Lunar colonization
A lunar colonization is understood to mean the establishment and development of settlements ( lat. Colonia: settlement) on the moon . In addition to numerous programs for exploring the moon, there are currently efforts aimed at colonization by humans.
Lunar colonization in science fiction literature
For more than a century, people have thought about traveling to the moon and the problems that go with it. With the beginning of the space age and the construction of the first rockets , the possibility of colonizing the moon came into the focus of science fiction authors and scientists. The well-known SciFi authors include Jules Verne , Arthur C. Clarke and the scientists Hermann Oberth , Konstantin Ziolkowski and many more.
With the novel From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Jules Verne described how a private organization, the fictional Baltimore Gun Club , an association of artillery experts , wanted to use a giant cannon as a space propulsion system to propel a cannonball (in the form of a projectile ) To perform lunar journey. The follow-up novel Reise um den Mond (1870) then describes the journey to the moon and the return journey to earth, with only one orbit around the moon. While the aspects of travel play a role in Jule Verne's novels, the following novels and stories already depict life on the moon. In the silent film Frau im Mond (1929), which tells of an expedition to the moon, Oberth advised the director on technical aspects. Clarke's novel "To Power on the Moon" is about a time when the moon was colonized by humans. The year of publication of the novel was 1957, at a time when outer space was within reach (see Sputnik ). From this time, which is also known as the beginning of the space age, the number of novels and scientific papers on "Life on the Moon" increased significantly.
realization
With the Apollo program from 1969 to 1972 the technical possibility of regular trips to the moon was confirmed. However, with the technology used to date, the travel costs are at least several hundred million euros per flight and person, so that a colony outside of the earth is difficult to finance. The US entrepreneur and rocket developer Elon Musk is therefore working with his company SpaceX on the fully reusable transport system Starship and Super Heavy , which should reduce the price of interplanetary space flights by more than a factor of 1000. The company's long-term goal is to build a Martian colony , but Musk anticipates a lunar base will emerge first. The Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also working on reusable large rockets with his company Blue Origin and proposed the establishment of a base in one of the lunar polar regions .
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called for a lunar base to be built in March 2019 and instructed NASA to work towards it. A first step is to be the Artemis 3 mission , with which US astronauts are to explore the South Pole region of the moon in 2024 . In the further course of the Artemis program , a "permanent presence" of the USA on the moon is to be created by 2028. Blue Origin is already working with NASA on "medium to large commercial lunar landing systems."
Russia is considering building a lunar base in the late 2030s. A decision on a corresponding space program designed for 20 years should be made in 2019. The spacecraft Federazija , intended for manned flights into lunar orbit, has been in development since the 2000s .
In July 2019, it was announced that China , Russia and the European Space Agency (ESA) were considering setting up a joint research station on the moon. Scientists should work out a plan within 2–3 years.
Benefit of a lunar colonization
Economic aspects
The rocket technician Krafft Ehricke called the lunar economy "Selenoconomy". On the one hand, this economy would have the potential to generate goods and services for its own location or to offer these to other locations, such as B. the lunar, the geostationary or the near-earth orbits. The location advantage of the moon is based u. a. on the lower gravity, so that the same product, e.g. B. fuel, with a much lower energy consumption than when starting from the earth, to the consumers, z. B. a space station, can be transported. The following economic services could be offered:
- Products : metals, minerals, fuel, oxygen,
- Services : Construction and maintenance of various telescope systems , distribution of raw materials (e.g. fuel, oxygen) in the near-earth region
Political Aspects
A lunar colonization, even just the establishment of a lunar base, can nowadays only take place with traditional technology in international cooperation, since the necessary capital can hardly be raised by a single institution or state. Should a single state nevertheless set itself this goal, the government must be able to justify the high level of capital invested in exploration vis-à-vis the other areas of the state (security, social systems, ...), since a political system must take into account the different interests of the actors involved. According to the description in the book Lunar Handbook , exploration must therefore be viewed under the aspects of national security, prestige, foreign policy, scientific and economic relevance and the benefit to society.
The benefits of such international cooperation can be seen in the construction and operation of the International Space Station . At the end of the Cold War , the US government decided to build the national space station "Freedom", which had been planned so far, in international cooperation. On the one hand, this had the purpose of minimizing the cost risks of the project or distributing them to the other cooperation partners. On the other hand, the foreign policy relations with the cooperation partners, etc. a. Russia, be strengthened by such a project. Although the cost risks are reduced by dividing the budget, the total costs increase by approx. 30% due to the installation of appropriate interfaces and the increased coordination effort with the cooperation partners. The last aspect, the coordination of national economic and political interests with one another, as well as the creation of a corresponding balance, is therefore one of the most important at the political level.
