[imagesource:nasa]

By 2040, there could be more than one man on the moon.

Despite sceptics’ doubts, a NASA spokesperson told the New York Times that it wants to move some Americans to the moon in just under 20 years’ time.

Niki Werkheiser, the director of technology maturation at NASA, said “We’re at a pivotal moment, and in some ways, it feels like a dream sequence”, adding that “In other ways, it feels like it was inevitable that we would get here”.

With Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin vying for commercial space travel domination, and Elon (d)eluding to the fact that he wants humanity on Mars soon, this kind of space colonisation is bound to happen at some point.

“We’ve got all the right people together at the right time with a common goal, which is why I think we’ll get there,” added Werkheiser.

“Everybody is so ready to take this step together, so if we get our capabilities developed, there’s no reason it’s not possible.”

It will all begin when NASA’s Artemis sends four humans to orbit the moon in November 2024, followed by the first humans landing on the moon in more than half a century a year later.

In terms of getting life set up on Earth’s satellite, the cutting-edge architecture firms Bjarke Ingels Group and SEArch+ (Space Exploration Architecture) are in charge of these futuristic lunar lodgings. Their grand idea is to create structures out of a never-before-forged material, AKA moon matter, which consists of fragments of dust, rocks and other minerals found on the crater-ridden surface.

This, in theory, should allow the buildings to brave the hazardous conditions on the moon.

Also in the mix is Icon, a Texas company that has begun 3D printing homes and received more than $57 million in funding, CBS News reports. The company hopes to bring or build a printer to operate on the moon in an effort to further human colonisation.

Then, a team of university researchers from Texas A&M’s School of Architecture partnered with NASA to create robots to help build the lunar shelter. Patrick Suermann, the school’s interim dean, quipped that “there’s no Home Depot up there” so “you either have to know how to use what’s up there or send everything you need.”

Looks like NASA has everything covered to make Earth’s satellite another place for humans to ruin.

[source:nypost]