Question

is it possible that humans could start to live on the moon? Such as start colonies there?

An excellent and timely question! Even before the Apollo days, scientists and science fiction writers alike explored the possibilities of lunar colonies. The Apollo moon landings, which took place between 1969 and 1972, demonstrated that we do have the technology to safely get astronauts to and from the moon for short durations. However, a longer-term stay would require precautions that the Apollo Astronauts didn’t have to deal with—such as protection from the long-term, intense exposure of solar and cosmic radiation. Moreover, potential colonists would have to provide themselves with food, water, and shelter for extedned stays. Although some raw materials for survival could be extracted from the lunar surface, many of them would have to accompany the astronauts on their journey to the moon. Since the Apollo days, there has not been as much NASA focus on the moon. Two major missions in the 90s, Clementine and Prospector, were both orbital spacecraft that mapped the surface properties of the moon. Although both missions were successful in their own right, neither had a human presence. Part of the reason there has not been another mission similar to Apollo is due to prohibitive costs: the total Apollo mission was over 19 billion dollars (over 100 billion in current dollars)! NASA has instead allocated its resources to studying other nearby planetary bodies and developing technologies for a low-orbit space station (i.e. the International Space Station). Nevertheless, it seems that there has recently been a lot of momentum to have a lunar return. At the recently held World Space Congress, there were many talks given by NASA officials, other international space organizations, and even commercial organizations with interests in the moon. There is a good summary of lunar papers listed at Space.com’s coverage of this event: http://www.space.com/news/worldspacecongress2002.html. In addition, many private companies and organizations have interests and long-term objectives with lunar colonies. There are many scientific and commercial benefits for a return and longer-term stay on the moon, and it seems like only a question of time and money before we once again see human walk on the moon’s surface. You might find these past Ask-an-Astrobiologist questions useful: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/astrobio/astrobio_detail.cfm?ID=407 http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/astrobio/astrobio_detail.cfm?ID=13 Or, you can perform your own web search by using “lunar colony” in any of the major search engines. I bet you would be surprised on how much you find on this topic. David Lamb, Science Projects Specialist, NAI
October 25, 2002