New Scientist - USA (2019-07-13)

42 | New Scientist | 13 July 2019

JAX

A

S

HACKLETON BASE, JULY 2069 – The habitat’s

carbon-fibre dome glistens as the lunar day

dawns. Inside, men and women are tending to

rows of tomato plants, the leaves curled towards

the sun, the trusses bearing huge fruit. Growing

in gravity that is just 17 per cent of Earth’s, the

plants’ fuzzy stalks don’t need help carrying

their load, so they spread widely.

Some of the tomatoes are almost ripe, and

will make a fine welcome treat for the new

arrivals in a couple of Earth-days, coming for

the 100th anniversary ceremony.

A century ago, humans went to the moon

“not because it was easy, but because it was

hard”. And to beat the communists. In 2069,

humans go for many reasons. Some are drawn

to the bleak beauty of this place. Others are

more interested in making life-saving drugs

or fibre-optic cables with better quality than

is possible on Earth. And there is a good deal

of money to be made too. People pay a lot for

tomatoes, textiles and art from the moon.

But none of this would be possible if,

50 years earlier, people hadn’t decided to

go back, for reasons including the simple

fact that they could.

THE NEXT

MOON

WALKERS

There are many reasons to return

to the lunar surface. The ones we

pick will shape it forever, says

Rebecca Boyle

THE moon looks pristine from our

vantage point. But there have been six

crewed moon landings and about 20

successful rover and lander missions

on its surface, and these have left

rather a lot of mess behind them.

Both intentionally and by accident,

we have scattered detritus across

the lunar surface during our attempts

to land there and as the Apollo

astronauts explored the desolate

landscape.

Now a new space race is heating

up, and astronauts may soon

return to what Buzz Aldrin called its

“magnificent desolation”. If they do,

they may well come across some of

the estimated 187,000 kilograms of

rubbish strewn across it. Here is some

of what they might find.

DEAD COTTON PLANTS

China’s Chang’e 4 rover landed on

the moon in January, bringing with

it the first moon garden. In a sealed

biosphere, cotton, oilseed rape and

potato became the first plants that

we know of to germinate on another

world. After the probe lost power, the

plants probably died as the freezing

lunar night fell over them. But this

experiment is a landmark step towards

building a flourishing lunar base where

humans can farm their own crops.

LOTS OF HUMAN FAECES

It is nothing to be embarrassed about:

everyone needs to defecate, even

space explorers. And when the Apollo

astronauts were planning their trip

Lunar

litter

We have left an

extraordinary array of

objects on the moon.

Chelsea Whyte picks

through the rubbish

THE FUTURE

NA

SA

For more moon-related fun, turn to page 52

and a special selection of puzzles celebrating

50 years since the Apollo 11 landing