In addition, some aspects of space law are still unclear, see z. B. the lunar contract .
Scientific aspects
A scientific benefit of a lunar base or a lunar colonization can be seen in the areas of lunar research , earth observation, the exploration of the universe, but also in the development of technology for space colonization .
Although the moon, next to the earth, is one of the best-researched celestial bodies, some questions are still open. In addition to the fact that the formation of the Earth-Moon system must not be considered fully understood, newer research probes have discovered areas on the lunar surface that differ significantly from the Apollo landing sites. In addition, thanks to its one-plate tectonics , the moon provides an information archive that can be used to generate further insights into the formation of planets.
Similar to satellites in earth or solar orbit, scientific devices for earth observation and exploration of the universe can also be installed on the surface of the moon. Maintenance or repair of these systems would then be possible through manned bases nearby.
There could also be significant scientific benefit in technology testing. In addition to the similarities between Mars and the moon and the development of technologies on the moon, which could also be used on a Mars mission, the question of the establishment of self-sufficient bases and the necessary equipment, as well as the use of local resources, play an essential role.
Environmental conditions
A distinction can be made between natural and (future) man-made environmental conditions.
Natural environmental conditions
The moon has no atmosphere worth mentioning, only a sixth of the gravitational acceleration of the earth on the surface, occasionally local magnetic fields and locally differently distributed resources. The lack of atmosphere is u. a. for the operation of telescope systems on the moon or for process methods based on vacuum technology . The existing resources can be mined and used, whereby the location of the mining facility on the lunar surface and the use of the existing material (moon dust or rock formations) play a role.
In addition to the constituents of moon dust , its properties, such as particle size, specific weight, porosity, compressibility, etc., are of interest for on-site use. These properties determine e.g. B. the behavior of the lunar dust during excavation or backfill, in particular the maximum steepness of the slope has to be considered (see friction angle ). Furthermore, the liability can also be determined, which plays a role for the navigability (e.g. design of lunar vehicles). The electrostatic and magnetic properties provide information about the permeability of radio signals or the behavior of the moon dust. Radio signals can penetrate lunar dust up to approx. 10 m, so that direct contact with the earth is not necessary (underground bases or bases with layers of lunar dust / rock). On the other hand, the dust particles can also be charged by solar radiation, which leads to their floating and migration behavior. These particles can then be deposited on devices.
Human caused environmental conditions
The moon with its history of formation can be seen as a kind of "archive of the formation of the solar system". The lunar crust formed in the early phase of formation and only changed due to asteroid impacts due to a lack of volcanic activity. Furthermore, meteorite impacts led to the formation of moon dust, so that it contains their materials. Such "archives" could be destroyed by appropriate dismantling activities. In addition, colonies could throw up moondust through their activities, which would then be deposited on devices and telescope systems in the immediate vicinity. Radio links between the base and the mission control center could generate a background signal that could be unfavorable for the operation of a radio telescope system.
Future human-made activities could have corresponding effects on the environmental conditions and must be taken into account in the planning.
Logistic infrastructure
At the beginning of the planning of a lunar mission, as part of a lunar colonization, the following basic decisions must be made, which determine the mission profile:
- Shared or separate cargo and passenger transport
- Locations of bases on the moon
- Establishment of a logistic infrastructure
A comparison of the Apollo program with the Constellation program illustrates the different transport concepts. While in the Apollo program the payload was transported together with the crew into space ( Saturn V ), in the Constellation program the transport was to be carried out with different carrier systems ( Ares I , Ares V ). The background to this is the increased requirements for manned space travel (endangering people) in contrast to unmanned space travel (endangering material). In addition, a separation also enables different flight profiles for the transport of goods than for the transport of people, since the duration of the transfer is of secondary importance for material in contrast to people (see e.g. flight path of the GRAIL mission). A similar separation also exists in the supply of the ISS .
Another important criterion is the selection of the location of the base on the moon. In this way, the environmental conditions of the various regions of the moon can be used for the location, such as existing resources, scientifically relevant study areas, etc. A logistical infrastructure is then necessary to supply the base. In contrast to a temporary research mission, this is essential for a colony, since the colony must continuously be provided with non-existent resources.
