Why cant we make the moon habitable?

Question

So many non starter plans of interstellar journeys. Its too far! The moon is next door. Is it impossible to create an atmosphere there?

Answer 1

You can't create an atmosphere without enclosing it, because the moon's gravity is too weak to hold on to oxygen for any length of time.

Answer 2

As several others have mentioned, the moon is too small to have enough gravity to retain a substantial atmosphere. You'd have to enclose it in a dome, but that's only one of several major problems.

Water is almost non-existent on the moon, with the possible exception of some ice trapped at the poles. I think it was Robert Zubrin who once said that concrete would be more valuable than gold on the moon, because you could mine it for the water content.

Another major problem is the lunar day/night cycle; you get 14 days of daylight, with temps reaching 250 F., and 14 "days" of night, with temps dropping to minus 250 F. There are no plants capable of growing well in that kind of cycle that we know of.

At the moment, there's nothing valuable enough on the moon to justify the huge costs. Until the cost of space flight comes way down, (it costs about $10,000 a pound to put something in Earth orbit at this time), the moon will not be a paying proposition.

***thepordage*** "the moon is also not a planet, but an asteriod caught in an orbit."

The moon is an asteroid caught in an orbit? When did that happen? Where did you get that scientific fact? Off the back of a box of Space Food Sticks? Dude... step away from the comic books...

Answer 3

Good question.Let it be compared with mars.Sending people to mars on a spaceship will not be an easy task.It might take nearly two years for such a misson to return to the earth.If people do someday travel to mars they could build colonies.We can imagine colonies on the moon,because the moon is only a three-day rocket travel-time away from the earth.Mars is much farther away but in some ways it would be an easier world to live on than our moon .Mars has a gravitational pull that is 2/5 that of the earth ,while the Moon's is only 1/6 that of the earth.Mars has a thin atmosphere that can protect a little from meteors and radiation,but the moon has none.Mars seems to have water below its surface,while the moon does not.Cities could be built underground on mars or perhaps under domes on th planet's surface.
So you see why it is difficult to make the moon habitable.

Answer 4

The moon has gravity (1/6th that of Earth's)

The Moon has an atmosphere, but it is very tenuous. Gases in the lunar atmosphere are easily lost to space. Because of the Moon's low gravity, light atoms such as helium receive enough energy from solar heating so that they escape in just a few hours. Heavier atoms take longer to escape, but are ultimately ionized by the Sun's ultraviolet radiation, after which they are carried away from the Moon by the solar wind.

The moon can be habitable, but only indoors, and only in a place where refuge from solar flares can be available. So we are probably talking about sealed underground shelters.

Answer 5

Even if we did create an atmosphere on the Moon, it would soon escape to space because the Moon's gravity is not strong enough to keep an atmosphere for long. Anyway, how would you create an atmosphere?

Answer 6

it is not impossible, the earth once had an uninhabitable terrain and atmosphere for its current carbon based inhabitants (or so it is believed) and could even once have resembled mars.

the amount of enery to terraform on a level of origin moon destination earth. is far too great and the gravity difference also affects what we think we know about how planets work.

the moon is also not a planet, but an asteriod caught in an orbit.

Answer 7

The moon doesn't have enough gravity to hold an atmosphere and where would we get it all from. even tough the moon looks small, it's enormous. Sci fi and reality don't always match. We'd have to deplete our atmosphere pretty well.

Answer 8

The moon it dont have oxygen and water and we cannnot create a atmosphere because our technology is not advance very much.

Answer 9

moon has no gravity to hold an atmospere.

mars does, and has a lot of rust on it's surface...rust that is likely to be iron oxide...so one could free the oxygen, and have iron to create steel to build with.

Answer 10

Yes, since we will need oxygen masks and all be trained astronauts.