Fred Schwaller

Almost six decades since humans walked on the moon, space agencies and commercial companies want to use it as a gateway to Mars. But that's not all.

What you need to know:

• The prospect of humans returning to the moon looks more likely than ever, with NASA and ESA collaborating on the Artemis program
• There have been a number of recent, successful moon missions by China and India
• Space agencies and commercial companies want to use the moon for scientific research and as a base to get to Mars

A growing interest in moon missions

The Artemis program is a North American, NASA-led human spaceflight program, involving 55 international collaborators, including the European Space Agency (ESA). 

NASA aims to establish a permanent base at the moon's south pole and call it Artemis Base Camp. It also aims to launch a new space station, called Gateway, into the moon's orbit.

Meanwhile, a joint China-Russia project, involving 13 international partners, aims to build a moon base called the International Lunar Research Station by 2035. 

Both the Artemis Base Camp and the International Lunar Research Station are proposed as scientific in nature. They will, if successful, host astronauts for short stays and house permanent robotic equipment, which could be operated from Earth. 

But the moon has also always been of strategic value, too. During the Cold War, the US and Soviet-era Russia fought out their ideological differences on the moon as well as on Earth.

And so it is today, except there are more players. The US, for one, has stated publicly that it considers itself to be in a new space race, which it wants to win.  

Here are more reasons why:

The moon is rich in resources

Part of the moon's appeal lies in its abundant resources. These include:

• Iron 
• Silicon 
• Hydrogen 
• Titanium
• Rare earth elements (REEs)

While the costs of extraction and transportation are high, some of these resources could be brought back to Earth, where resources are dwindling in supply. 

Mining operations on the moon could pave the way for extracting an immense mineral wealth held in asteroids, and the moon will be the first place this will be tested.

Most material extracted from the moon will be used to replace materials that would otherwise be needed to be brought from Earth, essentially making lunar bases self-sufficient. 

Regolith (lunar soil), for example, could be used as radiation protection and construction material for lunar bases.

Water, which was first discovered on the moon in 2008 by the Indian mission Chandrayaan-1, will be important for drinking, growing food, and cooling equipment. 

Missions since Chandrayaan-1 have shown there are high concentrations of ice at the poles, which is partly why the first lunar colonies are likely to be built there — and probably at the south pole, even though it is difficult to land there.

These bases could also be used as "transit lounges" for astronauts on their way to Mars.

For energy, solar radiation is already used to power some spacecraft and satellites, but regolith and water ice could also be used to make rocket propellant.

The moon also contains significant amounts of helium-3, a potential fuel for nuclear fusion power.

 

So, that's another reason future Mars missions are landing for a stopover on the moon as well as to refuel.

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