The new boss of the European Space Agency (ESA) on Friday laid out his views on a project for a multinational research settlement on the lunar surface - which could become the scientific successor to the International Space Station.
So far, this is just an idea - called "crazy" by many experts - but it is being discussed more and more as the ISS's funded use comes to an end, says Jan Werner, who took over as ESA's CEO last July.
The main purpose of such a scientific settlement is to provide a base from which automated and manned exploration of the Moon will be carried out. In addition, this settlement should become a kind of "stopover" for spaceships and, possibly, even the location of the capacities of an industrial enterprise for the extraction of minerals.
ISS is a joint project of Europe, Canada, USA, Japan and Russia. All of these participants in the legendary international space project, with the exception of the European Union, agreed to continue using and funding the orbital station until 2024. Europe is currently participating in the ISS project only until 2020.
Werner named Russia and China as possible future participants in the "lunar village" project, which, according to him, "are planning a number of lunar missions," and therefore are potentially interested in projects involving a more detailed study of our planet's natural satellite.
