Between 1969 and 1972, NASA successfully landed humans on the moon 6 times, but, since then, the moon has been largely neglected, besides a handful of flybys, orbiters, or impact missions. However, we have recently turned our attention back to Earth’s only natural satellite, with the ultimate goal being a self-sustaining moon colony.

In late 2017, President Trump enacted Space Policy Directive-1, which ordered NASA “to lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system.” As a response, NASA set their sights on the moon once again, as a base there would be a cheaper and safer launching point for other missions, namely those headed to Mars.

Likewise, the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, China, Israel, and India have sent missions to explore the moon in recent years for similar reasons. For example, China sent two rovers to explore the far side of the moon for the first time in 2019. Apparently, one of the rovers named Yutu-2 found a mysterious goo. India’s Chandrayaan-1 confirmed the existence of water on the moon in 2009.

All of these take us a step closer to actually building a functional base on the moon, although many problems still need to be figured out. Fortunately, scientists at the ESA have solved two of them–a steady supply of oxygen and building materials–with moon dust.

Why Go Back to the Moon?

First, it’s cheaper for space travel. Launching one kilogram into space cost NASA over $50,000 when their shuttle program was operational, although SpaceX has lowered this to under $3,000/kg with their Falcon 9 rocket. Even at this reduced cost, launching from the surface of the moon is far easier because rockets do not have to break Earth’s gravity or overcome drag from Earth’s atmosphere. The moon’s gravity is about 1/6th that of Earth’s and has a negligible atmosphere. Therefore, rockets do not need to carry anywhere near the same amount of fuel when leaving from Earth. The weight of the fuel in NASA’s shuttle, for example, was about 20 times the weight of the shuttle itself.

Second, there’s a lot of science to do. The six manned moon missions yielded close to 400 kilograms of lunar rocks and dust, the analysis of which yielded an abundance of information. For example, it showed a violent 4.5 billion year history of meteorite collisions and lava outpourings. We also learned that the moon was formed from the debris caused by the collision of Earth and Theia, a body about the size of Mars. Reflecting arrays left by Apollo 11, 14, and 15 continue to provide a wealth of data on the movement and even composition of the moon. Future experiments include measuring the moon’s magnetic field, analyzing its surface radiation, drilling beneath the surface, among many others. These types of experiments have given us and will continue to give us a deeper understanding of how our solar system was created and how it is changing.

Third, the moon is full of resources, particularly helium-3 and rare-earth elements. Helium-3 is an isotope of helium with one less neutron, and it is produced on the moon when lithium on the surface is bombarded by the solar wind. Some have estimated it could sell for $40,000 per ounce, as a few hundred pounds could power a large city for a year when used in a nuclear reactor. Rare-earth elements such as scandium, cerium, terbium, neodymium, among 13 others are used in virtually all types of modern electronics and are thought to be abundant on the moon. Mining the moon, therefore, would make these elements cheaper to obtain and would stop one or more countries from controlling the market. According to Reuters, “China supplied 80% of the rare earths imported by the United States from 2014 to 2017.”

Fourth, we won’t be putting all our eggs in one basket. If something were to happen to Earth, then humanity’s existence would be threatened. For example, it’s possible an asteroid large enough to cause a mass extinction could collide with the Earth, such as the Chicxulub impactor that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Humanity may also destroy itself in a Malthusian catastrophe, from an inability to control disease, climate change, etc. Therefore, spreading out is a way to increase our chances of survival as a species.

The Magic of Moon Dust

Moon dust caused a lot of problems for the Apollo missions, as it has bizarrely powerful adhesive properties. Brian O’Brien, who was the dust expert for NASA from 1969 to 1970, claimed “Dust is the number one environmental hazard on the moon, yet its movements and adhesive properties are little understood.” Despite this, researchers have found ways to turn moon dust into necessities for a moon colony.

Of the many challenges of building and sustaining a moon base, perhaps the most difficult to overcome are a consistent supply of oxygen and building materials. The ESA has solved both of these by using moondust.

Moon dust contains almost 50% oxygen, although this is trapped in glass or various types of minerals. Researchers at the ESA found that putting moon dust in a metal container with calcium chloride salt, heating it to almost 1000 C with solar power, and putting an electrical current across it frees the oxygen, where it collects at an anode. This oxygen can be stored and used to create a breathable atmosphere for people, animals, and even crops (yes, plants need oxygen). The rest of the material is converted to useful alloys.

The ESA also developed a method to convert moon dust directly to bricks with sunlight. They claim “The new technique calls for only the 3D printer plus solar concentrator to be conveyed to the Moon.” They use 147 curved mirrors to focus sunlight into an intense beam that melts the moon dust. From here, it is fed into a specialized 3-D printer where it is stacked and dried in 0.1 millimeters thick layers. Therefore, the surface of the moon can be converted to ready to use building materials.

The above methods reduce the need to transport oxygen and building materials from the Earth to the moon, taking a big step towards a self-sustaining moon colony, which is arguably the next big step for our species.

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