NASA’s Updated Plans For A Moon Base

It has been over half a century since astronauts made history and stepped foot on the Moon. With Artemis I complete, the complex process of returning humans to this celestial body is making progress. So much so that this ambitious idea and goal is starting to become a lot more realistic. However, it brings up the question of when will these exciting missions happen, and how will the agency support extended missions on the surface.

The goal of Artemis is to not only return humans to the Moon, but setup a more permanent human presence. In order for this to be successful, an immense amount of infrastructure is needed to safely and efficiently keep humans in good condition. Not to mention the fact that the landing site has already been picked and is set to be on the Moon’s south polar region.

An area ripe for scientific investigations but harsh with low light levels, and low temperatures, just to name a few. In terms of innovation, the agency has invested significant funding in developing the ability to extract oxygen from lunar regolith and water from lunar ice. Just one of many exciting possible solutions to a host of challenges of living on the Moon. Here I will go more in-depth into NASA’s current Moon base plans, when we should expect to see this happen, why it’s so important, and more.

Credit:

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:04 - Moon Base Plan
4:00 - Lunar South Pole

[joz]

I was too young to watch the 1st luna missions. I would rather NASA, takes time to do this right, rather than rush and have an accident and the project scrapped or reduced. Great video thanks for all the hard work 👍

[dumitrulangham]

❤ about time we start settling on another body

[maninifarmer]

Would like to see a comparison of Chinese vs American real purpose to colonize the moon.

[joz]

3D printing is the way to go on planetary bodies. Use the materials there to make the buildings. With 3D printing, you only have to lunch the printer and maybe a few items that cannot be produced locally in the beginning. It would be much cheaper than launching the modules from the Earth. Another advantage is that the walls of the structure could be very thick to help provide radiation shielding and protect from micrometeorites.

[ozahmed]

Month long stays at the Moon. That would be relatively easy to do. What a vacation that would be!

[donovandelaney]

Some of those buildings will be made from plastic.

[Papershields]

So the idea is to have the landing pads 5 km from the base?

[stevenhe]

Human are used to earth's magnetic field ，and for future long term space travel unless have simulated "magnetic filed" generated aboard，human might have more difficultes to adapt the environment.This factor might also apply for the moom base.And actually，the long pursued goal "artificial gravity" might just be first step of it.hmm

[imperatorvespasian]

Oh the moon will be colonised, but not by the USA

[jlmwatchman]

I understand that the habitats I have helped you imagine won’t be the first human habitats, because we already have one or at least a station, base, and place to stay alive, we will be landing on the Moon inside… Yes, the SpaceX Lunar Lander will be where the first landings on the Lunar Surface will be living. That is of course if we are planning to put humans on the Moon As Soon As Possible.??

Before the Lander can land with humans onboard with the expectancy of exiting the Station after a Starship lands it is a station or an outpost sounds less permanent. The first Moon Base will be more permanent with a mile-wide landing pad that will or should have a half-mile-wide ring of Maglev tracks for the first Hypergravity Vehicle Habitats. The mile-wide wall that will be built by Automated Robotics that will keep growing up to at least a mile before we cap it with solar panels that are made to absorb the harmful radiation sent from the Sun, is needed. The first greenhouse on the Moon will grow Mushroom bricks to powdered and use in 3D Space Printers, because of their strength, radiation resistance or absorbance, and malleability to print protective walls as needed.

Within this capped pressurized wall of protection, the half-mile-wide Maglev track will have one more ring of tracks around it at three-fourths of a mile after thousands fill every Hypergravity Vehicle Habitat. Within the Habitat Ring is where the Lunar Gravity Labs will be, but it won’t be like the Lunar Surface because there will be less dust, and within the wall of protection it will have air pressure, for our safety. For safety and survival, humans need a ring of protection that can grow miles high tower for the 8 Layered Cylinder Habitats…

Till then the Starship is big enough for 3 sets of 4 astronaut teams until it is proven to be safe to fly in space as far as the Moon, with limited ailments to recover from… We will need something big so let’s get started on the mile-wide and tall ring of protection…

[davidstevenson]

Unfortunately, NASA has once again pushed back the assembly of the GATEWAY lunar space station. GATEWAY was to be almost complete (4 modules+lander+cargo ship) with Artemis 3 bringing along the Airlock Module for a 45 day stay including the 10 day landing. I'm getting that NASA is once again doing a "rush job", just like they did with Apollo lunar landing program. Why? Practically for the reason: to land before the competition i.e. Russia and this time with China in partnership (and, probably, leadership too).
The possibility of the Russia/China mission landing before Artemis 3 is a great fear for NASA as that would be perceived by many Americans as national failure and global humiliation. In the American alternative history series "For All Mankind", episode 1 reflects this national fear. Every time NASA pushes back it's lunar programs this possibility becomes ever more likely and, as we all saw with Apollo, "rush jobs" don't come to very much.
China has outlined their CNSA lunar program (with timetable) and a manned landing is scheduled for 2035 and yes, that does seem far off, but Americans shouldn't be complacent as they know well the endless fumbling of the Space football by their Congress, NASA, and ULA & Co.

[GadreelAdvocat]

3d printed habs might not work. The massive temperature changes from one side of the structure to the other would cause cracking and breaking. Stainless steel structures in lava tube(s) would be more ideal for temperatures.

[Mentaculus]

Where does the oxygen come from? The H2O at pole craters? If the pipe is 5 miles long that sounds like H2O, if regolith then why is the long pipe needed? If H2O, is it solar powered electrolyzers or nuclear powered? I bet the only thing that is more expensive than a nuclear reactor in the US is the first one on the moon! But we could subcontract it out to the Chinese as they have been cranking them out at an impressive rate, just too bad they are not moon rated.

If H2O what happens to the hydrogen? Seems like a 30 year project with a quarter trillion dollar price tag to have some happy campers prove out the technology for part of a Mars trip. I hope we / NASA are going into this with our eyes open.

I sometimes wonder if the NASA money could be better spent on earth science space technology to help deal with issues closer to home and leave ambitious moon and mars projects to the earth’s richest man.

Unbridled EGO should be able to power “MANkind” to mars! Just whose ego, China, Elon or … is the question? Personally I vote for Elon to utilize his money and rocket science resources to take a shot at it.

So listening to another youtube channel today about the price reductions on Elon’s Tesla EVs, they said that Tesla has close to 40% profit margins on the cars (one can debate a lot of things about this number). If that is the case, is this an “Elon Tax” of some sort? Couldn’t he lower the price so that EVs are actually affordable to the lower middle class and just have a slower economic burn rate at spacex and save earth?

[dhgfffhcdujhv]

That is provided that self learning, intuitive AI on quantum computers wont finish us first.

[donovandelaney]

They won't be wearing large space suits.

[rkhyden]

Thank you NASA for doing nothing for the past 50 years. If SpaceX happened come along, we still be waiting. I am going to write my congressman and complain about your leadership.