NASA's moonshot plans involve making human settlements by 2040

NASA was the first agency to take humans to the Moon, but after the shuttering of the Apollo programme in the year 1972, it hasn't made a significant foray into the Earth's only satellite. Yes, there have been crafts that have orbited the Moon and have come back, but NASA didn't focus on taking astronauts to the Moon. Things are different now, as the space agency is not only taking its astronauts to the Moon one more time but is also making ambitious plans to create human settlements there by 2040. And these settlements won't only be for astronauts, but also for civilians.

The agency believes that by 2040, the first American sub-division on the Moon will be a reality.

The plans, as reported by The New York Times, involve blasting off a 3-D printer to the Moon and creating structures there using resources available on the Moon. 3-D printers are already making structures on Earth using resources available at the time of printing, so it is, in theory, possible on the Moon as well.

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The timeline may seem ambitious. After all, the 2040s are just 17 years away, a relatively small period considering the immense effort that goes into space endeavours. But scientists interviewed by the NYT said that the goal is achievable if NASA keeps up the good work of hitting the benchmarks.

“We’re at a pivotal moment, and in some ways, it feels like a dream sequence,” said Niki Werkheiser, NASA’s director of technology maturation. “In other ways, it feels like it was inevitable that we would get here.”

“We’ve got all the right people together at the right time with a common goal, which is why I think we’ll get there,” she said. “Everyone is ready to take this step together, so if we get our core capabilities developed, there’s no reason it’s not possible.”

Werkheiser was quoted by The New York Times.

NASA will not be doing this alone. It is likely to team up with private companies and take extensive help from academics and industry leaders.

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