The European Space Agency is planning to set up a small village on moon to replace the International Space Station. The moon township, proposed by Professor Jan Woerner, the future head of the ESA, will be called Lunarville and is expected to be completed by 2024, if enough funds are raised for the project.
"The construction of a station on the moon would trigger a huge surge of technological innovation on Earth," said Prof. Woerner, Daily Mail reported.
The township will be set on the back side of the moon, which is not seen from earth. The telescopes will be set up permanently on the moon's surface to have an undisturbed view into the depths of space. The illustrative picture is being released, which shows the proposed moon village, with structures strikingly similar to the homes in the popular kid's TV show "Teletubbies."
Prof. Woerner further elaborated that apart from the initial few years, it will be possible to produce water from hydrogen and food from crops grown in greenhouses on the moon itself so that researchers can stay there for a long period of time. A regular permanent shuttle service will be needed in the case of medical and other unforeseen emergencies.
Apart from food and other necessities' requirements, Prof. Woerner sounded hopeful that moon's own resources, including Helium 3, can also be tapped in the future as an energy source.
Meanwhile, the project of Lunarville is facing financial constraints as the moon village will cost more than 75 billion pounds. Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany is researching and developing the kind of dwelling and material to be used on the moon, Mirror reported.