Lunar programs of the 21st century. Colonization of the moon in theory. Why do we need this Moon at all?

From the construction of power plants and the extraction of lunar resources to space tourism and the problem of overpopulation.

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Half a century ago it seemed that the day was not far off when people would fly to the moon as if they were going to their country house. Today you can’t fly to the Moon, even if you really want to: there are no suitable rockets. Technology has moved forward, but manned space exploration has not.

Russian astronomer Vladimir Surdin once noted: 45 years passed between the conquest of the South Pole and the establishment of the first base on it, and Mariana Trench the man returned only 52 years after the first dive.

The last American expedition to the Moon as part of the Apollo program took place in 1972, that is, 45 years ago. If you believe the analogy presented, according to which approximately 50 years pass between the discovery of a hard-to-reach point and the possibility of its full study, then we should expect new flights to the Moon in the near future.

Moreover, this time humanity must gain a foothold on the Moon more thoroughly, because a lunar colony may have both a pragmatic goal and a commercial component. Governments look at the Moon as a source of resources, businessmen as a resort for billionaires, scientists as a space laboratory, and romantics as the first stop on the path of human settlement in space.

Who is participating in the new lunar race?

Model of the interplanetary station "Luna-24"

In August 1976, the Soviet spacecraft Luna-24 landed on the lunar surface in the Sea of ​​Crisis area. He drilled a two-meter hole, extracted a sample of lunar soil and delivered it to Earth. This flight turned out to be the last mission to the Moon in the 20th century - the next landing on the surface of the Earth's satellite took place only 37 years later, in 2013.

It was carried out by the Chinese Chang'e-3 apparatus, delivering a small lunar rover there. The mission was part of China's larger lunar program, with the next major phase planned for late 2017 and early 2018. This time, the Chinese plan to bring their own soil samples to Earth from the far side of the Moon, where no vehicle has ever landed.

Chinese lander Chang'e-3

The launch of the Indian lunar station Chandrayaan-2 is also planned for the beginning of 2018 - its task is to land on the Moon and launch a lunar rover. Neither India nor China have yet announced specific plans for a manned flight to the Moon in the foreseeable future. But Japan did it, officially setting itself the goal, in partnership with NASA, to send a man to the Moon by 2030.

The American agency itself abandoned plans for an early return to the Moon back in 2011. The highest priority project for the United States is a manned flight to Mars. In this case, the Moon can become a kind of transit point - a station can be placed in orbit around it, from where an interplanetary spacecraft will launch.

Against the backdrop of such global activity, Russia also returned to the task of conquering the earth’s satellite. By 2017, the Russian lunar program had already received substantial funding from the state, then partially lost it due to the crisis and was refocused on a later date. Basic plans Russian program concern sending to the moon automatic stations and delivery of lunar soil samples to Earth in the period from 2019 to 2024.

Well forgotten old

Going to the Moon requires three main components:

• ​Heavy rocket capable of sending cargo to the Moon.
• Spacecraft for interplanetary travel.
• Descent lunar module.

The USSR never solved the problem of sending a man to the Moon due to unsuccessful tests of the N-1 heavy rocket. The lunar module and spacecraft were successfully tested. The ship was named Soyuz, and it is still used to deliver people to the ISS.

Soyuz spacecraft

A common question is: “Why can’t we redo something that has already been used to fly to the moon?” Answer: you can, but it makes no sense. Imagine that you need to make a car. It is unlikely that you will go looking for drawings of a model fifty years ago - its creation will cost more, and the result will be questionable. For the same reason, in 2017 there is no point in recreating a rocket and ship from the 1960s - technology has moved far ahead, and better results can be achieved today.

The new Russian lunar program was initially built around the Angara-A5 heavy rocket project. Development of the Angara line of missiles at environmentally friendly fuel(compared to the toxic heptyl on which Protons fly) has been going on since the early 90s, and during all this time the Angara-A5 was tested only once - in 2014. As a result, due to the high cost of the rocket, it was decided to abandon its operation.

Launch vehicle "Angara-A5"

The attention of Russian engineers turned to the Soviet Zenit rocket, which Elon Musk, the founder of the private space company SpaceX, once called “the best in the world, except for the Falcon.” Zenit was created as an upper stage for the heavy Energia rocket, but now they plan to modify it and turn it into an independent unit called Phoenix.

Phoenix has several advantages over Angara. Firstly, its creation should cost two to three times less. Secondly, for Angara it is necessary to build a separate launch pad at the cosmodrome, while Phoenix can be launched both from Baikonur and from Sea Launch, a floating platform that allows launching from the ocean. This makes it possible to launch exactly from the equator, which gives the rocket maximum acceleration due to the rotation of the Earth.

In 2016, the previously bankrupt Sea Launch was acquired by S7 Airlines, which at the same time ordered 12 Zenit-type missiles from the Yuzhmash plant. The first commercial launch from this site is planned for 2017.

It is assumed that to launch a manned flight to the Moon it will be possible to use several Phoenixes combined into one launch vehicle. SpaceX is trying to implement something similar with the Falcon Heavy rocket, although its tests have been postponed for several years.

Roscosmos did not completely abandon the Angara - according to the latest data, a launch pad will still be built for it at the Vostochny cosmodrome with an eye to future manned launches.

