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Forget Lunar Metropolises: Water Limits Could Cap Moon's Population, Scientists Say
Researchers say 98% recycling would still leave a one-million-person settlement short of water within about a century.
- Researchers Martin Elvis, an astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell found Monday that a million-person city on the Moon is unsustainable due to limited water resources.
- Even with 98% efficient recycling—matching the International Space Station's rate—a million-person city would exhaust its water supply in at least 100 years, far too brief given the investment required to build such a settlement.
- Most lunar water ice resides in permanently shadowed regions that never get above minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit; current estimates of that ice are about 30 times less than initial projections, drastically shortening potential sustainability.
- NASA's Artemis IV mission plans to land astronauts near the lunar South Pole as early as 2028, while SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has shifted focus toward building a self-growing city on the Moon within less than 10 years.
- Elvis and McDowell urge international cooperation to manage limited water resources rather than risking a "free-for-all," while strategies like vertical farming and importing water from asteroids could potentially extend lunar settlement lifespan.
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35 Articles
35 Articles
Lunar colony projects, seen as the first stop in humanity's search for extraterrestrial life and deep space exploration, have been confronted with a harsh scientific reality.
·Istanbul, Türkiye
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A NEW study finds that limited supplies of water ice, rather than energy or technology, are the main obstacle to building large cities on the moon. Sustainability is only possible for smaller settlements.
·Zagreb, Croatia
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Jeff Bezos and other entrepreneurs are swarming with metropolises on the moon. Two researchers now calculate and come to a sobering result: Even under the best conditions, the supply of water would be remarkably quickly exhausted.
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Total News Sources35
Leaning Left5Leaning Right2Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution54% Center
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
54% Center
L 33%
C 54%
13%
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