Let's colonize the Moon!

232 frames at 75% best quality in Registax.

Probably many of you when you were kids, you were dreaming of going to the Moon , or you imagined about Moon bases like domes in which cosmonauts would live . This can happen these days once technology has advanced greatly , making a tremendous leap in the last decade. My personal opinion is that the Moon would not be the first candidate for colonization, but Mars.

But the truth is, the easiest way is to get to the Moon, because to reach Mars is required a 6 month journey in space , unlike the Moon on which you can reach in a few days.

If we take into account the colonization of the Moon, which by the way is prohibited by international treaties, the Moon being only studied for scientific purposes, this should be done strategically , not anywhere on its surface.

 Building a Moon base have to be located at one of the lunar poles for several reasons :

1 . Solar energy . There are places at the south pole of the Moon for example, the Sun never sets , except on times of eclipses of the Moon when Earth's shadow covers the Sun as seen from the Moon . With a Sun that never ceases to shine , the eventual Moon base would have constant solar energy. Malapert mountain, south of the Moon, located near the crater Shackleton is always sunny . Solar collection stations could provide electricity for a base if builded somewhere near this mountain .

Peary crater at the south can also be counted as a part of its surface, is constantly exposed to the Sun, estimating that in this region there would be a stable temperature of -50 degrees Celsius , with temperatures comparable to those from Siberia.

2 . Water at the poles . Has already been demonstrated that there is water on lunar poles where sunlight never reaches . This would make the prospective settlers to have resources for consumption.

A Moon base on the unseen face of it is ruled out as it would have hampered direct communications with Earth
Either way , I think the humans will colonize the Moon first and only then a planet.

 But before we think of any settlement , we should think about why would we make such a step . It is hard to believe that for the sake of science it would be invested so much money for a base there. There must be something more valuable, namely the exploitation of resources. Only then it will be colonized , but as yet are not very good reasons to believe that we have something to exploit there for bringing profit and be also able to cover the costs of colonization , little chance . Perhaps only if we discover a mountain of gold there .

One more valuable reason that would quickly implement, would be an imminent asteroid impact with our planet which is known in advance , let's say at least 5-10 years earlier.


A manned Moon expedition.
Frankly, I would be very happy to be one of the first inhabitants of the Moon, and if such a base would be built there, I'd do it, but only if I'm there with people which are carefully psychologically analyzed, not risking conflicts during that period. Imagine of not geting along with someone you live in a space of 400 square meters, say over a period of 5 years.


I can imagine how nice it would show the Earth from the Moon. It would be much bigger than the Moon as viwed from the Earth. To this marvel, we add the overwhelming beauty of our planet, bright and blue, full of white clouds as snow with spectacular swirls. I would even be able to see phases of the Earth.

I would look through the telescope to see my own planet, remembering how I looked from the Earth, to the Moon.
Besides the admiration that I have for the mother planet, I would make more tests when I get dressed in the lunar environment protection costume. First I would play with Moon's sand, I'd made ​​some dangerous maneuvers like jumping, somersaults, and I would be looking for any changes of the surface, eg, gas that is supposed to emanate, flashes or lightning which were recorded by observers from the Earth, and maybe I'd find other unexplained phenomena that we could not see it, unless it was a research base there.

I hope I have inspired people in this article, to look for the Moon more, and see that maybe one day, we'll never know, this rocky "planet" will may be our temporary home one day, in case of some desastruos future threats, and we will say, "well, I never  thought, or looked on the Moon and here we are, on it, and loving it, glad that we have it".

Age of the Moon: 27 days
Distance: 387.568 km
Phase: 17% (0% = New, 100% = full)

Image above info:
Optics: Celestron C8 "-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plossl, 2x Barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 11/09/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: Registax, FastStone Image Viewer


Comments from Reddit:
japko
Is it just me, or is there a probability that this could cause a war for moon land?

AlphaBetaParkingLot -

Possible? Yes.
But I would hope the same farsightedness that places both Antarctica and the moon (and all else in space) off-limits to claim by any nation would prevent it. These treaties, do indeed prevent a nation from colonising the moon as part of their nation, but it either allows, or could reasonable be amended to allow, a sort of International Space Station on the moon, that is a joint operation owned by many nations.
Although it would be cool to build a colony with no ties to a Earth nation at all... it would be unreasonable considering someone has to pay for it, build it, etc.

 H_is_for_Human - I'd rather see a situation like the ISS than a situation like Antarctica.

Posted in: Astronomy news,Gallery-Registax