Plans for establishing moonbases, with surface or sub-surface research stations, have been proposed and are actively pursued nationally and increasingly internationally. As of 2024, the two most advanced projects to set up moonbases have been pursued multilaterally as part of the US-led Artemis program, with its planned Artemis Base Camp and as the China-led International Lunar Research Station.[2] A broader, international infrastructure has been envisioned with the so-called Moon Village concept, and a general international regulatory regime for lunar activity has been called for by the 1979 signed Moon Treaty, and advocated for with an implementation agreement since 2020.[3][4]
The surface infrastructure of a base may consist of pre-integrated basic landers, as supporting stations for robotic rovers, or habitation modules for crewed presence, or of surface assembled or in-situ derived and constructed surface stations for sustained lunar habitation.[1] Lunar bases may work with lunar space stations, which in contrast provide infrastructures in lunar orbit supporting activity from there, as with the planned Lunar Gateway of the Artemis program.
The 1979 Moon Agreement was created to elaborate on the Outer Space Treaty, restricting the exploitation of the Moon's resources, particularly by any single nation, leaving it to a yet unspecified international regulatory regime.[11] As of January 2020, the Moon Agreement has been signed and ratified by 18 nations,[12] none of which have human spaceflight capabilities.
Since 2020, countries have joined the U.S. in their Artemis Accords, which are challenging the treaty. The U.S. has furthermore emphasized in a presidential executive order ("Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources.") that "the United States does not view outer space as a 'global commons'" and calls the Moon Agreement "a failed attempt at constraining free enterprise."[13][14]
With Australia signing and ratifying both the Moon Treaty in 1986 as well as the Artemis Accords in 2020, there has been a discussion if they can be harmonized.[15] In this light an Implementation Agreement for the Moon Treaty has been advocated for, as a way to compensate for the shortcomings of the Moon Treaty and to harmonize it with other laws and agreements such as the Artemis Accords, allowing it to be more widely accepted.[3][4]
Conservation
In the face of such increasing commercial and national interest, particularly prospecting territories, U.S. lawmakers have introduced in late 2020 specific regulation for the conservation of historic landing sites[16] and interest groups have argued for making such sites World Heritage Sites[17] and zones of scientific value protected zones, all of which add to the legal availability and territorialization of the Moon.[18]
Moon Village concept
3D-printed lunar habitat (ESA, 2018)
The Moon Village concept was presented in 2015.[19] "Village" in this context refers to international public and private investors, scientists, engineers, universities, and businessmen coming together to discuss interests and capabilities to build and share infrastructure on the Moon and in cislunar space for a variety of purposes. It is neither an ESA project nor a program, but being organized, loosely, by a nonprofit organization seeking to give a platform for an open international architecture and collaboration. In other words, Moon Village seeks to create a vision where both international cooperation and the commercialization of space can thrive.[20][21][22]
The Moon Village is not one project or one program. It says, "Let's do it together."
The open nature of the concept would encompass any kind of lunar activities, whether robotic or astronauts, 3D printed habitats,[24] refueling stations, relay orbiters, astronomy, exploiting resources, or even tourism. The idea is to achieve at least some degree of coordination and exploitation of potential synergies and to create a permanent sustainable presence on the surface of the Moon, whether robotic or crewed.[20][21]Jan Wörner, ESA Director General until 2021, described in 2017 the Village simply as "an understanding, not a single facility".[25] This initiative is meant as the first step in coming together as a species and developing the partnerships and "know how" before attempting to do the same on Mars.[20][26] The Director General of ESA, Jan Wörner, states that this vision of synergy can be as inspiring as the International Space Station but on a truly global, international-cooperation basis, and he proposes this approach as a replacement for the orbiting International Space Station, which is due to be decommissioned in 2024.[26][27]
China has expressed interest,[28][29] and NASA has also expressed interest in the potential synergy it offers to the proposed Lunar Gateway space station.[22][30] The private aerospace company Blue Origin has also expressed early interest and offered to develop a cargo lander with a 4,500kg (9,900lb) capacity of usable payload.[31] Astronaut Buzz Aldrin has long urged his fellow Americans to cooperate with international partners to reach the Moon.[32] The State Space Agency of Ukraine has agreed to uphold MVA principles and cooperate with the MVA to develop "sustainable habitation" of the Moon.[33]
