{"id":17994,"date":"2019-07-02T18:36:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T10:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/the-moon-in-2069-top-space-scientists-share-their-visions-for-lunar-lifestyles\/"},"modified":"2019-07-02T18:36:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T10:36:39","slug":"the-moon-in-2069-top-space-scientists-share-their-visions-for-lunar-lifestyles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/the-moon-in-2069-top-space-scientists-share-their-visions-for-lunar-lifestyles\/","title":{"rendered":"The moon in 2069: Top space scientists share their visions for lunar lifestyles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The European Space Agency\u2019s vision for lunar settlement includes habitats shielded by piled-up moon dirt. (ESA \/ Foster + Partners Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LAUSANNE, Switzerland \u2014 Fifty years ago this month, NASA\u2019s Apollo 11 mission transformed the idea of putting people on the moon from science fiction to historical fact. Not much has changed on the moon since Apollo, but if the visions floated by leading space scientists from the U.S., Europe, Russia and China come to pass, your grandchildren might be firing up  lunar barbecues in 2069.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely in 50 years, there will be more tourism on the moon,\u201d Anatoli Petrukovich, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences\u2019 Space Research Institute, said here today during the World Conference of Science Journalists. \u201cThe moon will just look like a resort, as a backyard for grilling some meat or whatever else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wu Ji, former director general of the Chinese Academy of Sciences\u2019 National Space Science Center, agreed that moon tourism could well be a thing in 2069.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will go there for space holidays, and come back,\u201d Wu said. \u201cThe staff of the hotel will work there. So that will be permanent human habitability on the moon in 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRobotic staff?\u201d Petrukovich asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not necessarily,\u201d Wu answered.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s session in Lausanne, titled \u201cThe Moon and Beyond,\u201d provided a status report on international space cooperation as well as speculative glimpses at the next 50 years of space exploration.<\/p>\n

Petrukovich and Wu were joined in their flights of fancy by Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters; David Parker, the European Space Agency\u2019s director of human and robotic exploration; and Lori Garver, a former NASA deputy administrator who now serves as CEO of the nonprofit Earthrise Alliance.<\/p>\n

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Moderator Sarah Cruddas (left) oversees a discussion on future space exploration with panelists including the European Space Agency\u2019s David Parker, NASA\u2019s Thomas Zurbuchen, Chinese space scientist Wu Ji, Russian researcher Anatoli Petrukovich and Earthrise Alliance CEO Lori Garver. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bacik in the 1960s, the U.S. and Soviet space programs were driven by a Cold War race to the moon \u2014 and some high-ranking officials already see a second space race looming. \u201c\u201cWe\u2019re in a space race today, just as we were in the 1960s, and the stakes are even higher,\u201d Vice President Mike Pence said in May when he announced that the United States would aim to put astronauts on the moon by 2024.<\/p>\n

But at today\u2019s session, space scientists played down the prospects for a \u201960s-style space race. \u201cIt\u2019s not a race,\u201d Petrukovich said, \u201cbut you see, political figures are like kids in a kindergarten. \u2026 Either nobody wants it, or everybody wants it. So it is a kind of race, but in this race, everybody is helping the neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Zurbuchen and Parker took advantage of the session to highlight their latest moves in space cooperation, including partnerships with commercial and academic space ventures.<\/p>\n

Zurbuchen touted this week\u2019s announcement about 12 lunar experiments \u2014 including Astrobotic\u2019s MoonRanger rover and Texas Tech University\u2019s dirt-drilling LISTER probe \u2014 that would be put aboard commercial lunar landers in years to come. (LISTER is an acronym that also pays tribute to the late Clive Lister, a University of Washington professor who made important contributions to the study of heat flow through Earth\u2019s ocean floors.)<\/p>\n

Parker announced that ESA\u2019s 22 member states have authorized the agency to ask European companies for cost-specific proposals relating to the International Habitation Module for the moon-orbiting Gateway space platform that\u2019s due to take shape in the 2020s, plus an Earth Return Orbiter that would bring samples back from Mars.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, Zurbuchen said in a tweet that he and Parker signed a joint statement of intent relating to science benefits from that sample return mission.<\/p>\n