It has been a week that witnessed a municipal election in Denver that left many people scratching their heads. Then a week of news about a tragic school shooting affecting so many people in Colorado. And then there was a report from the United Nations that human beings have made a mess of the Earth, “posing a dire threat to ecosystems that people all over the world depend on for their survival.”
So, let’s think about the fact that the moon is in the news. NASA wants to go to the moon. Jeff Bezos wants to develop a Blue Moon lunar lander to fly people to the moon. And Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), a respected architectural firm, has proposed a design for a Moon Village to serve as a permanent lunar settlement.
Going to the moon seems like something to think about, although humans probably would mess that up, too.
So, let’s start with Blue Origin’s plans to shuttle people to the moon. The best quote from the CNN report notes, “Big things start small,” (Jeff) Bezos told a crowd of reporters and space industry folks at an event in Washington D.C. on Thursday. “It’s time to go back to the moon, this time to stay.” (Yes, we remember when Amazon was only about books.)
Even more intriguing is SOM’s proposed Moon Village, which the firm is working on with the European Space Agency and MIT. Says SOM design partner Colin Koop: “The project presents a completely new challenge for the field of architectural design.”
Below are links to the Blue Moon unveiling from CNN, and SOM’s proposed Moon Village described by Architect Magazine. The New York Times story’s link popped up in a different manner.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/tech/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-blue-moon/index.html
Chandler in Denver 