Living on the moon

What distinguishes the current Artemis programme from the Apollo programme of the 1960s and 1970s is, among other things, the sustainability aspect: the plan is not only to land on the moon and conduct research there for a few hours, but also to have a permanent research station on the lunar surface in the long term where astronauts can live and work – a lunar habitat.

The LUNA ecosystem shall include a habitat in the future as well – our visions go even further in the direction of a “model house settlement” next to the actual hall, but initially the planning envisages a single facility.

Leading experts in this field were brought together for a two-day online workshop in order to realise a concept that is as future-proof as possible, reflects the current state of research for such systems and offers further development and simulation possibilities in as many aspects as possible. The requirements for an initial LUNA habitat were discussed together, and the experts not only provided valuable information, but also insights into their conceptual studies and research.

Now the LUNA team needs to analyse and evaluate the findings – in order to have a living and working space for astronauts for LUNA as soon as possible.