Lunar Village: The “crazy” dream of the European Space Agency – lagranepoca

The Lunar Village, the “crazy” dream of the European Space Agency

The new head of the European Space Agency (ESA) insisted Friday his idea of ​​a multinational research village on the Moon successor to the International Space Station (ISS).

By now just about a crazy-considered thought by some-but Jan Woerner says that for now is the only option that is on the table.

The idea is a lunar exploration base occupied by robots and humans potentially serve as a scale for space travel and mineral extraction site.

“It is about building houses, a town hall and a church,” said Woerner, which ESA runs from July. Village Lunar, he said, will have “multiple uses and users.”

“A certain country you may want more science, another put a private mining and other use the moon as a base for explorations more distant, “said Woerner told reporters in Paris.

” This is the general scheme and, of course, we are now discussing worldwide to see if there is enough interest, “he says. The time to do so, he said, would be “after the ISS”.

The orbital space station is a joint project of Canada, State US , Japan and Russia which agreed to finance and operate until at least 2024 and the European Union (EU), which has not committed beyond 2020.

An illustration the surface of the Moon and Earth. (* Shutterstock)

Woerner said he hopes to convince the State ESA members that extend their involvement in the space station.

Once completed the ISS, said Woerner, “I imagine the village Lunar as his ideal successor for exploration”.

“At the moment there is no proposal on the table in competition “With the Lunar Village. It remains to choose where to install it. “The dark or light side, or perhaps at the poles?” He added.

Once you have decided the place, continued Woerner, each country or space agency must specify how they want to participate in the project.

“Russia has some planned lunar missions, then why not add them to the Lunar Village?” he said. He said China “is also planning some lunar missions.” A Woerner seems to have you not care that some consider their project as crazy.

“The word ‘madness’ is what I like.” “We have to think outside the trite. That means new ideas, “he said.

The 61-year German engineer said he had evoked the project for two meetings on space activities last year in State US and Israel. “Several organizations around the world asked me how they could participate,” he adds.

The idea will be discussed in talks with the space agencies of State US , Japan, Canada and Russia planned in the coming weeks to discuss the future of the ISS.

Moreover, Woerner said the Russian-European mission EcoMars 2018 , which plans to send a robot to Mars to explore on possible traces of past life on the Red Planet, needs additional funds