While Wörner is the most famous advocate for Moon Village, it is not an ESA program.[citation needed] Instead, the concept is being organized, loosely, by a nonprofit organization established in November 2017 called the Moon Village Association.[34][35] It is a non-profit organization, registered in Vienna, with the mission to create a global forum for the development of the Moon Village, and to potentially implement a permanent human settlement near the lunar south pole, taking advantage of near-continuous sunlight and nearby deposits of ice and other useful volatiles.[34] In 2018, the Vienna University of Technology got sponsorship from ESA for a design workshop on the topic of the Moon Village. 35 master students have developed hypothetical scenarios for a future Moon village. Interestingly the cooperative concept of the workshop led to a number of new themes, such as multipurpose mobile infrastructure, an astro-scientist training campus on the Moon, an experimental research food lab up to a lunar recycling facility.[36][37]
Inflatable lunar base with greenhouses, all radiation shielded through regolith, while sunlight enters through mirrors (ESA, 2022)
In 2020, China proposed the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a somewhat similar proposal to the Moon Village, with Roscosmos and ESA showing interest.[39] The first steps toward establishing the ILRS will be taken through Phase IV of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, consisting of Chang'e 6, 7, and 8, as well as the Russian missions, Luna 25, 26, and 27. Long-term robotic and short-term crew missions at the ILRS are expected to begin in the early 2030s.[40] Roscosmos signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the creation of the ILRS with CNSA on March 9, 2021.[41] There is a projected timeline stretching from the 2030s to 2045.[42]
On March 9, 2021, Russia and China signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint construction of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) around 2035.
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has planned a fully robotic lunar base called Lunny Poligon. The project was planned for 2020, with an expected completion date of 2037.[needs update] On March 9, 2021, Russia turned to cooperate with China and signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint construction of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
The United States has run several attempts to design and in some cases develop lunar outposts and the needed missions, the first being from 1959, with the upcoming Artemis missions being the most advanced.
Zvezda moonbase (Russian: звезда, "star") was a Soviet plan and project from 1962 to 1974 to construct a crewed moonbase as successor to the N1-L3 crewed lunar expedition program. The project was ordered by the Soviet space chief Korolyov to Barmin's Spetcmash bureau. The project was named DLB Lunar Base in technical specifications and Zvezda in government documents. Unofficially, the project was called Barmingrad (Barmin's city) by its designers.
The realization of the project depended on key parts of the N1-L3 program – the N-1 superheavy launcher, all 4 launches of which failed between 1969 and 1972. Zvezda moonbase was canceled with the rest of the Soviet human lunar programs. All crewed Soviet lunar programs, including a Zvezda moonbase, had been classified as top secret and were only published in the glasnost epoch since 1990.
In 1954, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke proposed a lunar base of inflatable modules covered in lunar dust for insulation.[49] A spaceship assembled in low Earth orbit would launch to the Moon, and astronauts would set up the igloo-like modules and an inflatable radio mast. Subsequent steps would include the establishment of a larger, permanent dome; an algae-based air purifier; a nuclear reactor for the provision of power; and electromagnetic cannons to launch cargo and fuel to interplanetary vessels in space.
In 1959, John S. Rinehart suggested that the safest design would be a structure that could "[float] in a stationary ocean of dust", since there were, at the time this concept was outlined, theories that there could be mile-deep dust oceans on the Moon.[50] The proposed design consisted of a half-cylinder with half-domes at both ends, with a micrometeoroid shield placed above the base.
In 1962, John DeNike and Stanley Zahn published their idea of a sub-surface base located at the Sea of Tranquility.[51] This base would house a crew of21, in modules placed four meters below the surface, which was believed to provide radiation shielding on par with Earth's atmosphere. DeNike and Zahn favored nuclear reactors for energy production, because they were more efficient than solar panels, and would also overcome the problems with the long lunar nights. For the life support system, an algae-based gas exchanger was proposed.[citation needed]
As of 2006[update], the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) planned a human lunar landing around 2020 that would lead to a crewed lunar base by 2030; however, there was no budget yet for this project.[52][needs update]
In 2010, The Moon Capital Competition offered a prize for a design of a lunar habitat intended to be an underground international commercial center capable of supporting a residential staff of 60 people and their families. The Moon Capital is intended to be self-sufficient with respect to food and other material required for life support. Prize money was provided primarily by the Boston Society of Architects, Google Lunar X Prize and The New England Council of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.[57]
Concept art of the planned Lunar Gateway, serving as a communication hub, science laboratory, short-term habitation for crewed missions and holding area for rovers in Lunar orbit
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration is conducted both by uncrewed robotic space probes and human spaceflight. Space exploration, like its classical form astronomy, is one of the main sources for space science.
