99. How plausible would it be to build a community on the Moon? When? (A K2S Question)
From The Space Library
It's certainly plausible to build a community or city on the Moon, and perhaps more than one, but doing so will depend on several factors. One factor is finding useful things to do on the Moon, because we're not doing this just for fun. In the early years support from Earth will be critical, and it will be easy for support to wane among the general public. Having businesses and trades involved in the development of the community will be important, so that it's not just a NASA science outpost. Another strong factor is how the base is designed and built. One designed around a strictly mechanical life-support structure will be less flexible than one that actively incorporates plants and some small animals and insects. The kinds of activities we seek to undertake on the Moon will influence the design. A base designed solely to provide support to some infrared (IR) telescopes on the Moon will be a lot different from one that supports IR scopes, oxygen mining, crater studies, solar power materials production, materials science research, foodstuff production and other activities of interest. A base can be started by 2020, or even 2015 if we work at it. A community can develop within a generation after that, or after about 20 years, and our success at becoming a space-faring, and not just space-visiting, civilization can provide a vibrant city on the Moon inside of 50 years. Of course, for this to happen we have to make it happen.
Answer provided by Thomas Matula, Ph.D. & Kenneth J. Murphy
Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer
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