Difference between revisions of "Moon"
Revision as of 18:21, 28 January 2013
The Moon (Luna) is the Earth's solitary satellite, roughly 385,000 kilometers away. It has roughly 38,000,000 square kilometers of surface area, and is not believed to harbor any life.
The Moon has had no known visitors since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. America's NASA, the European Space Agency and the Chinese space program all have apparently serious plans to return, but none are in a hurry: NASA's target date for the next man on the moon is 2018, while both the ESA and the Chinese are aiming at 2024. India has also expressed its hope to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2020.
If you're content with just taking a closer look, Space Adventures and the Russian Space Agency have floated the idea of a flight around the moon for a cool US$100 million or so; see Space for details.
Conventional aircraft are useless on the Moon since there is no atmosphere to generate the aerodynamic lift they require to fly. The primary method of transportation has been lunar rovers, three of which are still stranded at Mons Hadley, the Descartes Highland and the Taurus-Littrow valley.
Gravity on the Moon's surface is only one-sixth of the Earth, which compensates in part for having to wear a bulky pressurized spacesuit.
There are no restaurants or shops available on the Moon. Take all the food you need with you.
There is next to nothing to drink on the moon, bring your own bottled water from home. Although, there is ice located in deep craters in the polar regions.
The next phase of lunar exploration will probably involve the construction of permanent manned bases in the Moon's polar regions. In the meantime, you're on your own.
Due to the fact that there are no humans on the moon, there is also no crime problem.
The universe however is out to get you and this will become all too apparent once you leave the comforts of Earth. In addition to the obvious problems of freezing cold temperatures and the lack of a breathable atmosphere, in order to stay alive you will have to take precautions:
There are no hospitals or emergency medical facilities on the Moon.