Friday is here, and the "A Taste of Science for the Weekend" corner is back — number 94.
This time: the extraordinary challenges of establishing a permanent base on the far side of the Moon, and the compelling reasons it may happen sooner than you'd think.
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The Artemis 2 mission (in the video), recently launched by NASA, sent four astronauts farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled, as their spacecraft swept past the side of the Moon that faces away from us — also known as the dark side, even though it isn't actually dark.
This mission is a stepping stone toward establishing a permanent settlement on the Moon, specifically on its more distant and challenging far side.
The central challenge is communication: there is no direct line of sight between this side of the Moon and Earth, which means a complete communications blackout. Enabling contact requires placing relay satellites behind the Moon to receive and transmit signals between Earth and the far side.
Other challenges involve extreme terrain conditions. This side of the Moon is characterized by steep mountains and deep craters, as well as long shadows across the surface that make it difficult for optical equipment to read the topography. Those long shadows are cast because the Sun sits near the horizon most of the time.
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The reason this particular side of the Moon is so attractive comes down to what lies hidden in its deep, shadowed craters: ice and other valuable resources in substantial quantities.
The ice found there can be used to produce drinking water and sustain life, and also as a raw material for extracting liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen — critical rocket propellants for spacecraft propulsion.
Producing fuel on the lunar surface would allow the Moon to serve as a refueling station for the lunar colony itself, for spacecraft traveling to and from Mars, and for vehicles launched from Earth that could top up their tanks before heading back.
Other valuable treasures can be found there as well — among them helium-3, which is highly important for nuclear fusion and quantum computing and is nearly nonexistent on Earth, along with rare-earth elements vital to the electronics industry whose terrestrial production is currently dominated by China.
A permanent lunar base could also serve as a chip-manufacturing facility, since vacuum conditions and low gravity have been shown to dramatically improve the delicate fabrication processes involved in semiconductor production — though in that respect, the far side of the Moon holds no particular advantage over the near side.
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The Artemis 2 mission has pushed geopolitical tensions to a new peak.
The United States' lunar settlement program canceled a previous plan for a permanent station in lunar orbit, in which European and Arabian Peninsula nations had been partners. The cancellation was perceived as an abandonment of America's allies and as selfish behavior in a domain that, under the Outer Space Treaty, is supposed to be free and free of national interests.
While the United States charges ahead backed by private companies such as SpaceX, Russia and China have formed their own alliance with the same goal — one driven primarily by their governments.
As governmental involvement in space exploration accelerates, so does the development of space weapons and defense systems. It is reasonable to assume that the next war will involve space-based weaponry such as kamikaze satellites, laser and microwave attacks on satellites, and even weapons aimed at Earth from space.
Space demands international legislation to ensure it remains protected and safe for scientific research — but unfortunately, the deeper American dominance in space grows, the less likely the United States is to agree to sign such legislation.
Shabbat Shalom 😊
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Video credit: NASA
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