Why not build a space station on the moon?

A space station on the moon can be very useful. Future space missions could use this as an intermediate stop between the Earth and an imaginary place even farther away., Much Inside the solar system Beyond, on the Milky Way.

One of the reasons we don’t build a space station on the moon is because we don’t often send humans there. So far it has been able to send astronauts only six times. These lunar landings took place over a period of three years between 1969 and 1972, and were part of a space travel program. Apollo missions.

The type of rocket used to send astronauts To the moon, Chardonnay V, very powerful, and it is no longer produced. This means that we do not have a powerful rocket to send humans to the moon (so we’re not talking about building a space station there).

Although the most powerful rockets are rebuilt. Space Research Institute Space X Is developing large and capable new rockets to carry the weight of astronauts to the moon. NASA, for its part, also plans to send new humans to our satellite.

However, there is a big difference between making a short journey to the moon and building a space station on it, which is very difficult. One way to achieve this goal is to create fragments on Earth, take them to the moon and put them together there. It will follow the construction method International Space Station. In that case, the pieces were taken into space and then collected by astronauts on spacecraft.

But the International Space Station is 400 kilometers from the Earth’s surface The moon is at 384,000. Each trip to the moon will take about three days and will require a large amount of fuel, which will not help the Earth’s climate change problem.

That would be a great idea Create as much as possible the basic structure of the space base Items from the moon. Lunar concrete, for example, is being tested on Earth to verify its reliability as a building material.

On earth, concrete can be made from cement, water and gravel or sand. Although the dust and sulfur on the moon are molten, we have none of these on the moon. When this mixture cools, there is a solid substance It is stronger than many of the building materials we currently use on earth.

We need to think about that as well What astronauts need Have to stay at the station. The most important thing is to guarantee them food and energy, Operate equipment and produce food and breathable air.

There are scientists studying how to grow food in space. At the International Space Station, astronauts are experimenting with growing vegetables in capsules on land. Another option is to grow plants with hydroponics, i.e. the plants are grown in water, not in soil.

Bringing energy to the moon can be very complicated. Solar panels would be the best option, but the moon would rotate every 28 days. That means if we build A standard space station, The installation is said to be 14 days in the sun and 14 days in the dark (and without light, equipment that works with this energy will not work unless there is a big improvement in the energy saving capacity of the batteries).

One way to deal with this problem is to build a space station near one of the moon’s poles and extend the solar panels there. In this way, These panels receive enough sunlight to rotate continuously and are not blocked by satellite.

As an alternative to all of the above, we need to keep in mind that we do not need to create any kind of station on the lunar surface. instead, NASA is considering developing a satellite and placing it in orbit around the moon. Rockets launched from its surface use more fuel to escape from their orbit, but that would not be a problem if they were launched from a satellite. Therefore, it may be better than a base on the ground; In the depths of the solar system, it can be the starting point for long-distance journeys to the destination.

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