Launches to the Moon should begin soon. The first Russian automatic lunar module should go to its destination in 2019 as part of the Luna-25 Glob mission. It is expected that the mission will allow testing soft landing technologies on the territory of the South Pole of the Moon, a promising area for establishing a colony.

Development has been underway for many years spaceship new generation "Federation" - it should replace the "Soyuz" and "Progress" and deliver four Russian cosmonauts to the Moon. The first unmanned launches of the spacecraft are scheduled for 2021, and the first manned flight for 2024.

The leader is still the USA

NASA is also developing a new spacecraft called Orion. Its tests were carried out in 2014, and the first manned flight could take place at the end of 2018 - and directly to the Moon.

An unmanned Orion flight was originally planned for 2018. The flight to the Moon was supposed to be a test for both the ship and the heavy SLS rocket, created by the Americans with an eye on the Martian expedition. But with the advent of the Donald Trump administration, conversations began that since ready-made equipment would fly to the Moon, why not equip it with a crew.

However, neither Falcon Heavy nor SLS have even been tested yet. Potentially, both rockets can become modern “champions” in terms of payload capacity, but statements about a manned launch in 2018 do not yet look realistic.

"Spare" planet

Elon Musk does not hide that his main motivation for colonizing Mars is to create a “backup copy” of humanity. The century of development of civilization occurred during a fairly calm period in the history of the Earth - there were no sudden climate changes, large meteorites, threats of volcanic activity and other disasters that have occurred regularly in the history of the planet.

The idea of ​​a spare house is not new, and Tsiolkovsky seriously discussed it. There are not many options - it’s either , or the Moon.

Sublunary world

The surface of the Moon is approximately equal to the sum of the areas of three largest countries Lands - Russia, Canada and China. The Moon is 81 times lighter than the Earth, and its gravity is six times less. But on on a cosmic scale The Moon and the Earth are bodies of approximately the same order. Sometimes they are even said to constitute a double planetary system.

The Moon is only one and a half times smaller than Mercury - no other planet in the Solar System has such a commensurate satellite ( similar system make up now former planet Pluto and its satellite Charon, but they are many times lighter than the Earth and the Moon).

The surface of the Moon is unsuitable for life primarily due to three factors: temperature changes from –150 ºC to +120 ºC, cosmic radiation and constant bombardment by micrometeorites. The Earth is protected from all this by an atmosphere that the Moon does not have - helium, hydrogen and other gases evaporating from the surface under the influence of solar radiation are very rarefied.

Lies on the surface of the moon thick layer regolith worn down to dust, mostly consisting of a mixture of glass and sand. Theoretically, it could be used to protect against radiation and small meteorites. As on Mars, it makes sense to cover a base on the Moon with a layer of soil of several meters - this can be done, for example, using a controlled explosion, as was envisaged in the project of the Soviet lunar base "Zvezda".

Due to exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation, dust on the Moon is electrified and is especially hazardous to health and electronics. Unlike terrestrial dust particles, which are smoothed by erosion, lunar dust particles have a spiky shape. By the end of the third day of the American lunar expeditions, the gloves of the astronauts' spacesuits were worn away by dust almost to holes.

It is possible to get rid of all these problems under the surface of the Moon, but the creation of such a “sublunar” base will require high costs energy. There are also quite exotic proposals - for example, drilling many kilometers of tunnels into the depths of the Moon, turning them into entire earth-like landscapes with artificial lighting.

The frozen basaltic lavas of the Moon are so strong that the wide tunnels will not require any fortifications, and the density of the rocks will allow them to be filled with oxygen without fear that it will all leak out immediately. To create habitable conditions in them, it will be necessary to obtain water, oxygen and energy.

Moon wells

The Luna-24 mission turned out to be not only the last in the 20th century, but also extremely useful - Soviet scientists found a small water content in the soil samples it brought. At the beginning of the 21st century, the American orbital probe LRO, using a Russian detector, discovered soil with a water concentration of at least 3% in the polar zones of the Moon. The cost of hypothetical missions was immediately reduced due to the ability to not carry liquid supplies.

But extracting water on the Moon will not be easy - at a temperature of –150 ºC, water ice becomes stronger than steel. There is an opinion that in the future it will be easier and cheaper to transport passing icy comets to the Moon using miniature jet engines.

Outsourced power plant

The only available source of energy on the Moon is the Sun. Due to the lack of an atmosphere, solar panels on the Moon can produce six to eight times more energy than on the Earth's surface. The absence of weather conditions makes production stable over time.

There are entire projects to turn the Moon into a huge power plant. If you build a belt around the lunar equator solar panels, then it could generate energy around the clock. Using directed microwave radiation, it could be transmitted to Earth.

The construction of such structures can be carried out by robots, and most of the materials needed for this can be mined on site. However, such projects still belong more to the realm of fantasy.

Space colonization is the concept of human settlement, humanization of space, and permanent human settlements beyond Earth. Currently, space colonization is the only consolidating idea in the world, although there are other priorities and programs with a two-thousand-year history, such as the sports Olympics.

Typically, space colonization is seen as a long-term goal of any national space program.

