Every American knows about Neil Armstrong’s famous moon landing and his quote: “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” after he set foot on the lunar surface. It started on September 12th, 1962 when president John F. Kennedy made his famous speech titled “We Choose to Go to the Moon”. Kennedy said that the US would put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. They succeeded in 1969 when Armstrong set foot on the Moon. 3 years later, the lunar missions ceased and Americans have not been on the Moon ever since 1972, a mere 10 years after Kennedy’s speech. NASA plans to change that by sending spacecraft to the Moon again. Unfortunately, such ambitious plans may be hampered by NASA’s growing debt and the small amount of funding that it receives. However, such a mission might be worth it as it would lead to a potential moon base and a jumping-off point for future Mars expeditions. It still may pay off to hold back on such dreams for now due to financial obstacles and the excessive spending tied to space missions.
Exploring the moon would bring both direct and indirect benefits. For one, the moon has many resources that can be mined and transported back to Earth, where the government can tax them for additional revenue. Additionally, establishing a moon base would make space travel throughout the solar system much easier because it can serve as a refueling station for rockets departing for Mars. The moon contains many useful materials such as magnesium and helium-3. Helium-3 is a rare isotope that powers nuclear fusion and at current market rates, is expected to fetch 60 dollars per ounce. Meanwhile, the average US sales tax is about 5% and there are nearly 1.1 million metric tons of helium-3 in the first few meters of the moon’s crust. Plus, there are other minerals like lithium and silicon that are crucial for the green energy transition and will be valuable on the market. Additionally, the moon contains hydrogen and oxygen, which are the ingredients for rocket fuel. Mining the moon would cover Earth’s industrial needs for thousands or even millions of years and can refuel rockets that are heading for Mars.
The moon is the closest natural terrestrial object near Earth so it gets a lot of attention when it comes to space colonization. However, it is not as suitable for life as Mars. For one, it is important to remember that a moon day is an entire month back on Earth. This means that there would be a 360-hour day during which the equator gets heated up to 121 degrees Celsius followed by a 360 hour and -133 degrees Celsius night. For comparison, the human body begins to suffer permanent damage at temperatures higher than 60 degrees celsius and gets frostbite at below -0.55 degrees. Also, there is no atmosphere so there is no drag to slow down or stop asteroids and meteors. Besides, the moon often acts as a shield for Earth against these impacts, so chances are that you will not survive long on the moon. Mars, on the other hand, would be more suitable. While its landscape is literally poisonous to plants, it is possible to cultivate the soil if it is treated properly. Additionally, there is an atmosphere to slow down asteroids and radiation. Plus, Mars has more surface gravity than the moon, resulting in decreased muscle and bone degradation. While Mars’s atmosphere is nothing like Earth’s, it does have plenty of oxygen, nitrogen, and a bit of greenhouse gasses mixed in with the iron-oxide in its crust.
Although the moon contains many resources and the potential to colonize Mars, it also offers chances to study science. The moon has no atmosphere and has a very low surface gravity. This makes it the perfect spot to launch large projects to space like telescopes. Telescopes work better in space because there is no atmosphere to blur its vision. Additionally, living on the moon will require technologies such as growing plants that use up far less resources and recycling 100% of a colony’s waste. This will be extremely useful back on Earth as underrecycling, trash, and excessive resource usage are becoming growing problems. Additionally, because of the extremely long lunar night, the astronauts may invent better energy storage so that they can use the sunlight collected during daytime so that they can stay on the moon 24/7/365. This is crucial back on Earth as the green energy transition would be utterly impossible without enough storage. Going to the moon provides many benefits such as breeding plants that are more efficient, better recycling, and energy storage improvements.
Going back to the moon contains many benefits. First, the moon contains vast amounts of resources that will be useful in an advanced future human civilization. In the first few meters of the lunar rock, there is more than 1 million metric tons of helium that can be used for nuclear fusion back on Earth. The moon also contains minerals such as lithium and silicon which play a key role in producing batteries. Second, the moon can serve as a jumping off point for future Mars expeditions. The moon contains ice in its crust which can be melted into water and separated into hydrogen and oxygen, the components of rocket fuel. Going to Mars is also better because the moon is hostile to life with no atmosphere to slow down radiation and asteroids along with a low surface gravity, resulting in increased muscle mass loss. Finally, going to the moon can advance science as the crew would have to innovate in order to be able to stay there for extended periods of time. Some of the things they might do would be to breed plants that are more resource-efficient, recycle all of their waste, and improve energy storage. However, for now, it may be wise to hold back on such ambitious dreams due to budgetary constraints.
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