Even though microgravity is inherently deleterious to human health, I’m still surprised how well the human body is able to adapt to that harsh environment– especially when astronauts routinely exercise.

It may turn out that living under the low gravity of the Moon may be less deleterious to human health (especially if Lunarians routinely exercise) than the current obesity crisis that is currently negatively effecting the health of a substantial portion of the population in the US and the world.

But these are things we could have (and should have) found out in the 20th century, right after the end of the Apollo program in the early 1970s.

Marcel

We believe nothing will suddenly destroy us as a species. That we will keep going on and on, or at the very least we will never see the end of this world in our own lifetime. This is not very intelligent behavior for supposedly the most intelligent creatures on Earth. In my view there are several threats but there is a short list I call “the big three.”

The first is an asteroid or comet impact. This is invariably explained away as being statistically highly unlikely for a zillion years or so. The truth is it happened, will happen again, and could happen tomorrow.

The second is an engineered 100% lethal pathogen. A modest lab and some creative genetic engineering and this could happen tomorrow. Plenty of crazy people would love to end it all.

The third is a super-volcanic epic. This has happened before and could happen tomorrow.

Carried to their extreme any one of the three could extinguish the human race. A lesser impact or plague or volcanic epic could send us back to the stone age and leave a few million of us left. Space colonization removes all three threats. Spaceships could deflect an impact. A self-sufficient Moon colony with a few hundred women and a sperm bank means we possibly could go on despite a plague or cindered world. A population in the tens of billions living in tens of thousands of Bernal spheres means we would certainly go on.

I won’t be happy until NASA and the rest of the world, finally, starts to seriously and extensively explore the surface of the lunar poles. The robotic exploration of the Moon’s polar regions should be the– top priority– of NASA’s unmanned space program, IMO.

Mars

Both poles are in highlands terrain and the regolith in the highlands is quite thick, on the order of tens of meters. The depths to bedrock at the poles will be similar to other highland sites, but its physical properties might be different. We have some evidence that the mean density of polar regolith is lower than the rest of the Moon, for reasons that are not entirely clear. We need robotic probes to the surface of the poles to examine and characterize the deposits here.

Perhaps in the next century, if lunar industry succeeds, the first of thousands of artificial moons will be fabricated and beam propelled single stage to orbit transports will enable large scale migration to begin. In two hundred years it may happen the Earth will be largely depopulated and considered a nature park to visit. Tens of billions of human beings will live in countless cities in space.

But first we have to begin with going to the Moon and staying.

How deep do you suspect the regolith is at the lunar poles before bedrock is reached? And do you think regolith depths will be significantly different in the Moon’s polar regions than on the rest of the lunar surface?

Marcel