The first colony may appear on the Moon, later on Mars, then throughout the entire space of the Solar System, later in the Kuiper Belt and in the Oort Cloud. The latter are located beyond the orbit of Uranus and have trillions of comets and asteroids. They may contain all the ingredients necessary to support life (water ice, organic compounds and materials for the construction of space stations) and a large amount of helium-3, which is considered a promising fuel for controlled thermonuclear reactions. There is an assumption that by settling in such clouds of comets, humanity will be able to reach other star systems without the help of sublight spaceships.

Below is a table of the estimated time frame for space colonization over 100 years.

Table Plans for space colonization for 100 years

Year	Country, project	ABOUTfeatures
2011	China. Launch of the Inho 1 spacecraft to Mars. Russia. Launch of Phobos-Grunt to Mars.	China begins construction of a fourth spaceport and is developing a heavy launch vehicle in cooperation with Ukraine. Russia independently continues the construction of the second Vostochny cosmodrome and the development of the Rus-M launch vehicle.
2011-2012	USA. Launch of the Juno probe to Jupiter	A private US company is developing the "Falcon Heavy" (~53 tons payload) in collaboration with Ukraine and Russia.
2013-2014	China. Launch of the Chang"e 3 module, which should deliver the first ever Chinese lunar rover. India - Russia. The Chandrayaan-2 mission, an Indian GSLV-type launch vehicle, will deliver an orbital module to the Moon, and a Russian landing stage developed by the Lavochkin NPO with a small Indian lunar rover will descend to the lunar surface.	The intended landing site of Chang'e 3 is Rainbow Bay.
2014-2015	Google Lunar X-Prize competition. Flight of private space modules to the Moon and delivery of lunar rovers.	Previously, the competition was expected to take place in December 2012. Now postponed to the end of 2015. 27 groups from different countries. The weight of lunar modules is from 5 to 100 kg. The cost of projects ranges from 10 to 100 million dollars. The launch of lunar modules is carried out by national space agencies, for example, the Dnepr or Zenit launch vehicle Ukraine Russia.
2015-2016	USA. Launch of a spacecraft in "avatar" mode with landing to detect the dust atmosphere on the Moon and test radiation safety.	The Avatar is a human-like robot that will be controlled from Earth using high-tech telepresence suits. The same suit can be “put on” by several specialists from different areas sciences one by one. For example, while studying the features of the lunar surface, a geologist can control the “avatar”. Then, if necessary, the physicist can put on the telepresence suit.
2016-2018	China. Unmanned aerial vehicle Change" 4 will have to fly to the Moon, collect soil and deliver it to Earth.
2016-2019, interval of minimum solar activity and radiation hazard	Russia, USA. Development of a two-launch and four-launch scheme for a human flight to the Moon, bypassing radiation belts through the geomagnetic poles of the Earth.	Two-start circuit. The Soyuz launch vehicle launches a Soyuz-class ship. Then the Proton launch vehicle is launched into low-Earth orbit. accelerating block"DM." A service compartment from the Soyuz (with a passive docking unit) is installed on it, which serves the crew as an additional pressurized compartment. After the spacecraft docks with the RB, an accelerating impulse is issued - and the Soyuz performs a flyby of the Moon. Four starting circuit. First, two “DM” RBs are launched into a near-Earth reference orbit and they are docked with each other. Then, using the Soyuz launch vehicle, the Fregat launch vehicle is launched into low-Earth orbit, and another launch of the Soyuz launch vehicle launches the Soyuz spacecraft. The lunar complex is being assembled, consisting of two DM RBs, a Fregat RB and a Soyuz spacecraft. With the help of the first block “DM” the acceleration to the Moon is carried out. The second “DM” ensures braking and transition of the spacecraft to a near-circular reference orbit near the Moon. “Frigate” is necessary for launching from a lunar reference orbit to Earth. The cost of the project is 200-700 million dollars. In 2017, the old launch vehicles will be replaced by new ones: Russia - "Angara" (carrying capacity ~35 tons) and "Rus M" (carrying capacity 53 tons); USA - "Falcon Heavy" (carrying capacity ~53 tons).
2018-2019	Russia, USA, China, EU, India, Brazil, Ukraine. Laying refueling and relay stations at the Earth-Moon Lagrange Points.	At Lagrange Points (LP) there are no other forces acting except gravitational forces from the Earth and the Moon. The space station can remain motionless relative to these bodies for as long as desired. Earth-Moon Lagrange points is ideal place for the construction of manned orbital space stations, which, being located 1) halfway between the Earth and the Moon, would allow easy access to the Moon with minimal fuel consumption, 2) become a key node in the cargo flow between the Earth and our satellite, 3) serve as a rescue base in the event accidents on the Earth-Moon and Moon-Earth routes, 4) convenient for placing a relay station, which will require transmitters ten times less powerful, 5) at the Lagrange point on the far side of the Moon, the signal is relayed from the invisible side both to the Earth and To orbital stations, lunar bases.
2020-2022	Solving the issue of radiation safety. Man's flight around the Moon, landing and return to Earth	The psychophysical preparation of a space colonizer or 2. Negative psychophysical phenomena and phenomena in Space 2.1. Barrier and starting mental phenomena 2.2. Psychophysical re-adaptation in Space 2.4. Love, marriage, pregnancy and the birth of children outside the Earth.
2020-2025	Landing of man on the Moon and the founding of the first lunar base; laying the first greenhouses	Advantages of lunar exploration: The nearest cosmic body (384 thousand km), at the current level, cosmonauts reach the Moon in three days, which is important for communications, as well as in case of emergency situations. Convenience for radio communication with the Earth - a radio signal travels to the Moon and back in three seconds. This ensures normal conversation with the Earth and the ability remote control robots. The moon has gravity, which is vital important for fetal development and human health. Research in this area is important for missions to other planets and colonization of the solar system, including satellites. Availability of materials for the construction of bases, cosmodromes and obtaining fuel. Launching spacecraft to other planets does not require escape velocity, making launches less expensive. Space observatories and long-range tracking stations. Settlers on the Moon observe Earth in their sky, which is 3.7 times larger and 60 times brighter than the Moon. This inspires the settlers, and also reminds people (young people, scientists, astronauts, leaders) on Earth about colonization. Farms with an area of ​​0.5 hectares can feed 100 people. Possibility of growing fast-growing crops with a 354-hour day. Development of safe space tourism. The lunar colony gives us the main part of the experiments, skills and knowledge of how we should and can colonize other planets in the solar system.
