14 DAY TRIAL // NASA and one of its many contractors are planning a future Moon base, an outpost that could be reused by the crews of the next lunar missions to land on the surface in the next decades. This base camp will house astronauts, allowing them to use the moon's natural resources, conduct scientific experiments and even prepare for manned missions to Mars.
The agency is becoming more and more interested in future scientific applications based on the Moon. They asked the US National Research Council (NRC) in 2006 to advise it on what kinds of science could be tackled from the Moon and what projects should be given top priority.
One of them, to be materialized in the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, is the first step in colonizing the Moon, with the possibility of establishing permanent human communities on the satellite. Science fiction writers and advocates of space exploration have seen settlement of the Moon as a logical step in the expansion of humanity beyond the Earth, and now NASA is considering making this long-lasting dream a reality.
At first, the space agency envisions four-person crews making week-long visits until power supplies, rovers and living quarters are accumulated. Then, the first decade will serve as an experiment for possible permanent colonies on Mars and as a starting point for Mars missions.
"Inflatables can be used as connectors or tunnels between crew quarters and can provide radiation shelter if covered with lunar regolith (soil)," said Chris Moore, exploration technology development program executive at NASA Headquarters.
ILC Dover, one of NASA's contractors, just delivered such an inflatable structure, a 3.65-meter-wide module made of multilayer fabric for testing and evaluation of new technologies, like structural integrity, radiationproof materials and even self-healing membranes.
The structure will also have an airlock at one end and both will be inflated by pressurized cylinders.