The ESA is now preparing to unveil a new inflatable lunar base even though NASA first shared plans for a moon base camp

The European Space Agency recently announced that it plans to unveil a novel concept, an inflatable Lunar Base.

On Sep. 1, the European Space Agency (ESA) posted an article titled System study of proposed inflatable moon base. In it, they envision a “moon settlement” created from “semi-buried inflatable habitats.”

An Austrian inflatable structures specialist “performed a system study of an inflatable lunar habitat, based on prefabricated ultralight structures.” The structures would be inflated, and then the habitats would be semi-buried “for radiation and micrometeorite protection.” [i]

This isn’t the first the world has heard of inflatable lunar bases, though. In 1989, NASA conducted a Lunar Base Systems Study, as detailed below.

NASA has already created inflatable space habitats. Large Inflatable Fabric Environment is the term coined for the habitats. The habitats are housed in Houston, Texas, at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. In addition to NASA several other companies, such as BOEING and Northrup Grumman, have also developed prototypes for inflatable space habitats. [ii]

Just as the ESA proposed that the inflatables be semi-buried, so does NASA’s and others. Moreover, the ‘reveal’ by the ESA coincides with NASA’s several years-long speculations about creating a permanent moon base. The video below further details NASA’s plans for a permanent moon base.

Several individuals commented on the previous video with strikingly different views. Many who have commented feel that space exploration is a waste of finances that the government could otherwise be using. In contrast, others feel that the exploration of the galaxy is necessary for the advancement of society. [iii]

References

[i] European Space Agency, System study of proposed inflatable moon base, (Sep. 1, 2022)

[ii] CNBC, This Inflatable Space Habitat Could Help NASA Return to the Moon, (Jul. 19, 2019)

[iii] Id.