C
Crossover_Maniac
Guest
Instead of sending four people for a few months, send ten to twenty people for a stay of several years. And don't send scientists, send mineralogists, architects, construction workers, manufacturing engineers, etc. Prior to that, unmanned ships loaded with excavation equipment, machine shop equipment, concrete mixers, enough solar panels to provide the power needed for this equipment. There is also plans to convert lunar oxygen and aluminum into rocket fuel (LOX/aluminum dust) to avoid using lunar water and keep it for mixing concrete, drinking water, growing food, LOX/H2 for fuel cells to be used during lunar nights. Once that is done, it would be possible to launch single-stage landers with enough fuel to land on the surface and are refueled for a return home. Rule of thumb should be to replace all bulk material (building material, fuel, oxygen, water). What do you think?