2025-2030	Russia, USA, China, EU, Ukraine, India, Brazil. Permanent lunar settlement; life support greenhouses; development of rare earth materials, platinum group metals, etc. for delivery to Earth	Economic effect and benefit. The concentration of platinum group metals (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, platinum) is 50-1000 times higher than on Earth. Accordingly, the cost of mining precious metals on the Moon is hundreds and thousands of times lower than on Earth. The average cost of 1 kg of platinum group metals is $200 thousand/kg. The cost of cargo delivery is $10-40 thousand / kg. As a result, the delivery of 500 kg of platinum group metals from the Moon brings an economic profit of about 0.5 billion dollars. In addition, it is planned to produce high-value goods such as semiconductors, superconductors and pharmaceuticals. In the near future additional materials The most expensive materials for delivery to Earth are helium-3 ($1.5 million/kg) and californium (6.5 million/g). IN long term helium-3 will become environmentally friendly clean fuel V thermonuclear reactors synthesis on Earth, in addition, it becomes possible to create "neuronless" compact thermonuclear rocket engines(TYARD-GE). Californium can be used to create miniature nuclear electric batteries and be used as fuel to ignite the reaction in TYARD-GE (californium salts have a critical mass of 5 grams - a miniature atomic explosion with the force of 10 tons of TNT).
2030-2035	Delivery of rare earth materials and platinum group metals from the Moon. Development of “neuronless” compact thermonuclear wicks for delivery to Earth and rocket engines (TYARD-GE).	Implementation of a break-even colony on the Moon. The foundation of the Lunar Republic as a new superpower.
2035-2045	Development of a project for human colonization of Mars. Use of a spacecraft with TYARD-GE (flight to Mars will take 10-30 days).	Launch of a relay satellite to support Mars-Earth radio communications. There are large reserves of water on Mars, and carbon is also present. Mars has undergone the same geological and hydrological processes as Earth, and may contain reserves of mineral ores. Existing equipment is sufficient to obtain the resources necessary for life (water, oxygen, etc.) from the Martian soil and atmosphere. Difficulties: The atmosphere of Mars is quite thin (only 800 Pa, or about 0.8% of Earth's pressure at sea level), and the climate is colder. The gravity on Mars is about a third of that on Earth. Problem solving: 1) Second escape velocity- 5 km/sec - quite high, although half as much as on Earth, which increases the costs of interplanetary movement of goods and makes it difficult for the colony to break even by exporting materials. 2) Psychological factor, when the duration of the flight to Mars and the further life of people in a closed, undeveloped space can become serious obstacles to the development of the planet.
2045-2070	Implementation of the project of human colonization of Mars. Settlements. Transport routes Mars-Moon.	Diamond fever for several centuries. The extraction of large precious minerals throughout history in the solar system and the production of diamonds of 1000 or more carats, the value of which after centuries will increase and amount to billions and even several tens of billions of dollars. Discussion of the possibility of terraforming Mars in order to make all or part of the surface suitable for life.
2070-2080	Colonization of Venus. Use of a spacecraft with TYARD-GE (flight will take 7-15 days). Transport routes Venus-Moon.	Floating cities. Venus has certain similarities with the Earth, the planet is closer than Mars, at an altitude of about 50 kilometers the pressure and temperature have the usual terrestrial range (1 bar and 0-50 degrees Celsius). Therefore, it is planned to create balloons for human habitation. It is planned to extract nitrogen-15 for TYARD-GE. The export of rhenium, platinum metals, silver, gold and uranium to Earth has good prospects. For colonization, it is important to solve the problem of low water content (0.02%) and oxygen (0.1%) in the atmosphere of Venus; protection from sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide in high concentrations is also necessary.
2080-2090	Colonization of Mercury. Use of a spacecraft with TYARD-GE (flight will take 7-15 days). Transport routes Mercury-Moon.	Mercury can be colonized using the same technology and equipment used to colonize the Moon. Such colonies would be found in polar regions due to extremely high temperatures elsewhere on the planet. The recent discovery of ionized water has amazed scientists. This discovery improves prospects for the future colony. It is planned to extract mainly helium-3, lithium-6, lithium-7, boron-11 and californium, also valuable metals. For colonization, it is important to solve the problem of high temperatures and protection from solar flares during transport communication with the Earth.
2090-2110	Colonization of Jupiter and satellites. A flight on a ship with a modernized TYARD-GE will take 150-250 days.	Callisto may become the first of Jupiter's moons to be colonized. This is possible due to the fact that Callisto is outside the range of Jupiter’s powerful radiation belt. This satellite will become the center for further colonization of the environs of Jupiter, in particular Europa, Ganymede, Io and the creation of floating cities in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Due to the relationship between Jupiter and solar activity, it can be assumed that research will be aimed at processes for controlling solar activity for safety transport links between the colonies of the solar system. On Jupiter, deuterium and helium-3 will be mined in especially large volumes, which will lead to a drop in the price of thermonuclear fuel and rapid exploration of the Solar System up to the Kuiper Belt.

