Colonization of the Moon

Cosmos has always been a source of wonderment for the mankind. Humankind has gazed out at the stars and has searched for their destiny in the stars. For thousands of years, men have gazed at the heavens and have imagined what is out there. Especially in the 19th century many Science Fiction Writers like Jules Verne has symbolized going to the moon or to the Mars for the mankind. With the coming of the 20th century, mankind has seen the beginning of the Space Age Era with the launching of the Sputnik Spacecraft in 1957. After the success of the lunar landing in 1969, traveling to the moon has become a reality and forming a colony on the moon has become a realistic possibility.

Colonization of the Moon is an important event that symbolizes the dominion that mankind can have over space. Many feel that it is the destiny of mankind to wander into space to colonize the Moon, Mars and perhaps the beyond. With the growing population of today, and the resources in Erath dwindling, colonizing The Moon and the beyond may be the only answer to mankind’s salvation.

Colonization of the Moon would require first of all, spacecraft that are reusable for transport between the Earth and the Moon. The most feasible scheme discussed by scientists today is the fact that the Earth launchings of equipment and personnel would be done by Titan Rockets, which have capability of transporting tons of payload into Earth orbit. These powerful boosters, which use liquid hydrogen as a fuel, would allow equipment and people to be ferried into a High Earth Orbit (HEO). Once this orbit is achieved, the equipment and personnel will be transferred to a docking space station like the International Space Station that is being constructed today. However there would have to be daily flights from Earth to the Orbital Platform so that every piece of equipment can be joined together quickly and efficiently.

The second phase would require usage of spacecraft between moon and the Earth to transfer these equipment and personnel. Once the transfer is complete, the journey can be between Moon and Earth quite short, maybe a week. Of course, this won’t be possible with just a single ship, as there will need to be many ships that will carry equipment and new personnel to the colonies on to the Moon. Once the equipment and personnel arrive at the moon, the real task would begin. There would need to be huge domes that are able to keep air and pressure inside. Even with Today’s technology, such feats are possible. In fact in Arizona and in several other locations, people are forming space habitats to experiment living in pressurized domes. The main problem in the colonization of the moon would be water and oxygen of course. However, with special life support synthesis, it would be possible to produce water and oxygen in the future. At the least oxygen molecules would be brought over in a dense packed form; and then they would be expanded to fill the dome and to combine with hydrogen (which is abundant in outer space) to make water for the colonists. Also Since when a human being exhales, carbon dioxide comes out; it would be possible to filter Carbon Dioxide which contains two atoms of oxygen to create new oxygen molecules to breathe again. Thus, it would be possible to filter the same air over and over again. This is an important task as it allows the colonization of the Moon to be a possible reality. Since there is no oxygen on the Moon, it would be impossible for the colonists to stay alive without the possibility of filtering the air.

With the technologies stated above, the colonization of the moon is not such a distant thing. Of course, there are some difficulties that need to be ironed out but in time all difficulties can be overcome easily.