BASIC MOON FACTS

To start off with, let’s first get acquainted with our celestial partner as we take in the below facts.

  • According to Wikipedia, the Moon has a surface area of about 38 million square km. This is roughly the size of North America and South America combined.
  • 40% of its weight is oxygen and minerals such as iron can be mined from its rocks
  • It is heavily crater-covered but also has a lot of flat areas
  • It has no atmosphere with a two-week-long day and night cycle that causes huge swings in its temperature
  • It is approximately 380,000km from the earth (about 30 times the earth’s diameter)
  • It takes about three days to get there by rocket ship
  • Usually the same side of it is always facing earth because of its orbit and rate of rotation
  • We have its gravity to thank for the tides and how it keeps the earth at a 23.5° angle for our seasons. Its gravity is six times weaker than that of earth.
  • Lastly, it really is possible to colonise the Moon through building and living in domes with thick walls that shield us from the sun’s harmful radiation and which provide a home where we can grow vegetation for both food and oxygen. However, this vegetation will also need nitrogen imported from earth and an immense amount of artificial light (with growth through hydroponics) due to the Moon's two-week-long day and night cycle. If food is too difficult to grow on the Moon, it can be imported from earth along with animals for meat and improved ecosystems. In time, the Moon could breed the animals and crops it already has to multiply them and become self-sufficient while both air and water can be continually recycled when there is enough of it. Oxygen can also be mined from the ground along with various minerals and energy while water can be produced by mixing hydrogen (brought over from earth) with the locally available oxygen. In addition, both hydrogen and oxygen can be used as source of fuel. Buildings could be easier to construct on the Moon in gravity that is about one sixth as strong as earth's. Another option is to live in shaded areas inside craters or underground. That will certainly shield colonists from the sun’s harmful radiation and various bombardments from outer space, which the Moon has no atmosphere to protect against. While the Moon does have a lot to offer in the way of oxygen and minerals it does lack a lot of vital elements for sustaining life such as carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. However, this can always change with future technological breakthroughs that allow us to generate these resources locally - or they can simply be imported from earth. If this sounds too good to be true just think of all the different types of structures and materials we have made on earth from just rocks, soil and trees!