Colonization of space: the opinion of skeptics and supporters
Opponents of the development of permanent colonies in outer space Often citing very high initial investments and a lack of return on those investments.

In fact, we greatly exaggerate the costs of space for various reasons.
First reason. Initial investment over 10 years has a high return. Take private equity and stock market shares. SpaceX is a private company founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk in 2002. 120 million dollars were invested. In 2006, the company received the NSPNK contract or $100 million for each launch of the Falcon-1 and Falcon-9 rockets, or more than $1 billion until 2012. In 2008, she won a $278 million NASA competition for the development of the Falcon-9 launch vehicle. In 2008, SpaceX won a CRS contract for 12 missions to deliver astronauts and cargo to the ISS in the amount of $1.6 billion. In 2010, SpaceX received the largest commercial contract space launches($492 million) to launch Iridium satellites.
Over eight years, SpaceX shares have grown approximately thirtyfold. Each owner of shares in this company increased their capital by 30 times! Obviously, with the launch of Falcon Heavy in 2015-2017 (carrying capacity ~ 53 tons), with the cost of launching cargo into orbit becoming several times cheaper and the possibility of delivering cargo to the Moon, SpaceX’s capital will increase many times over. Thus, the initial investment over 10 years has a return ten times greater.

The second reason. The solution belongs to incompetent people and the financing of dead-end space programs, which leads to huge losses. MAX is a two-stage complex consisting of a carrier aircraft (An-225 Mriya - it was planned to develop a new carrier aircraft An-325), on which an orbital aircraft is installed. Development has been carried out since the early 1980s under the leadership of G. E. Lozino-Lozinsky at NPO Molniya. It was assumed that since MAX is much cheaper than rockets due to the repeated use of the carrier aircraft (up to 100 times), the cost of launching cargo into low Earth orbit will be about $ 1 thousand / kg. Currently, about $14 trillion has already been spent on the project.
The project turned out to be a dead end (it was replaced by another project "Baikal" based on the reusable accelerator of the first stage of the Angara launch vehicle).
For comparison, the annual budget of NASA is $18.7 billion, Roscosmos - $2.9 billion.

Third reason. Huge costs for conducting military operations, while finances can be spent on peaceful space exploration. Examples:

• As of September 2008, the US Congress has allocated $825 billion to the war with Iraq, while NASA's average annual budget is only $16 billion. In other words, at NASA's level of funding, the money spent on the war with Iraq would be enough for approximately 51 years of work on space exploration.
• In just one week of military conflict in the Caucasus in August 2008 in South Ossetia, Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves “shrank” by $16.4 billion. The Russian stock market suffered even greater losses. Before the events in South Ossetia, the capitalization of the Russian stock market was close to 1.1 trillion. dollars, and a week later it was below 1 trillion. dollars. In general, this is a loss of 50-100 billion dollars, which is 30-70 year budget of Roscosmos.
• The US military budget for fiscal year 2012 will be $670.6 billion, of which $117.6 billion will be spent on overseas military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This six annual NASA budgets!
• March-April 2011. NATO military actions (USA, UK, France, Canada, Belgium, Italy) in Libya. Daily costs for the US alone amount to $4 million. In a few days in April, 192 were released cruise missiles"Tomahawk" (each costing from 1 to 1.5 million dollars, manufacturer General Dynamics, chairman and chief executive officer - Nicolas Chabraia). The funds spent are enough to work out a two-launch and four-launch scheme for a human flight to the Moon, bypassing radiation belts through the geomagnetic poles of the Earth, based on the existing Soyuz and Proton launch vehicles (see above).

