While Elon Musk, the organizers of the mission Mars One and NASA plans to build the first settlements on Mars, others offer to learn that close . As a second home for humanity in the ESA consider the moon. They think that colonization of Earth's natural satellite - is an important step towards the conquest of deep space.
The European Space Agency has released a video titled «Destination: Moon» («Destination Moon"), which outlined his plans to establish a colony on the uncharted side of the Moon , which is not visible from Earth.
In the future, the moon can be a place where people of the world will be able to come to understand their common origins, build a common future and continue to explore the unknown - said in a video message.
Moon tied to the Earth tidal forces, which means that one side of the lunar surface is always facing the Earth. Surface side of the moon dotted with numerous craters. One of these "scars" - Pool South Pole - is the largest impact crater in our solar system.
According to scientists, Pool South Pole was formed about 4 billion years ago. Its diameter is 2500 kilometers. The crater stretches almost a quarter of the circle of the moon. If the surface of the pool partially submerged in eternal darkness, its edge is presented in the form of a mountain range, which is almost always illuminated by sunlight.
ESA plans to send a robotic lunar mountains at first, and then the people. According to the agency, the outer edge of the basin south pole is ideal for landing future colonizers. Experts attribute this virtually uninterrupted access to solar energy and good views of the countryside.
According to the agency, in this area will be deployed base, like today's research stations in Antarctica. In 2009, NASA spacecraft for observation and sensing lunar craters LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) analyzed the chemical composition of the material in the basin of the South Pole and found traces of frozen water.
ESA experts are hoping to find out where else on the Moon has water and how it came there. Water supplies in large quantities would help future colonizers to produce rocket fuel of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. This would allow humanity to continue exploration of the solar system and the conquest of deep space .