Why |
Atmosphere
This seems like a strange point to start with; how can a lack of an atmosphere be beneficial? But there comes advantages and disadvantages with this phenomenon. Experiments requiring a vacuum would be far easier to conduct on the moon. With no atmosphere there is no weather making solar panels much more predictable. Less sunlight is refracted, making solar panels more effective. Telescopes would have better resolution for the same reason. Structures can be much taller because they don’t have to resist wind. Rockets can have bigger payloads since there isn’t air to drag them.
Gravity
Again, rather then something the moon has but lacks is valuable. Structures can be bigger since there is less gravity to resist. Observatories could be colossal and, with the added benefit of no atmosphere, we could see beyond our wildest dreams. Manufacturing often requires heavy equipment. Less gravity would allow the equipment to be lighter, smaller and weaker, thus that same heavy equipment would require less material to build. With less gravity, rockets don’t have to accelerate as fast, meaning the structure of the rocket can be bigger. With less acceleration needed, less fuel needs to be carried, making rocket payloads even bigger.
Materials
The moon doesn’t offer much that the earth doesn’t have. The moon has a higher concentration of Helium 3 which, in theory, is fusionable. I will show, however, that a moon base can be established without the promise of fusion power. What is valuable on the moon is that matter is already there so we don’t need to ship it. Payloads from the earth to the moon are about $25,000 per kilogram. From that perspective, every kilogram on the moon is a kilogram you don’t have to ship, making every kilogram on the moon valuable.
Location
Compared to other bodies in our solar system, the moon is practically next door, about one light second away. This proximity makes real-time communication possible and remote control practical rather than advanced artificial intelligence (AI). We could also ship supplies quite quickly assuming we have a rocket on hand. So if we were to colonize the moon with people we could ship emergency supplies in enough time to matter. There aren’t many people on the moon ,and you can’t really wreck an environment anymore than the micrometeorites and radiation already have, meaning you could conduct possibly dangerous experiments on the moon and as long as they don’t reach Earth it’s fine. These experiments could include nanobots, genetic engineered viruses or bacteria, or nuclear experiments pick your poison.
Rockets
As already established, a rocket on the moon can ship more than on earth due to gravity and the lack of atmosphere. Any future space missions would benefit greatly. Asteroid mining would be easier, tapping into the wealth of our solar system. This benefit also applies to rockets on the ground; rockets on earth could be more standardized since you only need to go to the moon and then you could refuel. This procedure would allow easier mass production, thus reducing payload costs.