Space Colonization: part 3 The Moon

Sources

The tidally locked moon is a dry and dusty mass of rock that humanity, has looked up at for years pondering its existence. Our last visit to the moon was in 1972. Ever since then we’ve been coming up with ideas for our next moon visit. This comes with plenty of complications, the temperatures ranges from -183°C (-298°F) to 106°C (224°F). The moon also lacks an atmosphere which adds all sorts of problems, from radiation to meteorites hitting the surface.

Nasa has of course, come up with some ideas to combat these issues and have even mentioned colonizing the moon as early as 2022. Their ideas include building underground living quarters or using a crate, as the base then covering it. The moon has no atmosphere, exposing people to dangerous cosmic radiation. Scientist know lunar dirt can block out solar radiation that solves one problem.

The lunar night lasts for just under 15 Earth days; the lunar North Pole is completely bath in light during its summer. Growing plants at the North Pole would give the crops enough sunlight, though they’d need rotating in and out of light. This also means it would be a great location for renewable solar energy.

Talking about time, the transit between the moon and the Earth is much shorter than any other astral body. The Apollo astronauts made the trip there in just three days and with advancing technology, it might be even shorter. This would be beneficial for an emergency situation allowing people to reach the moon colony or for them to be evacuated.

Like Mars the gravity on the moon is weak. We know the weightlessness would cause the muscle mass to deteriorate. Counter measure would be in place like routine exercise or artificial gravity. I’ve mentioned both when discussing Mars.

Of course the lunar base would be great for all sorts of research but especially space observation. The moons rotation is slower; scientist could observe a specific target for much longer. With the lack of human disturbance, they wouldn’t have to worry about light pollution or any mechanical disturbances like radio noise. The same can be said for the moons geological system which is inactive. The weak gravity would be great for launching rockets to other planets and be much easier than launching on Earth. This could promote businesses like asteroid mining and might bring the price down.

Remaining disadvantages

We aren’t completely sure about the effects of the lunar dust. We know it is a glassy substance that sticks to everything and might cause damage to equipment. There’s also the uncertainty, as it could be toxic.

The moon lacks a lot of elements we’d need to run a colony there. Water has been found but the moon still lacks volatile elements. A portion would still need to be imported from Earth or mined from asteroids. This would be costly and limit the amount of people living on the moon.

What I think is the biggest problem is the moons lack of an atmosphere. Lunar material can protect against radiation in the living quarters. That’s great but for example what is concerning are meteors, which will impact on the surface without burning up. We can clearly see the crates on the moon surface. This adds risk to the astronauts on expedition or structures being hit by even small size meteors that could cause plenty of damage.

Source
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3549667.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/space/01/01/moon.lava.hole/
https://www.fosterandpartners.com/news/archive/2013/01/foster-partners-works-with-european-space-agency-to-3d-print-structures-on-the-moon/