NASA -- larger image
The needs of 12 people could
be met by a 16-meter-diameter
inflatable
habitat with facilities
for exercise, operations control,
clean up, lab work, hydroponic
gardening, a wardroom, private
crew quarters, dust-removing
devices for lunar surface work,
an airlock, and lunar rover and
lander vehicles.
Currently, there are no active plans to build settlements on Earth's Moon. Proposals for large-scale industrial exploitation of the Moon have been in development since the 1970s, however. A summary of proposals over the 50 years and papers from a 1984 NASA symposium on Lunar bases and space activities are available. (More information about Earth's Moon can be found here.)
Exploitation - images of proposed projects
NASA -- larger and
jumbo
images
Lunar
smelting
using Solar power.
Bases - images of proposed habitations
NASA -- larger
and
jumbo
images
Domed, Solar-powered
Moon
colony could exploit any water
ice found at the Lunar South Pole.
Transport Vehicles - images of interplanetary vessels, lunar landers, and surface rovers
NASA -- larger
and
jumbo
images
Nuclear thermal transfer rockets
(with detachable crew modules)
could provide 24-hour flights
between Earth orbit and the Moon.