Used literature and queries:

1. "Outer-space sex carries complications."
2. "Known effects of long-term space flights on the human body."
3. "The life of Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky".
4. "Build astronomical observatories on the Moon?"
5. Salisbury, F.B. (1991). "Lunar farming: achieving maximum yield for the exploration of space"/ HortScience: a publication of the American Society for Horticultural Science 26 (7): 827–33.
6. Massimino D, Andre M (1999). "Growth of wheat under one tenth of the atmospheric pressure". Adv Space Res 24(3):293–6.
7. Terskov, I.A.; Lisovskiĭ, G.M.; Ushakova, S.A.; Parshina, O.V.; Moiseenko, L.P. (May 1978). "Possibility of using higher plants in a life-support system on the moon." Kosmicheskaia biologiia i aviakosmicheskaia meditsina 12 (3): 63–6.
8. Lunar Agriculture
9. "Farming in Space". quest.nasa.gov.
10. Payload of the spacecraft / Launch vehicles "Proton", "Soyuz", "Dnepr", "Atlas".
11. Guinness World Records for Chemicals
12. Cosmonautics of the 21st century: thermonuclear engines / New Scientist Space (01/23/2003): Nuclear fusion could power NASA spacecraft.
13. California / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californium.
14. Landis, Geoffrey A. (Feb. 2-6 2003). "Colonization of Venus". Conference on Human Space Exploration, Space Technology & Applications International Forum, Albuquerque NM.
15. SpaceX company / ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX
16. Falcon Heavy / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Heavy
17. MAX / ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipurpose_aviation_space_system
18. General Dynamics Corporation / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics

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The Moon, according to many scientists, is one of the most attractive space objects for potential colonization. This is quite logical, since today the Moon is the only celestial body that man has been able to visit. Plus, this is the closest destination, the flight to which will be minimally expensive (the flight takes three days). Finally, the Moon is the most thoroughly studied space object.

Colonization of the Moon will open up new horizons of opportunity for humanity: observatories can be built on the surface of the satellite to obtain more accurate data, the satellite can subsequently be used as a “transshipment point” for flights to other planets, industrial enterprises can be built here, and mining can also be done here. (iron, aluminum, titanium, and rare helium-3). In addition, in connection with the colonization of the Moon, one cannot but consider the possibility of developing space tourism

Humanity's immediate plans include the construction of a base on the surface of the Moon that would mine an isotope rare under terrestrial conditions - helium-3 (used in nuclear energy). The most promising plans are among Russian scientists, who plan to complete the construction of a permanent station on the Moon by 2015. In addition to Russia, such countries as the USA, China and Japan are laying claim to lunar wealth in the near future.

Despite the fact that the colonization of the Moon is still only considered in the future, humanity has already managed to take some steps to implement this plan. To date, detailed maps of the lunar surface have already been created, indicating the locations of various minerals. Various countries, such as China, Japan, and India, have already launched the first artificial lunar satellites, with the help of which the study of the lunar surface is carried out. However, due to budget deficits, many countries refuse to take measures to organize a manned flight to the Moon (for example, funding for the NASA program has been stopped since 2011). Nevertheless, America is already developing a new project - “avatars” - within the framework of which an expedition to the surface of the satellite of robotic avatars is planned.

However, it is worth taking a closer look negative factors, which can interfere with the implementation of the plan to colonize the satellite. For example, due to the lack of an atmosphere, the surface of the Moon is completely unprotected from solar radiation, as well as from the bombardment of the surface by meteorites. In the case of radiation, scientists are developing special protective suits, and also designing possible radiation shelters that could be built on the Moon. Another serious problem is X-ray radiation: if an astronaut spends more than 100 hours on the Moon, there is a 10 percent chance of receiving a dangerous dose. It is also worth noting this unfavorable factor like lunar dust, consisting of sharp particles with an electrostatic charge. Dust causes equipment to wear out quickly, and if it gets into a person’s lungs, it can be very dangerous to health.

From my interviews with cosmologists, industry representatives, and futurists, it appears that there is an unofficial plan that is slowly taking shape to colonize the Moon. First, private space companies are looking for ways to reduce launch costs. Right now, SpaceX says, every launch Falcon rockets 9 costs $62 million, while the more powerful Falcon Heavy costs $90 million. Satellite companies and others want something like a volume discount when booking trips to space. SpaceX is delivering food and supplies to the International Space Station, hoping to begin transporting astronauts by the end of 2019.

Then there will be flying and orbital platforms. The Chinese plan to launch an orbital space station by 2020, while NASA has approached private companies to develop a lunar orbital gateway platform near the Moon by 2022. It could become NASA's launch pad for future expeditions and settlements on both the Moon and Mars.

At the same time, private firms like Moon Express, as well as the Chinese, Indian and European space agencies, are moving forward with robotic landers and rovers. The ultimate step, proponents say, would be a permanent human presence on the lunar surface. Perhaps there will be a government base first, and then a private hotel on the Moon.

NASA's involvement in lunar plans is key to allowing private companies to build on the lunar surface, says Chris Lewicki, CEO of Planetary Resources, a Redmond startup that plans to mine asteroids for rocket fuel and water.

"Government programs are the main tenants in the mall," Lewicki says of NASA and the future lunar base. “Small businesses cannot survive without large tenants. Without NASA, it would be too hard to do this on our own."

Some argue that all this could happen in the next 10 years. Others say it will be at least 20 years before the technology for routine lunar launches is developed and the cost is low enough to generate consumer demand.

And although things seem to be moving very slowly, one lunar expert likens it to the creation of New World colonies, which does not happen overnight. "There's a lag between discovery, exploration and exploitation," says James W. Head, a planetary scientist at Brown University who began his career at NASA selecting lunar landing sites for the Apollo missions.

Where to begin?

