In spite of a dozen Apollo short-stay visitors between 1969 and 1972, the moon is not a "been there, done that" world.
Our heavenly neighbor could serve as a homeland for a variety of scientific and commercial interests, from cranking out made-on-the-moon oxygen and fuels to installing antenna that scans the heavens for signs of other technological civilization. Basic information about the formation of our solar system can be surrendered by lunar research.
The first woman and first person of color will be on the moon by the year 2025. The goal is to use innovative technologies so that Artemis moonwalkers can explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.
NASA will be setting up a moon base.
A 21st century human return to that world will not be trouble-free.
NASA's vision is caught between a moon rock and a hard place, having to first develop the technologies needed to give crews the wherewithal for longer and more sustainable operations on the lunar surface.
NASA is getting its lunar act together by first mustering up what is needed early for human exploration of the moon. The agency will try to use the technologies and skills necessary for a sustainable, "live off the land" approach for a lunar base.
The meaning of "sustainable" is up for debate. According to the April release of the U.S. National Academies Planetary Science and Astrobiological Decadal Survey, NASA has only one goal in mind for human lunar exploration.
There are "widely accepted reasons to continue human lunar exploration that justify the continued investment, commitment, and risk beyond a few missions" according to the report.
It's always a good idea to ask advice from someone who has been to the moon.
A future moon settlement has less to do with finding useful resources on the lunar surface and more to do with lowering the costs of launching crew and equipment according to a moonwalker. The technological foundations for sustained settlement of the moon are either in-hand or well understood.
The main remaining challenge is to have a reliable heavy-lift booster that will put both economical cost and achievable risk management within reach of private or national entities.
NASA declared the Artemis 1 moon rocket test a success.
In order to tackle the key challenges of future moon settlements that need addressing, a lunar surface innovation consortium is being hosted by the APL. It is a work in progress and an ongoing endeavor that works with NASA.
The APL-led group is researching ways to put humankind back on the moon.
There are teams of people from various institutions in the consortium. A set of explicit focus group areas are being explored by this group.
APL planetary scientist Ben Bussey leads the team supporting the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate's lunar surface innovation initiative. Bussey told Space.com that their job is a systems integration role. How do you make sure that these are the best technologies?
NASA is working with a number of American companies to deliver science and technology to the moon's surface through its commercial lunar payload services initiative.
Bussey said it was all about rapid technology development. Every lunar chance is precious with the help of CLPS. We are an independent evaluator about getting technologies onto the moon. We provide neutral advice and guidance to the government.
Bussey compares the Artemis Base Camp to McMurdo Station, the largest complex in the world. McMurdo was established in 1955 and is the hub of the U.S.Antarctic Program. A lot of research is done at and near McMurdo Station.
If each individual expedition had to fly everything in and out of New Zealand or South America, it wouldn't happen as much. Bussey hopes the lunar base camp will allow exploration of the whole moon.
According to Rachel Klima, the director of APL, the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium has grown to over 500 organizations. Klima said there's a lot of enthusiasm for building an economy that focuses on having a sustained presence on the moon.
The US government is the customer for the moon. The customer base should grow as other industry members consider going back and forth to the moon on their own.
According to Klima, APL is working with NASA on a project. Testing technologies, hardware and systems can only be used with lunar samples brought to Earth.
Klima says it's important to match the appropriate lunar materials for testing new technologies here on Earth before sending them off to the moon. Mineral/chemical simulants can be used to appraise equipment that can produce oxygen from the moon's topside regolith. She said that the lower and higher levels of lunar materials are important in judging technology readiness levels.
Knowing the melting temperature by well-matched, fine-tuned simulants is important when getting into 3D printing of regolith or the sintering and extruding of simulations. She said that using an off-the-shelf simulation to study how equipment and processes react on the moon is not a good idea.
Klima said there is a lot of effort to try and understand what technology can be adequately tested on Earth. It is possible to flight-test equipment intended for moon use because of the aircraft capable of simulating the moon's one sixth gravity.
There is a planetary scientist at APL. He is a co-facilitator for the focus group. He wants to trial run technologies on the moon.
In American history, the early pioneers built houses out of local timber and took water out of a stream. Isru is that. If you want to have a sustained human presence on the moon, it's hard to imagine how you would do that without ISRU. They really work together.
Water ice on the moon draws a lot of attention, but it's not the main source of sunlight at the lunar south pole. In the south pole region, there are hill tops that are bathed in sunlight for around 250 days out of the year, which is ideal for the placement of solar panels.
The Artemis 1 moon mission launch windows are through 2023.
If you don't know the distribution and quality of lunar water ice, designing mining gear can be difficult.
Do you know how deep it is? Is it in a block of ice? You need to know the status of the ice before you can use technology to mine it. A tall tent pole is part of the puzzle.
The exact type of knowledge gap that needs to be closed is due to the limited data that dives into clarifying the water ice question.
It would be necessary to send a lunar-orbiting vehicle with special instruments that can sense the moon's water ice. Runyon suggested that they need to fly over territory at a low altitude in a barnstorming fashion, followed by robotic rovers.
He said that you can design the technology for that. We need to do that quickly.
Runyon said that the moon is rich in oxygen that could be used to make medicine. He said it will be possible to land a solar-powered molten regolith oxygen production plant on the moon. A prototype is being tested by the European Space Agency.
It would take three commercial solar panels to generate enough electricity to power that plant for a year. Oxygen and a lot of metals are an infinite resource on the moon.
Runyon said that APL's experts are considering the advantages of solar panels, batteries, regeneration fuel cells, beamed power, and nuclear reactor. One needs to be able to survive on the moon for a long time to use those technologies.
Runyon said that he was inspired by the method of build, fly, break, build, fly, break and succeed. It can be an effective way of learning about technology.
There will be a flotilla of robotic moon landers and rovers that will signal a resurgence of lunar investigation over the next few years.
The moon will be transformed into a long-term, footprint-friendly place thanks to this new surge of discovery, but just how that will happen is not known.
The book "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" was published by National Geographic. David has been writing about the space industry for more than 50 years. We encourage you to follow us on social media:
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