That meant soliciting the input of MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics and former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, who advised them on issues like rocket payloads and building for human factors in low-gravity environments, like the moon’s. Rather than imagine settlements of the distant future, the team at SOM gave themselves a brief of envisioning a lunar settlement that could be built within the next five years. “And then, paradoxically, how seemingly terrible we are at building on planet Earth, to the point of reaching a crisis in terms of the environment.” “You’re keenly aware of how much less problematic it is to build on planet Earth,” he explains. “It definitely does make you acutely aware of how much we take for granted,” explains SOM design partner Colin Koop, who worked with Petrov on the project.
European space agency moon village how to#
Their plan is purely a research project, but figuring out how to keep people alive on a remarkably hostile planet resonates with designers on earth all the same. The latest of these is a group of architects at the large, international firm SOM. The ESA’s approach has included collaborations with professionals outside of the aerospace industry–and outside of Europe–to create a body of research and working knowledge that is accessible to any nation.
“So the various people interested in going to the moon–be it scientific exploration by governments or private tourist agencies–they could all come to the same site and share into the same pool of resources.” Woerner’s vision is to build a “moon village,” or semi-permanent, multinational settlement, that could serve as a base for research or further exploration. “The original vision of Jan Woerner was to take the lessons learned about the International Space Station and apply them to the moon, and that all entities interested in going to the moon should pool our resources and create a common infrastructure,” explains Georgi Petrov, an associate director at the architecture firm SOM. In comparison, the European Space Agency and its Director General Jan Woerner are taking a distinctly apolitical approach to their lunar aspirations.