What You Need to Survive on the Moon?

The basic things people need for long-term survival on the moon include breathable air, water, food, power and pressurized shelter. Ideally, people should produce these resources on the moon because delivery costs to the moon are extremely expensive.

Individuals planning to live on the moon can acquire breathable air by using heat and electricity to obtain oxygen from the moon’s soil. Evidence suggests that the moon’s south pole may have buried ice. People can mine the ice as a source of water for drinking and irrigation. It’s also possible to use water as rocket fuel by turning it into oxygen and hydrogen.

However, people have to import liquid hydrogen from Earth if there isn’t enough water on the moon. The element can react with oxygen obtained from the moon’s soil to produce water. This is likely the least expensive method to have water since water molecules contain 33 percent hydrogen and 67 percent oxygen by weight.

To produce food, people can grow wheat by using the available chemicals on the moon and getting the other necessary chemicals from Earth. For shelter, they can use inflatable structures sent from Earth. Researchers have discovered that it may be possible to create ceramics and metals on the moon and use the materials to build structures. Manufacturing solar cells on the moon and reacting hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel are two probable ways to generate electricity.