One of the most prominent and interesting features of the night sky, is our very own Moon. We, as humans, have been infatuated with this celestial body since the beginning of time. The moon has perpetuated its existence throughout history, appearing all different sorts of mythologies and legends. That interest has not gone away. In fact, if anything, it has grown. With the beginning of the Artemis missions from NASA in the 21st century, we see this play out. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that our understanding of the moon is shifting in the modern era.
The Artemis 3 mission from SpaceX has plans to go to the Moon utilizing the recently popularized “Starship”. Starship itself is a massive undertaking that will carry many materials and experiments to the moon’s surface. These experiments and information gathering are conducted in hopes of eventually establishing a moon base. In doing so, we as humans would finally establish an extra-planetary living space for our species. Just imagine if in our lifetimes we get to see the human race develop into this new frontier. But perhaps we’re jumping the gun a little bit. As of right now SpaceX is beginning their exploits with a much smaller ambition. They plan to use Starship to orbit the Moon with a number of popular artists and entertainers on board. Perhaps they imagine bringing celebrities with them will increase public support for the missions. Regardless, the development of any space mission is news enough for me.
Speaking of SpaceX missions, their plans to travel to Mars are also fairly widely publicized. The Mars mission is arguably more popular because humans have never stepped foot on Mars before. That being said, there are plans in place to travel to the red planet in the future. As we have seen with the Moon, it is believed that more samples must be collected before we look at setting up a permanent Mars base. Not to mention all the challenges that arise with such an undertaking. The loss of gravity between Earth and Mars is not suitable for humans to experience for long periods of time, and that’s not even discussing the difficulties of attempting to sustain a population like growing your own food or anything. That being said, just imagine what it’ll be like when we finally do cross that threshold. Perhaps they’ll celebrate it as Mars day or something!
That’s enough for speculation and hopes though. Let’s talk real space news. The White House on April 2nd directed NASA to establish a system of time for the moon and other celestial bodies that we are familiar with. This direction and guidance come in hopes of establishing international norms in space among growing interest in space from other nations and private companies. In fact, some plans are already in place. The space agency and other parts of the US government are planning to devise a plan by the end of 2026 for setting what be known as Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC). These clocks will obviously move at different speeds than our clock here on Earth due to the fact that different celestial bodies are different sizes and rotate at different speeds. Mars for example has a daytime that is 24 hours and 37 minutes long, whereas the Moon rotates much slower. 1 day on the Moon is equivalent to 29.5 Earth days. Crazy right?
Needless to say, there’s a lot happening in the space of Space. We as humans continually look to the stars for exploration and newer and better technologies. As interesting as it is, let’s not forget about our lovely planet of Earth. Our home and refuge, from where we begin all journeys.