Colonization of the Moon is a process or concept employed by some proposals for robotic or human exploitation and settlement endeavours on the Moon. Often used as a synonym for its more specific element of settling the Moon, lunar or space colonization as a whole has become contested for perpetuating colonialism and its exploitive logic in space.
The Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) is the official title of a large-scale, system level study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in November 2005 of his goal of returning astronauts to the Moon and eventually Mars—known as the Vision for Space Exploration. The Constellation Program was cancelled in 2010 by the Obama Administration and replaced with the Space Launch System, later renamed as the Artemis Program in 2017 under the Trump Administration.
The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it.
The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, also known as the Chang'e Project after the Chinese Moon goddess Chang'e, is an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) was a component of the U.S. NASA Vision for Space Exploration plan. A competition was held to design a spacecraft that could carry humans to the destinations envisioned by the plan. The winning design was the Orion spacecraft.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to space exploration.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has proposed several concept moonbases for achieving a permanent presence of humans on the Moon since the late 1950s. Research and exploration of the Moon have been a large focus of the organization since the Apollo program. NASA's peak budget was in 1964–1965, when it comprised 4% of all federal spending in service of the Apollo Moon landing project. Though lunar landings since the conclusion of the Apollo program in 1972 have ceased, interest in establishing a permanent habitation on the lunar surface or beyond low Earth orbit has remained steady. Recently, renewed interest in lunar landing has led to increased funding and project planning. NASA requested an increase in the 2020 budget of $1.6 billion, in order to make another crewed mission to the Moon under the Artemis program by 2025, followed by a sustained presence on the Moon by 2028. A crew was selected for the planned crewed mission, Artemis II, in April 2023.
The Space Exploration Initiative was a 1989–1993 space public policy initiative of the George H. W. Bush administration.
The politics of outer space includes space treaties, law in space, international cooperation and conflict in space exploration, international economics, and the hypothetical political impact of any contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which is planned to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part of the Artemis program. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.
Blue Moon is a family of lunar landers and their associated infrastructure, intended to carry humans and cargo to the Moon, under development by a consortium led by Blue Origin and including Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics. Two versions of Blue Moon are under development: a robotic lander planned to land on the Moon in 2024, and a larger human lander planned to land a crew of four astronauts on the lunar surface for the NASA Artemis V mission in 2029.
The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
Artemis IV is a planned mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. The mission will include the fourth use of a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, will send an Orion spacecraft with four astronauts to the Lunar Gateway space station, install a new module on the Gateway, and conduct the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.
Artemis V is the fifth planned mission of NASA's Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Blue Moon lander. The mission will launch four astronauts on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion to the Lunar Gateway and will be the third lunar landing of the Artemis program. In addition, Artemis V will also deliver two new elements to the Gateway Space Station.
The Moon bears substantial natural resources which could be exploited in the future. Potential lunar resources may encompass processable materials such as volatiles and minerals, along with geologic structures such as lava tubes that, together, might enable lunar habitation. The use of resources on the Moon may provide a means of reducing the cost and risk of lunar exploration and beyond.
HERACLES is a planned robotic transport system to and from the Moon by Europe (ESA), Japan (JAXA) and Canada (CSA) that will feature a lander called the European Large Logistic Lander, a Lunar Ascent Element, and a rover. The lander can be configured for different operations such as up to 1.5 tons of cargo delivery, sample-returns, or prospecting resources found on the Moon.
The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) (Chinese: 国际月球科研站, Russian: Международная научная лунная станция) is a planned lunar base currently being led by Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The ILRS will serve as a comprehensive scientific experiment base built on the lunar surface or in lunar orbit that can carry out multi-disciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities including exploration and utilization, lunar-based observation, basic scientific experiment and technical verification, and long-term autonomous operation. Statements from Roscosmos and CNSA underline that the project will be "open to all interested countries and international partners." ILRS construction missions are expected to begin after the completion of the Chang'e 8 mission in 2028.
↑ Herzig, Thomas; Kömle, Norbert I.; Macher, Wolfgang; Bihari, Gabor; Gläser, Philipp (2022). "Site selection, thermodynamics, environment and life support analysis for the PneumoPlanet inflatable lunar habitat concept". Planetary and Space Science. 224: 105595. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2022.105595.
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