We’ll be living on the moon by 2030

MIAMI: NASA says humans will be living on the moon by the end of the decade.

The promise of extended human life on the moon follows the launch of Artemis 1, which could lead to the first manned lunar expedition in more than 50 years.

Artemis 1, comprising the Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion crew capsule, lifted off from Cape Canaveral last week (pictured).

Howard Hu, the Orion program manager, expects mission staff to spend long periods living on the moon to carry out experiments. This will entail creating a habitable base where researchers can conduct tests and explore the moon in rovers.

“It’s more than living, it’s really about science,” Hu said. “Certainly in this decade we are going to have people living for durations, depending on how long they are on the surface. We are going to be sending people down to the surface, they are going to be living there on the surface and doing science.”

The uncrewed Orion capsule is expected to return to Earth on December 11 and will be followed up by a crewed mission, Artemis II, to fly past the moon in 2024. If those go to plan a manned mission to the surface of the moon, Artemis III, could go ahead in 2025.

Follow-up missions are then expected to lead to the development of the Lunar Gateway, a space station orbiting the moon.

A permanent base will subsequently be created on the moon’s surface, where astronauts will live and work, conducting tests and building new technologies to support the push to Mars.

Artemis has cost $US37bn ($55.6bn) to date, and will hit $US90bn by 2025.

A decade in development, the program has been beset by technical and funding issues.

Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon, took place in December 1972, when Gene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt spent three days exploring the TaurusLittrow valley.