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Lunar settlement research
Microcosm studies near-term, low-cost, commercial and international settlements on the Moon. The research asks whether ordinary people can live and work there within 5 to 10 years.
Social lunar settlements
The traditional approach to lunar settlement focuses on science, exploration and some mining. Our research describes a "social" settlement. It keeps the science and exploration goals and adds lunar tourism and burial, sports and entertainment, education, and co-branding and marketing.
In a social settlement, the residents are ordinary people, not trained astronauts. The summary is by James R. Wertz, Claudio Olany, John Collins, Isaac Koerner and Jonathan Wellman.
What the full report covers
- Abstract
- Summary of the Selene Lunar Settlement
- Can it be built?
- Can it be built in the near term at low cost?
- The Selene Lunar Village and village neighborhood
- Places of interest on the Moon
- Who will live on the Moon and what will they do?
- Economic models of cost and income
- Sources of income
- Lunar settlements in the current economic and political climate
- Principal problem areas
- Risk mitigation and safety
- Settling the Moon and settling North and South America
- Lunar settlements and space settlements
- Lunar settlements and Mars settlements
- Why go to the Moon?
USC course ASTE-523
Dr. Wertz taught Design of Low-Cost Space Missions at the University of Southern California in Spring 2025. The course theme was "A Near-Term, High Income, Lunar Village: Living on the Moon in the Next Decade".
NASA RASC-AL competition
Microcosm submitted a project summary to the NASA RASC-AL student competition. It is a plan for an International Lunar University where graduate students, faculty and entrepreneurs live and work on the Moon.
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