Zahlen bitte! Life on the moon
The Artemis moon program aims not only to bring humans back to the Moon, but also to mark the start of a station. But what is life like there?
(Image: heise medien)
The new US moon landing program is not off to a good start at the beginning of 2026, at least as far as the schedule is concerned. After a refueling problem, Artemis-2 had to be returned from the launch pad to assembly and is unlikely to take off for a partial circumnavigation of the moon before April. Accordingly, the launch of Artemis 3 with the first moon landing in 50 years could also be delayed, which is scheduled for 2027.
Videos by heise
With Elon Musk's announcement of building a city on the moon in ten years, a kind of public-private moon partnership is emerging. After all, several SpaceX Starships are to provide logistical support for NASA's moon landing.
The focus on the moon can also be considered a farewell to the much-invoked departure into space: Mars, located between 56 and 401 million kilometers away, is “off limits” for now. This leaves the question: How will humans live on the celestial body only 384,400 kilometers away?
Living on the Moon
The test abort with Artemis 2 and Elon Musk's announcement of targeting the moon raise questions about what humans actually have to search for in space. This was already the case when the first moon program started. Hopping around might be fun. But living permanently? Don't humans actually need to “lunaform” themselves for this?
Even before the first moon landing, the question was addressed. At the time, there was talk of improving humans as cyborgs, adapted to the hostile conditions of space. Instead of creating Earth-like conditions for humans with great technical effort, they adapt to space conditions with a “cybernetically extended organism.”
(Image:Â NASA)
Under the title “Drugs, Space, and Cybernetics,” Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline published their ideas on manned spaceflight in 1960. Humans who want to survive long journeys in space need different blood, preferably no oxygen, and a substitute for verbal communication in a vacuum. All of this could be handled by cybernetic control systems fused with the human.
As proof of their thesis, the scientists presented a white laboratory mouse without a tail. It was replaced by a tiny infusion pump that transports nutrients into the mouse's body based on the principle of osmosis. The mouse does not need to eat or drink, and with appropriate sedatives in the food mixture, it can hibernate for long journeys.
Fantastic Illustrations of Moon People
LIFE magazine, which reported on the cyborg conference, found the accompanying picture of the mouse too simplistic and commissioned the renowned illustrator Fred Freeman to create an illustration. In 1952, Freeman had illustrated for Wernher von Braun the life of the first humans on the Moon (First Men on the Moon, dedicated to his daughters, “who are growing up in a world where moon flights are commonplace.”)
(Image:Â Josh Valcarel)
He delivered a spectacular image for LIFE that shaped perceptions of the cyborg for decades to come: Angelic figures in skin-tight diving suits float in a lunar landscape 384,400 kilometers from Earth.
They no longer have lips, but open eyes. Artificial blood pulsates in their veins, coming from small tanks attached to a belt, like oxygen. Through fine wires attached to their necks, the cyborgs are in contact with each other.
Controversial Discussions about Living Conditions on Earth's Satellite
Thanks to the illustration, the short report “Man remade to live in Space” in July 1960 provided material for many debates. Are these still humans or drug-induced zombies, asked the philosophers, while cyberneticists warned against exaggerations. Norbert Wiener, the founder of cybernetics, urged scientists to stay grounded and suggested as a short-term goal to tackle the installation of an insulin pump for diabetics.
(Image:Â NASA)
Today we know that people living on the moon will not move as elegantly as Freeman depicted. But also not as clumsily as Armstrong and his companions in their suits 50 years ago. The new outfits are still in the works, and the planned service clothing is not without criticism. The new suits are not ideal due to their increased weight, says a former astronaut. Lunar successors to the Biosphere experiments are planned.
Even if it's taking a long time: The moon is the goal. Whether it goes further after that remains to be seen.
(dahe)
