People will live on the moon – within a few years

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People will live on the moon within a few

Published: Less than 10 min ago

People living on the moon.

Within just a few years it could be a reality.

– Wow, says Howard Hu from Nasa.

Three days after the launch from Florida, the lunar rover Orion is performing “beyond expectations”, according to the US space agency Nasa.

The four solar panels on Orion produce more energy than anyone dared to hope for.

fullscreen The Artemis rocket, carrying the Orion rover, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B on Wednesday. Photo: John Raoux/AP

Will test the technique

The first unmanned flight is made to test whether Orion is safe.

On Monday, Orion will dock about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the moon’s surface on its far side to take advantage of its gravitational pull.

After the successful start, Nasa is positive that the Artemis program will succeed in the mission: A human return to the moon, for the first time since the Apollo program ended 50 years ago.

full screen The rocket with Orion, shortly after the successful launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral in Florida. Photo: Terry Renna / AP

And this time the plans are more grandiose.

Howard Hu, who heads the program for Nasa, describes the feeling of seeing the Artemis rocket, which carried the lunar rover, take off into the sky as “a dream”.

– We are going back to the moon, we are working to develop a sustainable program and this is the craft that will transport the people who will land on the moon again, says Hu to the BBC.

Going to live on the moon

If the current unmanned flight completes the mission successfully, the next one will be conducted with a crew.

If that space flight also goes without problems, astronauts will land on the moon during the third launch.

full screen Image from inside the lunar rocket. This time, the passengers are three dolls, but the plan is to bring humans along shortly. Photo: NASA via AP
full screen The view from the lunar rocket. Photo: NASA via AP

The last time astronauts set foot on the lunar surface was in December 1972.

Soon it will be more than a quick search.

The plan is that during this decade, astronauts will live on the moon for a longer period of time in order to have time to solve riddles that do not yet have answers.

For example, find out if there is water on the moon’s south pole.

– We will send people to the surface of the moon and they will live there and conduct research, says Howard Hu to the BBC.

The research must provide knowledge needed to be able to travel further into space.

He says that the images sent back from Orion make him very hopeful for the future.

– It gives the feeling of “Wow, we are on our way back to the moon”, says Hu.

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