Momentum builds for creation of 'moon villages' | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Momentum builds for creation of 'moon villages' Momentum builds for creation of 'moon villages' Published: January 06, 2016 Author: William G. Gilroy Clive Neal Villages on the moon, constructed through cooperation between astronauts and robotic systems on the lunar surface, could become a reality as early as 2030. That’s the consensus of a recent international conference of scientists, engineers and industry experts, including Clive Neal, a University of Notre Dame planetary geologist. The European Space Agency (ESA) hosted a symposium titled “Moon 2020-2030 — A New Era of Coordinated Human and Robotic Exploration,” in the Netherlands. The ESA’s vision is that the moon villages could serve as a potential springboard for future human missions to Mars and potentially other destinations. In order for that vision to become a reality, Neal said, scientists must first determine if the resources on the Moon are as significant as we think they are. “We keep talking about lunar resources, but we still need to demonstrate they can be used … (that) they are, in fact, reserves,” he said. “So ground truth verification of deposit size, composition, form and homogeneity requires a coordinated prospecting program as a first step. The next step would demonstrate extraction techniques followed by refinement of the product into usable commodity. A successful program would then clearly demonstrate that lunar resources can enable solar system exploration." Neal said the ESA meeting highlighted technology development in terms of precision landing, robotic sample return, and cryogenic sampling, caching, return and curation. “Significant investments in the latter are required and starting to be made,” he said. Neal’s research explores the origin and evolution of the moon, focusing on the petrology and geochemistry of returned samples coupled with geophysics and other remotely sensed datasets; geophysical instrumentation and investigations of the moon; formation of impact melts; and more basalt petrogenesis. Passionate about the U.S. human spaceflight program and returning humans to the moon to stay, Neal has been involved in numerous NASA review panels and in the study of the moon since 1986. Most recently, he chaired the senior review panel for the Planetary Science Division for extended space missions and is currently in his second term as chair of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group. Contact: Clive Neal, 574-631-8328, neal.1@nd.edu Posted In: Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related October 05, 2022 Astrophysicists find evidence for the presence of the first stars October 04, 2022 NIH awards $4 million grant to psychologists researching suicide prevention September 29, 2022 Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants September 27, 2022 Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis September 22, 2022 Climate-prepared countries are losing ground, latest ND-GAIN index shows For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn