How many people can live on the moon?

New project, developed by experts from ESA, can help in the colonization of our natural satellite

Currently, the Earth is home to 7 billion people, some of whom have set an ambitious goal — once to resettle humanity in the neighboring planets and satellites. So, one of the newest projects to colonize the moon, developed , represents the concept of a lunar base, which can be created with the help of 3D printing technology. If the project will one day be implemented, how many people can live on the moon? Let's try to speculate about it in this article.

is it Possible on the moon to build a space base?

Almost no science fiction is complete without the presence of an extraterrestrial colony on our natural satellite. The main reason is, of course, is the relatively small distance to our nearest neighbor that could play into our hands when transporting mineral resources from the Earth and back. The surface area of the moon is about 16% relative to the area of our planet, unless you consider that part of the Earth's surface that is fully covered with oceans. If you place the area of our satellite in the region's most densely populated areas of the planet, it turns out that the Moon can hold a colony, consisting of almost trillion people!

Technically, if we put this region in the density of the most populous cities of the Earth, it turns out that the Moon is able to shelter a colony of a trillion people. But can the Moon not just to provide accommodation of such a large number of people, but also to provide the colonists with everything necessary? Well, in this regard, our satellite is the much poorer sister of the Earth than you would expect.

So, one of the main problems that can face a human colony on the moon, can be a complete absence of air. None of the existing ecosystem of our planet cannot dwell and produce a good offspring in airless conditions. Another constraining factor for the person may be the vulnerability of the moon before the solar storms and eruptions due to the complete absence of our satellite's magnetic field. Large temperature changes and alternating long periods of the day or night can make life on the moon is impossible. Surely in that case we should lose hope that one day man will become an interplanetary species?

the Concept of the space base from the European Space Agency

Perhaps it's not as bad as it may seem. Scientists believe that in order to create on the full moon of the human colony of several hundred people, we need to begin transport of air to the surface of our satellite, pumping it in an airtight structure, in which in the future will be able to live people. In order to make possible the accommodation of a colony of a hundred or a thousand people, we would have to learn to synthesize oxygen directly into the moon, what would have made this process very costly undertaking.

The Extraction of water under the lunar surface or on the bottom of the craters formed after meeting our neighbor with icy comets could also be a very bad investment because the cost of finding, crushing and digging up lunar ice would require a huge amount of energy. To fill the water deficit would be possible with recycling of the liquid from the soul of the astronauts, their urine and sweat, but even so the usual way of getting water that is used in the modern , goes with some loss, from-for what all available reserves will need to replenish from the outside from time to time.

“shower” on the ISS

Not knowing how much water is currently located on the moon's surface, it becomes very difficult to assess what number of people can simultaneously contain natural satellite of our planet. If somehow we can solve the problems with air and water, it will automatically reveal to mankind the way to create on the full moon of agriculture with special domes closed ecosystem.

Despite the fact that the question of the colonization of the moon and turning it into a second Earth there are still many unknown, researchers believe that theoretically the natural resources of the satellite could be fed to tens of thousands, even millions of people on the moon. A great breakthrough in the colonization of the new world could be the solution to the transport problem, which requires the rejection of spacecraft and the creation of devices of new generation. One of these would be on the development of which is already fighting experts from all corners of our planet. The invention of such technology would have helped with respect to the budget to move from the earth to the moon tens of thousands of people.

If you compare the moon with the Earth, the most similar to the lunar climate are conditions in Antarctica, where there are currently only a seasonal population of from one to four thousand researchers. Permanent extreme cold, isolation from the mainland and limited circle of scientists significantlyaffect their General health, allowing you to create a full-fledged settlement on the coldest continent of our planet.

It Seems that this outcome of events live on the moon will not millions of people, but only a few thousand at a time, which will eventually be replaced by cheaper labor — .

Do you agree with this view?