NASA targets water recycling system for rapid development

Water is one of the most crucial provisions an astronaut will need to live and work in space. Whether orbiting Earth, working at a lunar base or traveling to Mars, astronauts must save as much water as possible. That's why ...

Powering the future with lunar soil

Building a lunar base would be one of the next logical steps in our exploration of the solar system, but the survival of a future crew depends on access to a reliable source of energy. An ESA Discovery & Preparation study ...

Japan experts call for robot expedition to moon

An expert panel advising the Japanese government called in a report approved on Thursday for the nation to send a wheeled robot to the moon in five years and to build the first lunar base by 2020.

Drones could help map the lunar surface with extreme precision

Exploring the moon has become increasingly more of a focal point lately, especially with a series of landers recently launched with various degrees of success. One of the difficulties those landers and any future human missions ...

Image: Lunar building block

This 1.5 tonne block was 3D printed from simulated lunar dust, to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a Moon base using local materials.

Video: 3D-printing a lunar base

Could astronauts one day be printing rather than building a base on the Moon? In 2013 ESA, working with industrial partners, proved that 3D printing using lunar material was feasible in principle. Since then, work continues ...

How much water would a self-sustaining moonbase need?

As humanity returns to the moon in the next few years, they're going to need water to survive. While resupplies from Earth would work for a time, eventually the lunar base would have to become self-sustaining? So, how much ...

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