On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the surface of the Moon. That first step, decorated with the famous words “It is a small step for a man, but a great leap for humanity ” (translated from English “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”) marked the beginning of a space path currently unstoppable and absolutely necessary to understand the universe.
After the arrival to the Moon of several space missions it seems that the interest in our natural satellite lost the interest for the different space agencies of the world. Now, after the success of the Rosetta mission, with the first landing on a comet, the arrival of various devices on Mars, the launching of developed satellites that measure different spatial values, etc., it seems that the Moon is once again important in the knowledge of the dynamics of space and above all, as a test bed for future missions to other planets.
Obviously, being the closest satellite or planet to Earth, it is also the first on the way to exploring new habitable places. Thus, it is not surprising that the possibility arises that, in the future, there will be bases on the Moon where humans can live. But how would they be built? Who could do it? With the arrival of 3D printers, a door has been opened to the automatic and robotic creation of these lunar bases.
And it is that the Moon, due to its mass (much smaller than that of the Earth) does not have an atmosphere that surrounds it. This means not only that there is no oxygen for humans to breathe, but also that there is no protection against the sun’s rays and the impact of meteorites. Hence, the construction of said base is absolutely essential in case of wanting to create a habitable place for human beings.
For this, Foster + Partners, taking advantage of architectural concepts and a theoretical future technology, has created a project of a mission to build a base on the Moon with the help of 3D printers and taking advantage of the materials from the surface of our satellite. The place chosen for the theoretical construction would be the edge of the Shackleton crater, at the south pole of the Moon , since according to its rotation, it is an area bathed, almost continuously by light, which would offer solar energy for the machines will work continuously. In addition, this place would allow to reduce the thermal extremes that occur on the Moon where the temperature can fluctuate much more than 100 ºC.
In any case, it is still a feasible idea only on paper and on which the technicians of the different space agencies will have to work to make it a reality.
