Moonbase

: (L to R) Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, scientific equipment, Apollo Lunar Module Eagle; US flag and television camera in back (photo by Neil Armstrong)|thumb A moonbase (or lunar base) is a human outpost on or beneath the surface of the Moon. More than a mere site of activity or temporary camp, moonbases are extraterrestrial bases, supporting robotic or human activity, by providing surface infrastructure. Missions to the Moon have realized single-mission bases (Tranquility Base in 1969¹ being the first), as well as some small permanent infrastructure like lunar laser ranging installations. Plans for establishing permanent multi-mission moonbases, with surface or sub-surface research stations, are being proposed internationally. As of 2025, the two most advanced projects to establish moonbases have been pursued multilaterally as part of the U.S.-led Artemis program, with its planned Artemis Base Camp and as the China-led International Lunar Research Station. A broad, international infrastructure has been envisioned with the so-called Moon Village concept, and a general international regulatory regime for lunar activity has been called for by the 1979 signed Moon Treaty, and advocated with an implementation agreement since 2020.…

: (L to R) Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, scientific equipment, Apollo Lunar Module Eagle; US flag and television camera in back (photo by Neil Armstrong)|thumb]] A moonbase (or lunar base) is a human outpost on or beneath the surface of the Moon. More than a mere site of activity or temporary camp, moonbases are extraterrestrial bases, supporting robotic or human activity, by providing surface infrastructure. Missions to the Moon have realized single-mission bases (Tranquility Base in 1969 being the first), as well as some small permanent infrastructure like lunar laser ranging installations. Plans for establishing permanent multi-mission moonbases, with surface or sub-surface research stations, are being proposed internationally. As of 2025, the two most advanced projects to establish moonbases have been pursued multilaterally as part of the U.S.-led Artemis program, with its planned Artemis Base Camp and as the China-led International Lunar Research Station. A broad, international infrastructure has been envisioned with the so-called Moon Village concept, and a general international regulatory regime for lunar activity has been called for by the 1979 signed Moon Treaty, and advocated with an implementation agreement since 2020. The surface infrastructure of a base may consist of pre-integrated basic landers, as supporting stations for robotic rovers, or habitation modules for crewed presence, or of surface assembled or in-situ derived and constructed surface stations for sustained lunar habitation. Lunar bases may work with lunar space stations, which provide supporting infrastructure in lunar orbit. The development of moonbases into permanent extraterrestrial settlements has been proposed. Broad lunar colonization or space colonization in general, particularly as laying territorial claims, which is prohibited by international space law, has been criticized for perpetuating colonialism. astronaut Pete Conrad with Surveyor 3 and Apollo 12 Statio Cognitum lunar base with the Intrepid lander and S-band antenna in the background, in a first ever visit of a separate mission beyond Low Earth Orbit ]] ==Past bases== The U.S. Apollo Program established the first six temporary bases on the Moon, starting with Tranquility Base (1969). Later robotic missions set up simple robotic temporary bases, rovers and sample-return missions leaving their landers behind, starting with Luna 16 (1970). (1970), with its return stage separating from its lander.]] ==Regulation== The 1967 Outer Space Treaty defines the Moon and all outer space as the "province of all mankind". It restricts the use of the Moon to peaceful purposes, explicitly banning military installations and weapons of mass destruction. A majority of countries are parties of this treaty. The 1979 Moon Agreement was created to elaborate on the Outer Space Treaty, restricting the exploitation of the Moon's resources, particularly by any single nation, leaving it to a yet unspecified international regulatory regime. As of January 2020, the Moon Agreement has been signed and ratified by 18 nations, none of which have human spaceflight capabilities. Current lunar programs are multilateral, with the US-led Artemis program and the China-led International Lunar Research Station. For broad international cooperation and coordination, the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), the Moon Village Association (MVA) and more generally the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) have been established. Since 2020, countries have joined the U.S. in the Artemis Accords, which are challenging the treaty. The U.S. has furthermore emphasized in a presidential executive order ("Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources.") that "the United States does not view outer space as a 'global commons and calls the Moon Agreement "a failed attempt at constraining free enterprise." With Australia signing and ratifying both the Moon Treaty in 1986 as well as the Artemis Accords in 2020, there has been a discussion if they can be harmonized. In this light an Implementation Agreement for the Moon Treaty has been advocated for, as a way to compensate for the shortcomings of the Moon Treaty and to harmonize it with other laws and agreements such as the Artemis Accords, allowing it to be more widely accepted. ===Conservation=== In the face of such increasing commercial and national interest, particularly prospecting territories, U.S. lawmakers have introduced in late 2020 specific regulation for the conservation of historic landing sites and interest groups have argued for making such sites World Heritage Sites and zones of scientific value protected zones, all of which add to the legal availability and territorialization of the Moon. ===Current: Artemis Program=== with a Foundational Surface Habitat and a Pressurized rover ("Mobile Habitat")]] == Moon Village concept== The European Space Agency (ESA) endorsed a Moon Village concept in 2015. The "Village" is an international group of public and private investors, scientists, engineers, universities, and corporate actors coordinating to build and share infrastructure on the Moon and in cislunar space. Moon Village promotes international cooperation and the commercialization of space. The Moon Village Association is a nonprofit organization established in Vienna, Austria, in November 2017¹. with the mission to create a global forum to build and maintain a permanent human settlement near the lunar south pole, taking advantage of near-continuous sunlight and nearby deposits of ice and other useful volatiles. According to ESA, the Village's objective is to create a permanent sustainable presence on the surface of the Moon, whether robotic or crewed. In 2017, ESA Director General Jan Wörner, described the Village as "an understanding, not a single facility", and a first step toward Martian exploration. Wörner suggested the Moon Village as a successor to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS). , while sunlight enters through mirrors (ESA, 2022) ]] China has expressed interest in the Moon Village as has NASA, as the Moon Village relates to NASA's proposed Lunar Gateway space station. The private aerospace company Blue Origin has expressed early interest and offered to develop a cargo lander with a capacity of usable payload. In 2018, the Vienna University of Technology received sponsorship from ESA for a design workshop on the topic of the Moon Village. 35 master students have developed hypothetical scenarios for a future Moon village. The cooperative concept of the workshop led to a number of new themes, such as multipurpose mobile infrastructure, an astro-scientist training campus on the Moon, an experimental research food lab, and a lunar recycling facility. ==Orbital infrastructure== Lunar orbital spacecraft have been supporting lunar bases since the use of the Apollo command and service module in lunar orbit. Today an increasing number of lunar satellites provide different services to surface missions and possibly to lunar bases. The current lunar landing Artemis program was to be supported by the since shelved Lunar Gateway. ==References== ==External links== Envisioning the Moon Village – Architectural Design Studio 2018

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