Different possible colonization sites
The choice of one or more colonization sites depends on the objective of the mission or the colonization strategy. In the following, three essential regions with special properties are briefly presented.
The polar regions have points that are exposed to almost constant incidence of light (" mountains of eternal light "). Thus the sun could be used as an energy source. A constant energy supply would be guaranteed if several solar parks were connected. By means of a distribution network, support points could also be operated that are not exposed to constant sunlight. An interesting candidate could be the Shackleton crater . In addition, the valleys of the mountain ranges are constantly in shadow. Research showed that there was water ice there that could be used for a colony.
The equatorial regions have a higher concentration of helium-3 due to the steeper angle of incidence of the solar wind and are easier to reach, since no polar orbit is required for take-off and landing, but an LMO (Low Moon Orbit) can be used. An interesting location could be the Reiner Gamma area , which has a significant magnetic field to deflect the solar wind.
On the one hand, the back of the moon offers a shield against radio signals from the earth, so that the operation of radio telescope systems could take place under optimal conditions, and on the other hand, the helium-3 concentration here is likely to be noticeably higher than on the side facing the earth Earth's magnetic field is protected from the solar wind during its passage through the moon. However, communication with the earth could only be realized via a satellite at the L2 Lagrange point or via a satellite constellation for communication purposes.
Building blocks of an infrastructure
The transport processes between earth and moon can be summarized as follows:
| Transfer path 1: | Earth's surface - LEO (Low Earth Orbit) / LEO - Earth's surface | (Fig. Red trajectory) |
| Transfer route 2: | LEO - LMO (Low Moon Orbit) / LMO - LEO | (Fig. Yellow trajectory) |
| Transfer route 3: | LMO - lunar surface / lunar surface - LMO | (Fig. Green trajectory) |
One of the main questions when setting up an infrastructure is the use of space stations in earth and / or lunar orbit to support the supply of the lunar colony. Here the transport would take place from the earth's surface to the space station in the LEO (or GEO), then to the space station in the LMO and then from the LMO to the lunar base, and vice versa.
When looking at the course of the flight of Apollo 11 , it becomes clear that unnecessary material transports would take place if the Apollo concept were used to supply a lunar colony:
- The re-entry capsule (command module) was transported to the moon and back (but had other functions as well, according to the name).
- A lunar module was carried on every mission.
- The components command module, service module and lunar module were not designed for reuse.
Due to the goal of the Apollo program, these aspects were not important (including various landing sites), but would have to be taken into account in the event of colonization. With appropriate space stations, the transfer spaceship LEO-LMO and the lunar module could be designed for reuse, which would save corresponding resources.
construction
Residential complexes
There are many different ideas about how to live on the moon, each time relying on different knowledge and techniques. To give just one curious but serious example: There were ideas about building stations that would float on the dusty lakes. Inflatable complexes of various designs and sizes were also considered. It was also proposed to convert the fuel tanks.
- Underground settlement: The colony would be built mainly under the surface of the moon to avoid cosmic rays , micrometeorites and large temperature fluctuations.
- Natural caves: lunar lava tubes have now been identified. These natural formations could either be used directly or integrated into complexes.
- Bury: The most practical solution is to build a base on the surface, which is then buried under several meters of moondust.
- On the surface: the colony can protect itself from cosmic rays with artificial magnetic fields.
energy
Solar
While there are places in the polar regions with constant solar radiation, the sun is otherwise only temporarily available on the moon. About two weeks (336 hours) of uninterrupted sun exposure are followed by two weeks of uninterrupted darkness. Since a corresponding energy storage for the dark phase is very complex, the polar regions would probably be given preference.
Raw materials for the manufacture of photovoltaic systems are available on the moon. Also solar thermal power plants are conceivable.
Nuclear
Although the helium-3 required for a nuclear fusion reactor is abundantly available on the moon, its use in the first half of the 21st century is unlikely, since a fusion reactor that releases more energy than it needs has still not been constructed. Instead, the use of a nuclear power plant would in principle come into question, since this technology is known and technically implemented. An alternative to providing lower electrical power are radioisotope generators , such as those used in long-term missions such as space probes .
literature
- Haym Benaroya: Lunar Settlements. CRC Press, Boca Raton 2010, ISBN 9781420083323 .
