water found on the Moon for drinking and growing crops[/caption]
After a long period of largely ignoring the Moon, Nasa is working to massively upgrade its lunar efforts.
The US space agency is currently part way through its Artemis missions to allow astronauts to easily – and regularly – visit the Moon.
But the ultimate goal is to have a permanent presence on our small, rocky neighbor.
“By 2035 – just 10 or so years away – American and Chinese rockets could be carrying humans to long-term lunar bases,” said Martin Elvis, a senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Institution.
“Both bases are planned for the same small areas near the south pole because of the near-constant solar power available in this region and the rich source of water that scientists believe could be found in the Moon's darkest regions nearby.”
These areas of the Moon that never receive sunlight give hope for a large supply of frozen water to supply human bases.
This can be used for drinking, washing up, and growing crops, Martin said.
And it'll save on the high cost of shipping water across space from Earth to the lunar surface.
Once humans are on the Moon permanently, it will pave the way for huge leaps in lunar science.
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON?
But there are also some big risks to science by dumping giant colonies on Earth's rocky satellite.
For instance, it could affect the ability for lunar-based telescopes to work properly.
“The rush to build bases on the Moon could interfere with the very conditions that make the Moon so attractive for research in the first place,” Martin explained.
The Moon – our closest neighbor explained
Here's what you need to know…
- The Moon is a natural satellite – a space-faring body that orbits a planet
- It's Earth's only natural satellite, and is the fifth largest in the Solar System
- The Moon measures 2,158 miles across, roughly 0.27 times the diameter of Earth.
- Temperatures on the Moon range from minus 173 degrees Celsius to 260 degrees Celsius
- Experts assumed the Moon was another planet, until Nicolaus Copernicus outlined his theory about our Solar System in 1543.
- It was eventually assigned to a “class” after Galileo discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.
- The Moon is believed to have formed around 4.51 billion years ago
- The strength of its gravitational field is about a sixth of Earth's gravity
- Earth and the Moon have “synchronous rotation”, which means we always see the same side of the Moon – hence the phrase “dark side of the Moon”.
- The Moon's surface is actually dark, but appears bright in the sky due to its reflective ground
- During a solar eclipse, the Moon covers the Sun almost completely. Both objects appear a similar size in the sky because the Sun is both 400 times larger and farther
- The first spacecraft to reach the Moon was in 1959, as part of the Soviet Union's Lunar program
- The first manned orbital mission was Nasa's Apollo 8 in 1968
- And the first manned lunar landing was in 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission
“Although the Moon's surface area is greater than Africa's, human explorers and astronomers want to visit the same few kilometer-sized locations.
“But activities that will help sustain a human presence on the Moon, such as mining for water, will create vibrations that could ruin a gravitational wave telescope.”
A gravitational wave detector – which is extremely sensitive – could learn more about how black holes are born and change over time.
Martin also points out that the Moon has elements that are “extremely valuable” on Earth: “Liquid hydrogen and oxygen make precious rocket propellant, and helium-3 is a rare substance used to improve quantum computers.”
Humans could be living on the Moon on a long-term basis in just a decade[/caption]
But he warns that one of the places rich in helium-3 is where humans might want to set up telescopes to view signals that could reveal the “Dark Ages” of the universe before stars or galaxies had formed.
He adds: “Finally, there are at least two internet and GPS satellite constellations planned to orbit the Moon a few years from now. Unintentional radio emissions from these satellites could render a Dark Ages telescope useless.”
Whatever happens on the Moon, Martin points out that it is important for everyone to “share the Moon” fairly.
