Lunar Base, the Logical Next Step for Humans Says Elon Musk

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're well aware of the name Elon Musk. The famed CEO has been featured numerous times in newspapers, magazines, and editorials as the man with big dreams. Not only is Musk the CEO and founder of SpaceX, but he is also the creative mind behind Tesla and the many inventions of The Boring Company.

But Elon's dreams don't just end there. Despite his many achievements and jaw-dropping inventions, the CEO said in a video link forum in Russia that the next logical and evolutionary step for man to take is to set up a permanent lunar base and a habitat on Mars.

Artemis Missions: Gateway to the Moon

The Artemis Missions have been making a steady buzz online and offline as it's the first time NASA intends to send astronauts back to the moon since Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong's momentous lunar landing aboard the Apollo 11.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has won the collaborative project of supplying rockets to be used in the missions and the construction of the Artemis moonbase valued at $2.89 billion according to NASA by 2024.

Artemis aims on sending the first female astronaut and next male astronauts to the Moon's South Pole and furthering lunar exploration.

ALSO READ: Blue Origin, NASA Collaborate to Re-Create Moon-like Gravity in Rockets Set for Artemis Missions

Moonbase Challenges

Musk has said numerous times that setting up a functional moonbase, especially on such short notice, is no walk in the park. However, despite this, the SpaceX CEO and collaborators have been burning the midnight oil to discover new technologies that will allow astronauts to thrive and overcome moonbase challenges. Hoping that it will pave the way for future researchers and civilians to venture onto the moon with ease.

Water Source

According to an article published in the journal Nature, entitled "How to build a Moon base," one of the first challenges lunar settlers will have to face is harvesting potable water. Based on samples collected front the Apollo missions from the Moon's equator, the satellite is barren and dry. This is why the discovery roughly a decade ago that the Moon's poles have patches of water ice was game-changing, says Robert Mueller, senior technologist at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral.

Today, researchers are unaware of the ice's exact location nor how thick it is and whether it is mixed with soil or packed in sheets.

Building Habitable Shelters

Unlike in many harsh conditions on earth, settlers on the moon would need to be able to build habitable shelters. These shelters should be able to shield inhabitants from charged particles of radiation and small meteorites that occasionally rain down from space due to the lack of a protective atmosphere or magnetic field on the moon.

Researchers hypothesize that the first lunar habitats, inflatable flat-packs, would be brought from Earth. Upon landing on the lunar surface, these would have to be covered deeply in meters of regolith from the moon's surface to protect it from cosmic rays and meteorites.