Scientists are convinced that humanity is already capable of turning the moon into a space outpost. The leading powers have everything they need for this: spaceports, heavy launch vehicles, recoverable modules, and lunar rovers. Why do earthlings need the Moon and what technologies will help colonize it.
Moon Race: Continuation
Moon exploration programs were curtailed simultaneously in the USSR and the USA in the mid-1970s. It turned out to be very expensive to fly to a natural satellite of the Earth; moreover, it was not clear why it was necessary. The Moon was long forgotten until in 2004 US President George W. Bush announced the renewal of the program. Interest was shown by the European Union, Japan, India and China, which sent orbital and landing modules to the Moon in 2007 and 2013.
In 2014, the plans for the exploration of the moon were announced by the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin. The Russian space industry has vast experience in lunar launches: Soviet spacecraft were the first to make a soft landing on a natural satellite of the Earth, photographed the back side, and took samples of regolith soil. Manned flights to the moon are included in the public policy framework. Within the framework of the federal space program for 2016–2025, the Luna-Glob project has been developed, which involves the launch of a series of automatic stations. This is done by the NGO. Lavochkin. Vladimir Putin, who visited the new Cosmos pavilion at VDNKh on April 12, 2018, confirmed that the lunar program will be implemented.
Why, after half a century of oblivion, did the dreams of settling on the moon take over humanity again? After all, there is no longer any political motivation. Perhaps this is due to the high technological level of civilization, which needs really ambitious goals, as well as the prospects for the development of private astronautics. The world's space industry has everything it needs to conquer the moon. What is still lacking are clearly formulated tasks.
How to use the moon
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Many experts believe that space expansion is a logical stage in the further development of mankind. Sooner or later, civilization will become crowded on Earth, and there will be a need for a transshipment base on the Moon, from where it is convenient to start to Mars and other planets of the solar system.
Minerals can be mined on the moon. Particular hopes are associated with helium-3, which is used in neutron counters and is considered promising as a fuel for fusion. On Earth, this element is rare, and on the Moon, its reserves are enough to provide humanity with energy for millennia. It would also be interesting to get to the water reserves of the lunar soil and minerals.
The scientific potential of the natural satellite has not been exhausted either. Scientists still do not know how it formed, and the answer to this question is obviously not on Earth. The moon is an excellent site for astrophysical observations because it has no atmosphere. Technically, telescopes can already be installed there. From there, it is convenient to track asteroids that pose a danger to the Earth.
And in the distant future, it would make sense to transfer energy-intensive industries to the Moon in order to reduce industrial emissions on Earth.
Super heavy launch vehicles
The issue of super-heavy launch vehicles for flights to the Moon remains controversial. Some believe that missiles capable of carrying 80-120 tons of payload are indispensable. Others consider such a technique to be irrational because its operation and maintenance of the infrastructure are too expensive. In any case, the world space industry has enough experience in developing super-heavy launch vehicles: N-1, Energia and Vulcan in the USSR, Saturn-5, Ares V in the USA.
Now in the US, two similar projects are being implemented - the Space Launch System, the launch of which has been postponed, and the private Falcon Heavy, which has successfully passed tests. China is creating the Long March 9 rocket, designed for 130 tons of payload. A super-heavy version of Energia is being designed in Russia, and a heavy Angara-class rocket has already been tested. And although it will be able to deliver no more than ten tons of cargo to lunar orbit, a dozen flights are enough to provide the Moon with materials for building a base.
There is no shortage of spaceports for super-heavy launch vehicles on Earth: Baikonur, Vostochny, Kuru in French Guiana and Vandenberg in Florida, four spaceports in China. Refueling of ships in space has been worked out, docking has become a routine operation.
Station orbiting the Moon
The project of building a manned station in its orbit is considered as an intermediate stage in the exploration of the Moon. The United States, Russia and China announced the implementation of the relevant plans until 2025–2030. There is no reason to doubt the success of the enterprise, since the international community has two decades of successful operation of the ISS behind it.
The United States and Russia have agreed on a joint Deep Space Gateway. China, India and some BRICS countries may join the project. Russia plans to create several modules, including an airlock and a living room, as well as docking nodes for spacecraft arriving at the station. The technical appearance of Deep Space Gateway will be presented this year. The assembly in the orbit of the Moon is planned to begin in 2024.
Lunar habitable base
There is no atmosphere and magnetic field on the Moon, but its surface is continuously bombarded by micrometeorites, temperature drops per day reach two hundred degrees Celsius. People can work there either in spacesuits and sealed lunar rovers, or in a stationary inhabited module with a full life support system. It is more convenient to deploy it near the South Pole, where it is always light and there are less temperature fluctuations. At the first stage, the module will be assembled by robots. When manned flights to the moon have been sufficiently developed, construction will expand.
The first inhabitants of the Moon will first deploy communications with the orbital station and the Earth, then launch power plants on flexible photovoltaic cells or fuel cells. It is necessary to protect the base from cosmic radiation and solar flares. To do this, you will have to cover it with a meter layer of regolith, for example, with the help of a directed explosion, since it makes no sense to deliver excavators and dump trucks to the moon. In general, construction there will have to be based on completely different technologies: use inflatable modules, print structural elements on a 3D printer, create composite materials from lunar soil by means of laser sintering and high-temperature synthesis.
The module will provide a system for supplying oxygen and drinking water, create a vegetable greenhouse. Self-sufficiency of the lunar base is a key condition. This is the only way to reduce the flow of rockets from Earth delivering cargo.
There are no fundamental obstacles to the colonization of the Moon, but how a habitable station will look as a result depends on the purposes for which it is intended.
Tatiana Pichugina