“The ESA space-exploration strategy sets the Moon as a priority destination for humans on the way to Mars,” NASA’s Kathy Laurini said in an interview.
He wants to create a moon village with “multiple uses and multiple users.” In other words, some users may be conducting observations or carrying on scientific experiments, while others may be using it for industrial applications, such as mining. Thanks to moon’s low gravity and airlessness, this base could also be a staging point for missions deeper into the solar system, including sending humans to Mars.
The idea isn’t to merely build “some small houses over there,” nor is it to develop a fully scientific center. This wouldn’t only be a European project, but like the International Space Station, would involve international space agencies. Of course we can do it again,” Mogensen says. “We did this in the 1960s within a decade, and today in terms of technology development we’re much, much further ahead. Wörner isn’t alone in this endeavor – he has plenty of support from within ESA, especially from astronauts. Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, who flew to the ISS in 2015 stressed that we’ve slowed down our space exploration since the 60s and 70s. Mankind has never had a settlement on the Moon, and this lunar village, if it ever comes to fruition, could be a huge leap forwards for space exploration. “Meaning that it’s an open station, for different member states, for different states around the globe.” Poster via ESA.Ī moon village sounds dramatically ambitious, and it’s something most engineers wouldn’t have even dreamed as possible until a few years ago. “My intention is to build up a permanent base station on the Moon,” Jan Wörner, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), said without hesitation in a recent interview with Euronews.
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