While the idea of a colony on the moon might be a concept most people assume belongs in the realm of science fiction, it's more of a reality than you think — especially for Russia's Roscosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA). Both agencies are currently collaborating in an effort to send up a lander to an uncharted region on our moon's southern pole, an area that might contain enough viable materials to make the fantasy of a lunar settlement a reality.
Named "Luna 27," the mission is scheduled to proceed five years from now and will become the inaugural expedition in a series of lunar colony-related operations. After making landfall, the probe will test conditions in the territory, as well as for water and materials that can be used to make oxygen and fuel.
However, why the moon's southern pole? As per ESA scientist Dr. James Carpenter, the region is rare, unique and incomparable to anything else on the lunar satellite's surface:
"The environment is completely different, and due to the extreme cold there you could find large amounts of water-ice and other chemistry which is on the surface, and which we could access and use as rocket fuel or in life-support systems to support future human missions we think will go to these locations."
Luna 27 itself is more or less an extension of the former Soviet Union's first iteration of their moon mission, the Luna program, which was halted in the 1970s due to a series of failed launches. However, according to Igor Mitrofanov, a professor and one of the scientists leading the charge at the Space Research Institute in Moscow, the eminence and immediacy of colonizing the moon is still an imperative achievement for the country.
"We have to go to the Moon. The 21st Century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization, and our country has to participate in this process," Mitrofanov said in an interview with BBC News.
As for the ESA's involvement in the Luna program? Unlike Russia's former attempts, Mitrofanov pointed out that the former USSR "[has] to work together with our international colleagues" to bring their goals to fruition.
For more information on the viability of the landing site to sustain life on the moon, check out the video below.
Via: BBC News
