Lunar Life: Jobs, Homes, and Connectivity for Moon Colonists?

This is part two out of a three in our series on the growing lunar economy. Last article focused on building a sustainable lunar colony with ISRU and microgrids and now we will look at how colonists will live; their jobs, their homes and the connectivity of their lunar settlement via lunar internet.  

Jobs of the Moon 

One of the most important careers of lunar colonists, and likely the only career in early colonies, will be in applied STEM fields. Scientific work on the Moon, and space in general, will be paramount. There are many things unknown about the Moon, such as seismic activity, to be discovered. Not only that but the Moon, particularly the far side of the Moon, offers us great potential for astronomical observation. This is because of both the lack of atmosphere, the lack of satellites in the sky and (on the far side) the lack of human noise to interfere with observations. As well as these purely scientific roles, teh high-tech environment of space will require engineers and technicians to both maintain and design technology in space. For example, lunar settlements will require a heavy presence of robotics and automation, and this will need experts in robotics and software to both maintain and improve. Lunar colonies call for scientists and engineers, and it would be unsurprising if early colonies were made purely of roboticists, food engineers, geophysicists, geologists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, etcetera.

Yet these are not the only important roles within lunar colonies. As the magnitude of lunar colonies expands, other roles (often more specialised) would open up. For example, it will be useful to have technical and agricultural specialists come to the Moon to work on lunar farming and mining robots in the settlement as this will offer a greater means of maintenance and developments of lunar technologies. Another role, that is irrelevant to the lunar settlement itself but is important nonetheless, is artists and media specialists. Inhabiting the Moon is a new frontier and it will be important that the experience is shared with the rest of the world. Specialists in film, music and photography will be able to take their otherworldly experiences and bring it to the public as inspiration. Imagine going to the cinemas to watch a film encompassing the real life and activities of colonists on the Moon.

What would lunar colonists live in? 

The lunar surface experiences extreme temperatures, ranging from -170°C to 120°C, and is unprotected from oncoming solar radiation. So it will be necessary for lunar colonists to have homes shielding them from these extreme conditions. The most promising proposal for lunar settlements, particularly early ones, is 3D printed houses. The idea is to process or sinter lunar regolith into concrete which would be used as the material to 3D print the houses. Not only would regolith be useful as a readily available resource on the Moon, but it would offer significant protection against the extreme lunar conditions. Regolith is quite dense and would be able to block and absorb the solar radiation and cosmic rays received by the Moon. Furthermore, regolith is a poor conductor of heat and would offer great thermal insulation to protect colonists from the extreme heat. For future colonies, another useful way of building settlements would be within the huge lava tubes on the Moon. Lava tubes form from the flow of lava which drains out over time and leaves large hollow voids. On the Moon, the diameter of these lava tubes are recorded as up to 800 metres and would offer protection from the conditions on the lunar surface. These lava tubes would offer access to significant space which would not have to be dug up or built and would merely require supporting infrastructure to be built, as well as sealed doors at the entrances.

Internet on the Moon 

The internet is a key component of our modern lives, and the world as a whole, so it is important that colonies away from the Earth, on the Moon and later Mars, have access to it. This development is already being worked on by NASA and Nokia, who have built a partnership aiming to bring a 4G cellular network to the Moon. This is contributing to NASA's plan on building a LunaNet, essentially acting as a version of our terrestrial wifi network on the Moon. The benefits of this would be huge as they would allow far greater connectivity within the settlement itself as well as between lunar colonies and the Earth. Internet access on the Moon would allow much better navigation and communication systems to be set up on the Moon. For example, colonists will be able to track rovers and record navigational data much more accurately throughout the settlement. Scientific data will also be able to be sent more precisely and images, as well as video, would be shared with the rest of the world in a much greater quality than could be done with radio.

 As well as the benefits of the internet in maintaining the settlement and carrying out missions, the internet will also bring huge importance to colonists spending large amounts of time away from the world. Although not replacing real interaction with the world, access to the internet would ease many psychological problems resulting from the long isolation from the rest of the world. Most notably, colonists would be able to share video calls with their family and friends. This would allow them to see their faces, talk to them more frequently and share their experiences on the Moon. With the internet on the Moon, we would see far greater connectivity and quality of life within lunar colonies.