Plans For Lunar Colonies

People want to inhabit Earth's Moon. There seems to be a lot of hype going around the plans to send humans back to the moon and even more as these plans involve establishing colonies there. Obviously, the environment on the moon is not conducive for habitation but engineers are thinking of ways to make it happen. That is, they want to start with underground colonies.

"Our idea is to actually start underground, using a mechanism we already use on the earth, a tunnel boring machine, to make a continuous opening to create habitats or connect the colonies together," he added.
Analysis of images of the lunar surface show lava tubes capable of housing large cities underground, said Rostami, director of the Earth Mechanics Institute at the US Colorado School of Mines.

The only problem in this plan is the logistics. How do you get a machine weighing several tons on the moon? That would require a big spacecraft to deliver each of the parts which, I guess, will then be assembled on the moon's surface. From there, they will start digging a hole into the moon.

Let's say they successfully accomplish this herculean feat. What then? Will human civilization start from scratch on the moon? Will we send resources every now and then so that they can survive? How will boring a hole on the moon affect Earth? To be honest, it just feels impractical. But we'll see. They plan on sending humans in 2024, so we have ample time to think about it.

(Image credit: Jessie Eastland/Wikimedia Commons)


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