NASA plans to explore the moon’s resources as early as the next decade

Human curiosity and the desire to gain more and more knowledge directly lead us to explore unknown environments.

With the advancement of technology and humanity’s determination to expand horizons, our species has reached space explorationl, which only served as a source of stimulation for new expeditions and research.

One of the largest extraterrestrial searches concerns resources useful to society that can directly influence the evolution of human resources and tools.

Therefore, the agency’s intention to develop space exploration has never stopped. now , NASA She intends to return to the furthest point humanity has ever reached and extract resources with a new purpose.

NASA intends to explore the moon in the coming years

Illustration: ICON / BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group / NASA

One of the largest space agencies on the planet has already revealed its intention to return to moon in the next two years. By 2025, a crew should be sent to the moon as a continuation of the Artemis mission.

The goal of this mission is to learn about the local conditions of the moon, as NASA has shown interest in mining the natural satellite in the next decade.

Referred to as the latter space mission That took humans to the Moon happened more than fifty years ago, in 1972, when Apollo 17 reached its target.

In addition, NASA estimates that by 2032, in less than a decade, lunar soil can already be mined for resources that will help us in future expeditions to Mars, our neighboring planet.

This second intention was revealed by the agency’s official website, which contains the following information:

“We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. Then we will use what we learn about and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.”

How does the agency plan to achieve its goals?

According to Gerald Sanders, a rocket scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the agency’s scientists are currently looking for potential supplies in the lunar soil, such as water, oxygen and other minerals later with the aim of creating commercial links from this and attracting investments for the region.

Therefore, later this month, the agency intends to launch a drilling rig into space, seeking to collect samples and form a large-scale exploration plant.

In short, American customers also want to send astronauts, including women and blacks (not yet sent to the satellite, to encourage social integration) to explore the moon for eight days.

Among them is Christina Koch, the first woman to set foot on the Moon during the mission. Artemis II.