Why NASA, ESA and others want to return to moon

What you need to know:

• The prospect of humans returning to the moon looks more likely than ever, with NASA and ESA collaborating on the Artemis program
• There have been a number of recent, successful moon missions by China and India
• Space agencies and commercial companies want to use the moon for scientific research and as a base to get to Mars

Growing interest in moon missions

The Artemis program is a North American, NASA-led human spaceflight program, involving 55 international collaborators, including the European Space Agency (ESA).

NASA aims to establish a permanent base at the moon's south pole and call it Artemis Base Camp. It also aims to launch a new space station, called Gateway, into the moon's orbit.

Meanwhile, a joint China-Russia project involving 13 international partners aims to build a moon base called the International Lunar Research Station by 2035.

Both the Artemis Base Camp and the International Lunar Research Station are proposed as scientific in nature. They will, if successful, host astronauts for short stays and house permanent robotic equipment, which could be operated from Earth.

But the moon has also always been of strategic value. During the Cold War, the US and Soviet-era Russia fought out their ideological differences in space as well as on Earth.

And so it is today, except there are more players. The US, for one, has stated publicly that it considers itself to be in a new space race, which it wants to win.

Here are more reasons why:

The moon is rich in resources

Part of the moon's appeal lies in its abundant resources. These include:

• Iron
• Silicon
• Hydrogen
• Titanium
• Rare earth elements (REEs)

While the costs of extraction and transportation are high, some of these resources could be brought back to Earth, where resources are dwindling in supply.

Mining operations on the moon could pave the way for extracting an immense mineral wealth held in asteroids, and the moon will be the first place this will be tested.

Most material extracted from the moon will be used to replace materials that would otherwise be needed to be brought from Earth, essentially making lunar bases self-sufficient.

Regolith (lunar soil), for example, could be used as radiation protection and construction material for lunar bases.

Water, which was first discovered on the moon in 2008 by the Indian mission Chandrayaan-1, will be important for drinking, growing food and cooling equipment.

Missions since Chandrayaan-1 have shown there are high concentrations of ice at the poles, which is partly why the first lunar colonies are likely to be built there — and probably at the south pole, even though it is difficult to land there.

These bases could also be used as "transit lounges" for astronauts on their way to Mars.

For energy, solar radiation is already used to power some spacecraft and satellites, but regolith and water ice could also be used to make rocket propellant.

The moon also contains significant amounts of helium-3, a potential fuel for nuclear fusion power.

So, that's another reason future Mars missions are landing for a stopover on the moon as well as to refuel.

Scientific research on the moon

Scientific research is at the core of ESA's Moon Exploration Program, as it is for all space agencies, said Sara Pastor, ESA's lunar and gateway program manager, in an email to DW.

Humans have had a continued presence in space for the past 20 years aboard the International Space Station. But the ISS is only 250 miles (about 400 kilometers) away in low Earth orbit, which is as little as four hours after launching from Earth. The moon is 250,000 miles away — about three days' spaceflight — and a far riskier journey for astronauts. The first research on the moon aims to make that journey safer and easier.

Then there's environmental science: "[Scientists] will investigate the nature of lunar environments, how their unique conditions affect human health and performance, and robotic exploration systems, and how human activity affects these environments," said Pastor.

Researchers will want to determine how water, metals and other lunar resources can be used to sustain lunar bases for the long term, and how best to extract them.

"ESA is developing instruments for radiation environment measurements, drilling and in-situ sample analysis, geophysics and lunar space weather," said Pastor.

Moon tech benefits us all on Earth

It's often claimed that we owe mobile phones to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and '70s. While our mobile phones are not direct descendants from space tech, the Apollo missions did help miniaturise electronic and telecommunication devices.

Dozens of modern technologies originally developed in the R&D labs of space agencies bring benefits to people on Earth — including home insulation, memory foam (used in mattresses), freeze-dried foods, robotic sensors and limbs and telemedicine.

Scientists are developing medical equipment and health tracking methods to protect astronauts' health when they spend long periods in the extreme conditions of space, especially the human immune system. For example: portable, lightweight diagnostic equipment needed for spaceflight crews without medical training to monitor their health.

These technologies could be used on Earth, too.

From a lunar hub to a second (or third) home for humans on Mars?

The long-term goal of building surface and orbital moon bases is so they can serve as a staging post for more distant space travel.

"A colony on the moon will be extremely useful and a key training ground for Mars surface human exploration," said Pastor.

NASA plans to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.