These are very interesting times indeed.
We’ve landed on Mars, set up a super telescope out in space that reveals amazing new data, and we’re planning to set up shop on the Moon.
Wait, what was that last part? Yes, according to this article, we are closer than ever to not only landing on the moon, but building a station there that will serve as the launchpad for other missions. Mars first most likely, and then…who knows? It’s a sci-fi lover’s greatest dream come true! Fiction becoming reality.
Unfortunately, the driver opening a base on the moon will be profit driven, but whatever gets the job done, right? Companies looking to make a profit off of moon mining will invest in space travel and new technologies that can extract water, oxygen, and more from the material present on the moon.
Workers would live there once a life supporting structure has been assembled. I can imagine little mining towns at first similar to the old west where the owning companies crack a whip to get the raw materials needed to turn a profit while building out new lunar infrastructure. Laws will not apply since the Moon is not under any country’s jurisdiction, although I imagine that will become a heated debate once the settling begins. First to make it, first to own it?
Good and bad to come, but I’m super excited and hope we can actually start this process in the very near future. And once the moon has a self-sufficient base–or lunar colony–then we’ll springboard from there over to Mars and start the Martian colonization in earnest.
What do you think? Please comment below.
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