European Space Agency Boss Proposes Moon Village..But Says What It Is Not

by Benson Agoha | Space

Informal EU-ESA Space Council Meeting On 30 November 2015,
In Brussels, with Elżbieta Bieńkowska, European Commissioner
for Internal Market Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
(top right) and Jan Woener, ESA Director General (top left).
Credit: via Jan Woerner's Blog.

What should we do on the Moon? This question has been ongoing in the minds of many leaders in various countries.

China's mission on the moon is in progress with crippled Yutu still sending reports back to earth and a follow-up moon mission being planned by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

But if you have been wondering when the occupation of the Moon will take place, Jan Woerner, the new Boss of the European Space Agency has been making his thoughts known.

In an article on his official blog titled "how do we in Europe, work together in space?", he made clear that his priority is to deliver the programmes, in full compliance with our Agreements with the EU.

The programmes in question referr to the agreed framework for co-operation by all member nations of the EU who have their seperate Space aims and are also part of the general agreement by the European Space Council through the EU-ESA Framework Agreement.

"The Space Council is currently the only political platform where Member States of the European Union, ESA Member States, the European Commission and ESA can meet and exchange views, on an equal footing and, together, develop an overall European space policy", he explained in his article.

* The Moon - the next human colony or not?

Speaking in Paris on his vision for a multinational research village on the Moon, Friday - seen as a leading contender for a project to succeed the International Space Station, by ESA boss said his idea is however "..not to build some small houses over there and then to have a city hall and a church and whatever.”

The Moon Village would have “multiple uses and multiple users, he suggested, saying “Maybe one country is more interested in science, another may be a private company interested in mining ... and another may be interested to use the Moon as a stepping stone for further exploration. This is the overall scheme, and we are now discussing of course worldwide whether there is enough interest in that to go ahead with it.”

The new boss, who became ESA director general last July may be on to something, but his idea has not received the best of approval, having be labelled as "crazy" by some.

For now, it just an idea, even if a crazy one, but one the esa boss believes is being widely discussed as the end of the International Space Station looms large.

And as Industry Week reports, the broad concept is a base for lunar exploration by humans and robots, potentially a stopover for spacecraft and possibly even a mining site.

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( * Lead and contribution from Industry Week.)