Monika Leininger and Holly Morgan
Mleinin1@uwyo.edu
Hmorgan3@uwyo.edu
Just under 50 years ago, humankind took its first step on the moon when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exited the doors of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969.
At the time, this event was barely believable, more akin to a science fiction scene than reality (some argued that, in fact it was simply a trick of film). However, today, despite its illustrious and impressive history, space exploration finds itself in limbo, as does all non-defense scientific spending in the United States.
Just because America’s attitude towards space exploration is taking a backseat doesn’t mean the attitude is transnationally shared. Recently, the European Space Agency has shown interest in the creation of a moon village that hopes to serve science, business and tourism.
This wouldn’t be the first time that outer space travel has been an enticing idea. About a decade ago, the Russian Space Agency publicized the idea of moon tourists. The Russian Space Agency advertised an adventure to the international space station for a mere $20-40 million per trip. A moon village could expedite the idea of space tourism, also making a journey into space more affordable to adventurous travelers.
Sustainability is another attractive feature of moon village. The current plan for the construction of moon village is 3D printing of inflatable buildings consisting of materials from the moon’s surface. Once moon infrastructure is in place, it would take very little work to continue to expand.
Along the same lines of sustainability, the moon might serve as a safe space to keep the legacy of the human race. The moon could essentially serve as an external hard drive for Earth, safekeeping the genetic codes of species endemic to earth, so we have the ability to recreate extinct species using the stored genomes.
Although this project is the brainchild of the ESA, other nations’ participation is envisaged by the ESA to be a key component of enriching the prospects of moon village and accelerating interest in further space exploration. Since the Outer Space Treaty of 1976 prevents any individual nation from having ownership or right to the moon, a moon village could go one of two ways: it could be a race to see who can nail down the prime real-estate of the moon, or it could be a collaborative effort between different nations to work together and create a cohesive village.
Maybe it will take a moon village to bring us all together; either concept is a fantasy that has entered the horizon of possibility.
In the past, I was peeved to be born too late to explore the New World, and too young for the execution of interstellar space exploration. But perhaps this time brings a different pleasure; this could be the first step in humans colonizing different planetary bodies in our solar system, and beyond. It would be a fine thing to look up at the sky and realize our smallness, but also have the distinct sense that we are growing further into the vastness around us.