Proponents of lunar colonization believe that a lunar base will allow us to better understand how to reach the far reaches of the solar system. Plus, it will be fun to visit the moon at least once in your life. Plus, the Moon is much closer to Mars—it can be reached in three days rather than nine months—so more people will fly there.

In addition, valuable resources can be mined on the Moon.

Some researchers in China and Europe believe its surface contains large reserves of helium-3, a rare element that could be used as a future energy source to fuel rockets traveling from Earth further into space. (The downside is that processing helium-3 into something useful requires a huge amount of energy). There is also frozen water in the polar regions of the Moon: split it into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis to create breathable air - another source of rocket fuel. It may not be soon, but the leaders of the European and Chinese lunar programs have already stated that they intend to explore these options on future lunar missions.

There is another good reason to create colonies: our survival. James Head recalls what Apollo commander John Young, who flew in space during the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, often told him when asked whether humans should return to the Moon: “A species with one planet will not survive.” . Leaving the planet is not a bad survival strategy. Sooner or later it will be the only motivation to create bases on the Moon.”

How will the lunar economy work?

For a lunar base to work, it needs economic basis. A "low-Earth orbit" (LEO, for short) economy is already brewing among the United States, one that puts satellites into space, maintains them, and prepares to build places for people to live and work in Earth's orbit.

The NOO economy is growing. Since 2000, more than 180 startups have raised more than $18.4 billion in funding, according to a May 2018 report from Bryce Space and Technology. SpaceX, worth $28 billion, is a true giant in the commercial space industry, and CEO Elon Musk wants it all: launch a constellation of satellites in LEO, send people to the Moon and establish a base on Mars.

Musk has a history of missing deadlines. Be it Tesla Model 3 deliveries or its ambitious plans for space. But the frequency of SpaceX rocket launches - 28 since the beginning of 2017 - has made his company one of the most successful space companies in the world.

It also turned out that by using reusable rockets, SpaceX can greatly reduce launch costs. This could open the door to a new set of zero-gravity anchorages around the Earth and perhaps the Moon. These private gas stations could eventually replace the International Space Station, a 20-year, $100 billion mission that is about to end.

The transition from a LEO economy to a lunar economy is a realistic scenario, said Jeffrey Manber, CEO of Nanoracks, a Houston company that runs its own space laboratory on the ISS and launches 10-inch cubesats for commercial and university customers from the ISS.

“In five years there will be hotels in LEO, and in ten years you will see growing infrastructure,” says Manber. “Hotels with warehouses, gas stations, commercial modules or lunar colonies will be scattered throughout the frontier.”

Call Manber crazy, but much of what he talks about is already happening. Bigelow Aerospace, a space technology startup, built an inflatable work module for astronauts on the space station in 2016 and plans to put another in orbit around the moon by 2022. The company is owned by Robert Bigelow, the billionaire founder who believes UFOs have visited Earth. Bigelow is one of several billionaires who are in the race for the Moon, including Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin, Musk and his SpaceX, Richard Branson and his .

Their fat wallets and freedom from having to submit quarterly income reports are helping technology move forward by leaps and bounds. They are building rockets that can take Bigelow and Nanoracks to the Moon. Only Apollo-era NASA could burn as much fuel as Bezos, who recently announced he was selling $1 billion worth of Amazon stock a year to keep Blue Origin running.

Blue Origin is developing the Blue Moon lander, which could carry cargo to the lunar surface for a future base, and the New Glenn rocket, which was successfully tested in July.

How realistic are the plans to create colonies?

The economics of rocket launches could be the tipping point in all this, says writer Andy Weir. He wrote The Martian, a science fiction novel about an astronaut stranded on Mars, which was eventually filmed by Matt Damon. As a sequel, Weir wrote Artemis, about a lunar colony. According to Weir's plan, Artemis will be built in the 2080s. He also believes that a real lunar base is also possible.

“For our future to become Heinleinian,” he says, referring to the 50s science fiction classic Robert Heinlein, “we need to find a cheap way to escape Earth's gravity; once you do that, the rest will come.”

Weir calculated what it would take to send tourists on a lunar vacation for $70,000. His rough estimate is that the cost of launching a rocket should drop from US$4,635 per kilogram to US$35 per kilogram. This is a significant decline, but it may not be long before the numbers converge.

Once this problem is resolved, Weir believes, natural resources There is enough moon to build a city.

“Even in a world where you have lowered the price of IEO, you still need to use resources locally,” Weir says. “The pioneers didn’t take pallets of wood with them to build their homes.” Weir says the Moon is extremely rich in what you need to build a lunar base - such as anorthite rock, which covers large areas of the Moon's surface because it can be broken down into aluminum, oxygen, calcium and silicon (used in glass).

But after all his research, Weir realized that the seabed, the polar regions of the Earth and the Sahara were easier to colonize than the Moon. He notes that you need to take oxygen for breathing, protection from cosmic radiation and water with food.

"The problem is that no one wants to send people to the moon," Weir says. “Everyone wants to send robots. People are soft and die. Robots are durable and... they also die, but no one cares.”

China is already working on this. China plans to launch a lander and rover in December to the far side of the moon. The nation's leaders have also talked about putting astronauts on the moon by 2036, and the White House is demanding that NASA return to the moon.