- Ruthan Lewis et al: The Making of a Lunar Outpost - Exploring a Future Case Study. In: AIP Conf. Proc. 2007, Volume 880, pp. 703-710. (Abstract)
- G. Madhavan Nair et al .: Strategic, technological and ethical aspects of establishing colonies on Moon and Mars. In: Acta Astronautica. Volume 63, No. 11-12, December 2008, pp. 1337-1342, doi: 10.1016 / j.actaastro.2008.05.012
- Peter Eckart: The lunar base handbook - an introduction to lunar base design, development, and operations. McGraw-Hill, New York 1999, ISBN 0-07-240171-0 .
- R. Wallisfurth: Russia's way to the moon . Econ-Verlag, Vienna / Düsseldorf 1964.
- International Academy of Astronautics - Position Paper: The Case for an International Lunar Base , November 1989, (PDF online, accessed October 14, 2010; 3 MB)
- Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century . Lunar and Planetary Institute, 1985
Web links
- Peter Ray Allison: This is why lunar colonies need to live underground . bbc.com, December 15, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul D. Spudis: The Value of the Moon: How to Explore, Live and Prosper in Space Using the Moon's Resources. Smithsonian, washington DC 2016, ISBN 9781588345035 .
- ↑ To power on the moon. www.sf-leihbuch.de, accessed on November 30, 2013 .
- ↑ Michael Sheetz: Elon Musk says SpaceX rocket Starship will 'be good' for creating a moon base. In: cnbc.com. February 25, 2019, accessed May 2, 2019 .
- ^ Alan Boyle: Jeff Bezos lays out his vision for city on the moon, complete with robots. In: Geekwire. May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2019 .
- ^ Remarks by Vice President Pence at the Fifth Meeting of the National Space Council | Huntsville, AL. White House , March 26, 2019, accessed May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Mark Harris: NASA Is Working With Blue Origin on a Lunar Lander. In: IEEE Spectrum. March 27, 2019, accessed May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Cosmonauts to learn making in-flight decisions without commands from Earth. TASS, April 12, 2019, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ China, Russia, Europe to jointly explore plan for research station on Moon. In: Xinhua.net. July 22, 2019, accessed July 22, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Peter Eckart, Buzz Aldrin et al: The Lunar Base Handbook - An Introduction to Lunar Base Design and Operations. 2nd Edition. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2006, ISBN 0-07-329444-6 .
- ↑ Michael Odenwald: Yutu discovered: NASA probe films China's jade rabbit on the moon. Focus Online, January 5, 2014, accessed February 23, 2014 .
- ^ Mining and Manufacturing on the Moon. International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET), archived from the original on February 20, 2014 ; accessed on February 23, 2014 (English).
- ↑ Lunar Oxygen Production or MoonROx Challenge. NASA , 2009, accessed February 23, 2014 .
- ↑ Harald Zaun: Dark Side of the Moon. heise.de, January 12, 2002, accessed on February 23, 2014 .
- ^ Space Solar Power Workshop: Lunar In -Situ Resource Advantages. (PDF; 50 kB) Georgia Institute of Technology, accessed December 21, 2013 .
- ↑ David V. Smitherman, Jr .: Pathways to Colonization. (PDF; 2.5 MB) NASA, 2002, accessed on December 21, 2013 (English).
- ↑ The International Space Station. (PDF; 2 MB) DLR , June 1998, accessed on February 23, 2014 (English).
- ↑ Urs Mall: SMART-1 - Europe's mission to the moon. Max Planck Society , 2004, accessed on February 23, 2014 .
- ^ The Case for an International Lunar Base. (3.4 MB) International Academy of Astronautics , November 1989, accessed on February 23, 2014 .
- ^ Trudy E. Bell, Tony Phillips: Why colonize the Moon before going to Mars? Phys.org, March 21, 2005, accessed February 23, 2014 .
- ↑ NASA In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) - Development & Incorporation Plans (presentation). (PDF; 5 MB) NASA, November 2007, accessed on December 21, 2013 (English).
- ↑ WA Ambrose et al .: Abstract - Optimal Locations for Lunar Settlements and Industrial Facilities. (PDF; 20 MB) AAPG Datapages, 2013, accessed on April 13, 2014 (English).
- ^ MB Duke et al.: Strategies for a Permanet Lunar Base. (PDF; 3 MB) Lunar and Planetary Institute, 1985, accessed on April 13, 2014 .
- ↑ NASA Science News: Down the Lunar Rabbit-hole July 12, 2010.