NASA plans to explore lunar resources within the next decade

Human curiosity and the desire to obtain more and more knowledge lead us directly to the exploration of unknown environments.

With technological advancement and humanity’s determination to expand its horizons, our species has reached the space explorationl, which only served as a source of motivation for new missions and research.

One of the greatest searches outside of Earth is related to resources that are useful to society and that can directly influence the evolution of human resources and tools.

Therefore, the agency’s intention in developing space exploration has never stopped. Now, NASA intends to return to the furthest point humanity has reached and extract resources with a new objective.

NASA plans to mine the Moon in the coming years

Illustrative image: ICON/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group/Nasa

One of the largest space agencies on the planet has already revealed its intention to return to Moon in the next two years. By 2025, a crew should be sent to the Moon as a continuation of the Artemis Mission.

The objective of this mission is to recognize the local conditions of the Moon, since NASA has shown interest in mining the natural satellite in the next decade.

It is worth noting that the last space mission that took humans to the Moon occurred more than fifty years ago, in 1972, when Apollo 17 achieved its goal.

Furthermore, NASA estimates that by 2032, that is, in less than a decade, the lunar soil could be excavated in search of resources that will help us in future expeditions to Mars, our neighboring planet.

This second intention is revealed by the agency’s own official website, which contains the following information:

“We will collaborate with commercial and international partners to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. Then we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.”

How does the agency plan to achieve its goals?

According to Gerald Sanders, a rocket scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the agency’s scientists are currently searching for possible supplies in lunar soil, such as water, oxygen and later other minerals with the aim of establishing commercial links from this and attracting investments to the area.

Therefore, later this month, the agency intended to launch a drilling platform into space, seeking to collect samples and form a plant for large-scale excavation.

In short, US agents also want to send astronauts, including women and black people (not yet sent to the satellite, encouraging social inclusion) to probe the Moon for eight days.

Among them is Christina Koch, the first woman to set foot on lunar soil through the mission Artemis II.