As humans, we find ourselves drawn to expand. We wish to move outwards into undiscovered areas and conquer them, allowing them to be forever inhabited. At this point in our history, we stop looking around. Instead, we start looking up. Unfortunately, that will never fully happen in any of our lifetimes, right? Well, not quite.

A great place to start would be a moon base. Laughably close compared to anywhere else, small and with natural shelter, and abundant in useful resources, both for building or export. Estimates from NASA and the private sector estimate a cost of $20-40 billion over 10-ish years. This is a similar price tag to the ISS, and could possibly come with even greater rewards. it would teach us how to colonize planets, and be a sort of sandbox where we can mess about a bit before it gets serious. A tutorial, if you will.

You may see all the words above and go, “that’s great, but it probably won’t work” or “that’s great, but how will it help me?”. the answer lies in what you personally care about. like a clean planet with less carbon emissions? the moon has a large amount of helium 3, a developing fuel source for a new generation of nuclear reactors that could mean long lasting clean energy. like traveling to space and colonizing other planets? good, because that’s the main feature of this project. the moon is a gateway to other planets because it will teach us how to colonize planets and still be a safe place to learn. do you like new and innovative products that would be way more efficient and interesting? good, because colonizing another planet virtually requires that. like being even more filthy rich than you already are? good, because the moon would provide massive economic growth and job incentives for innovators, investors, scientists and explorers.

Colonizing the moon wouldn’t just be humanity’s next foray into space, it would start a new space race, unify nations, create new technologies, and be a great sandbox to learn how to colonize other planets.

(link to the sequel article here: https://esteemstream.news/52387/uncategorized/moon_base_part_2/)