• Question: Can we colonise the moon with are current technology?

    Asked by anon-223752 to Valerio, Sreejita, Sam, Kate, Anastasia, Adam on 19 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Adam Wootton

      Adam Wootton answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      I don’t think so – there are lots of problems. Where would we get all of our oxygen from? How would we deal with the lack of gravity? Where would we get water and heat? What would protect us from the sun’s radiation?

    • Photo: Anastasia Aliferi

      Anastasia Aliferi answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      I don’t think so, or at least it wouldn’t be a self-sufficient colony. I believe we would still need constant supplies from earth.

    • Photo: Sam Lawrence

      Sam Lawrence answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      I don’t think our current technology could allow us to colonise the moon. One of the main problems with space travel is accelerating a (massive) rocket so much so it can overcome the Earth’s gravitational field. If we are to make buildings on the surface of the moon, many of these materials would presumably come from Earth (or at least the tools required to build). This would add mass to the rocket, which would require more energy and power to launch. Another major problem is of course the oxygen. The moon has very weak gravity, as a result it cannot keep a gaseous atmosphere, including oxygen. We would have to transport our own sources of oxygen. At some stage in the future, we could potentially grow plants which would supply us with oxygen.

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