NASA's unmanned Artemis mission to the moon was a small step toward the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars and beyond.
The second goal was to figure out how to settle and exploit the resources of the moon for research teams by the middle of the following decade.
However, a major obstacle to setting up a colony on the moon would be mining and extracting the metals and oxygen that are linked together in the rocky regolith deposits that cover the lunar surface of the natural satellite, The Times of Israel reported on Saturday.
"Relatively small and lightweight compared to other power systems, fission systems are reliable and could enable continuous power regardless of location, available sunlight, and other natural environmental conditions," read a NASA press release in June.
"A demonstration of such systems on the moon would pave the way for long-duration missions on the Moon and Mars."
However, one American professor claims to have a superior option. He has created a theoretical plan to equip the moon with solar panels that could safely and efficiently address the needs of future inhabitants of the moon.
According to calculations made by Emeritus Professor Jeffrey Gordon of Ben-Gurion University's Solar Energy and Environmental Physics Department, this plan would require six times less mass to produce the same amount of energy than the best nuclear option.
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