介绍： 为何人类想“重回”月球？Why Everyone Wants to Go Back to the Moon
KENNETH CHANG2019

Everyone, it seems, wants to go the moon now.
In January, Chang’e-4, a Chinese robotic spacecraft including a small rover, became the first ever to land on the far side of the moon. India is aiming to launch Chandrayaan-2 t...

介绍： 为何人类想“重回”月球？Why Everyone Wants to Go Back to the Moon
KENNETH CHANG2019

Everyone, it seems, wants to go the moon now.
In January, Chang’e-4, a Chinese robotic spacecraft including a small rover, became the first ever to land on the far side of the moon. India is aiming to launch Chandrayaan-2 this month, its first attempt to reach the lunar surface. Even a small Israeli nonprofit, SpaceIL, tried to send a small robotic lander there this year, but it crashed. In the coming decades, boots worn by visitors from these and other nations could add their prints to the lunar dust. The fascination with Earth’s celestial companion is not limited to nation-states. A bevy of companies has lined up in hopes of winning NASA contracts to deliver experiments and instruments to the moon.


So why go back?
A primary impetus for a moon stampede now? The discovery that there is water there, especially ice deep within polar craters where the sun never shines. That is a potentially invaluable source of drinking water for future astronauts visiting the moon, but also for water that can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen could provide breathable air; oxygen and hydrogen could also be used as rocket propellant. Thus, the moon, or a refueling station in orbit around the moon, could serve as a stop for spacecraft to refill their tanks before heading out into the solar system.

Making moon money
As these administrations wavered, entrepreneurs had begun brainstorming possible business ventures on the moon. In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced a $20 million grand prize, bankrolled by Google, that would be awarded to the first private team that could put a robotic lander on the moon. But while no company could claim the jackpot, many have not given up on the moon as a business opportunity.The payoffs of the moon could include helium-3 mined from the lunar soil, potentially a fuel for future fusion reactors, although practical fusion reactors are still decades away. There could be an opening for companies that would ship the ashes of loved ones to the moon as a memorial. And some private companies could carry payloads for scientific research. For instance, the far side of the moon could be ideal for optical and radio telescopes because they would not face earthly interference there. With these potential businesses, the Lunar X Prize may turn out to be a success, even though there was no winner.

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