VISUALISING HUMANITY'S RETURN TO THE MOON

Tangram 3DS collaborates with the architects of lunar colonisation

Why did we stop going to the Moon? This question tugs at the mind of many who stare into the night sky and are reminded of the immensity of the universe around us. Since the last lunar walks in the 1970s, humanity has established the International Space Station and landed robots on the surface of Mars, but a space programme committed to our return to the Moon has stalled, largely because of a lack of three interconnected elements: budget, political will, and public interest. 

Some dedicated people never lost sight of their lunar ambitions. And now with budgets expanding, thanks in part to private-sector space companies, political will opening, and public interest being revitalised, those who never gave up on their dreams of lunar exploration are finding themselves at the forefront of NASA's goal to put humans back on the Moon, and establish long-term lunar habitats.

The Exploration Architecture Corporation (XArc), which designs space exploration architecture and conducts mission planning, has long had its eye on the Moon and the potential it holds for expanding humanity's presence in space. Sam Ximenes, the founder of XArc and. its non-profit WEX Foundation, wanted to bring to life a vision for further exploration on the Moon and eventually on Mars in his collaboration with 3D artists.

His company has engineered systems for lunar landing pads constructed from bricks made of regolith; the loose dust and rock on the Moon's surface. It has also established concepts for underground habitats where scientists can live and conduct research, and designed spaceports to shuttle astronauts and machinery to lunar bases and back.