Head, a planetary scientist working with the Chinese, believes the Chinese government will provide similar technological enterprise any resources. The Chinese space program will not stop due to lack of funds, like the American one. For China, putting people on the moon is the main task.

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In 1961, the New York Times noted: “So rapid are advances in the technology of flight that the life of a person born in 1900 could span from the beginning of aviation in 1903 to the beginning of exploration of the solar system.” It's easy to understand why a lunar colony seemed so achievable at the time space race. And although it has not yet come true, thoughts of colonies on the Moon have never completely left our imaginations. Today, lunar bases are constantly appearing in plans, whether as bases themselves, or as test structures to simulate activities on other cosmic bodies. Here are five big plans (and a few other ideas for colonizing the Moon).

1. China's distant plans

When the China National Space Administration landed a rover in 2013, the US tracked it with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, just to make sure Beijing was telling the truth (which it was). China has also previously launched spacecraft into orbit to map the Moon, and its long-term lunar plans include a sample return mission. In 2014, China's state newspaper reported that a lunar colony was in development, citing Zhang Yuhua, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-3 lunar mission. "In addition to lunar landing technology with humans, we are also working on the topic of building a lunar base, which will be used to develop new energy technologies and spread life in space," Zhang said. China is aiming to perform a soft landing on the far side of the Moon by 2019—something not even the United States has done.

1. Russian greenhouse and laboratory-living module

In the 1960s Soviet Union there was some progress on the design of a lunar base, and he had every chance of success. After all, they were ahead of the American space program for most of the space race. First there was Sputnik I - the first artificial apparatus in Earth's orbit. The dog Laika was the first animal to orbit the Earth. Luna 1 was the first spacecraft in the orbit of the Sun. Yuri Gagarin then became the first man in space and the first to orbit the Earth. The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova. First smooth landing to the moon? Luna-9. First sample return? Luna-16.

The Soviet Galaxy project developed several basic lunar configurations. Energy sources considered included nuclear and solar. Breathable air at the base can be obtained in the greenhouse, which is also a rest area for the crew. Water, waste and air will be recycled. The base was to be built in three stages, with a crew of 8 to 12 people living there for up to one year. A later proposal, Zvezda, would have consisted of three construction phases with a total of six launches. Among the facilities and capabilities of the base: two laboratory-living modules and a laboratory-production module (which included biotechnology, physics and technology laboratories, and oxygen production plants). The Zvezda could accommodate six people. Ultimately, this proposal was abandoned when the US did not bother with its own lunar base. Today, Russia's lunar aspirations rely on partnership with China.

1. Solar-powered NASA mobile base, among other things

The American space program knows the Moon best. Only 12 people have walked on the moon, and all of them were NASA astronauts. Their trail can still be seen from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and there is a car waiting there. The United States first began thinking about colonizing the Moon in the 1950s with Project Horizon, which envisioned stationing 12 soldiers there and observing the Earth, exploring the Moon, doing lunar science, and conducting "military operations on the Moon if necessary."

In 2004, the White House wanted a return to the Moon by 2020. The Constellation program would have included a rocket, a vehicle and a lander. It was, in essence, an enhanced Apollo. The program called for a solar-powered mobile lunar base with pressurized dune buggies for astronauts to ride around without the need for a space suit. With everything on wheels, astronauts would be able to explore the Moon in what's known as "super sortie mode." The basic idea died with Constellation in 2009.

Although NASA has no current plans to build a lunar colony, its website provides a strong rationale for such a project. The lunar base will allow NASA to "test technologies, systems, mission phases, and exploration methods to reduce risk and improve performance for future missions to Mars and beyond." A recent study found that such a base would be 90 percent cheaper than previously thought. Astronauts need to do something now that an unclear mission to redirect an asteroid has finally been cancelled. NASA's Human Exploration and Operations division is planning a crewed mission to Mars for the mid-2030s, but that's too long and astronauts may be cold about it.

1. European Space Agency's 3D printed hobbit holes

As International space station is approaching its end, governments are looking for what to do next. The moon is already ripe. “It seems appropriate to propose a permanent lunar station as a successor to the ISS,” said Johann-Dietrich Werner, ESA Director General. ESA's lunar base plan calls for an autonomous robot to land on the moon and go to work creating Command & Conquer-style living quarters. The machine will fire its “printer nozzle” under the lunar regolith, mixing magnesium oxide with lunar soil to create a building material. The binding salt will harden the material to the state of stone. The result will be a printed and raised habitat, a kind of lunar hobbit hole. This medium can be prepared 3 months in advance.

1. Private module "BEAM"

The moon is also interesting as a location for a celestial mining town. Over billions of years, the solar wind deposited Helium-3 on the Moon. It is an ideal, non-radioactive fuel for fusion reactors. In 2013, NASA asked Bigelow Aerospace to begin gauging private sector interest in doing work beyond Earth orbit. Bigelow would be a key player in such an endeavor, as it has already done in the creation of space habitable modules. (The Bigelow expandable module has already been sent to the ISS). The project is even further ahead than one might think. Bigelow developed the design of such a colony and the method of construction. In 2014, NASA solicited proposals for cargo transportation and landing systems. Now it is only a matter of reducing costs to a level with the required guaranteed return on investment.