Moon
Our moon called 'The Moon' is tidally locked to Earth that is it always shows the same surface (Near side)
Note there is NO dark side; just Near and Far sides from the Earth.
There is also a Latin name sometimes used 'Luna' and also it's Greek name 'Selene'
The Moon in 360 Degree Full Rotation
The Moon's size is one sixth that of Earth and has just a sixth of our gravity why astronauts weigh less and 'bunny hop' across the moon rather than awkward walking.
The surface gravity of the Moon is 1.625 m/s2, about 16.6% that on the Earth's surface, or 0.166 ɡ
The lunar escape velocity is 2.38 km/sec, just over 21% compared to Earth's escape velocity of 11.2 km/sec. 4.7 times less (21.25%)
Mean distance from Earth 378,000Km
Mass 7.349 x 1022 Kg
Diameter 3.474 Km
Lunar day lasts 29 Earth days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. and is the same time it takes for the Moon to orbit around the Earth. With respect to the background stars, however, the Moon only takes 27 days and 7 hours for the sky to completely rotate back to its original position.
Just like on Earth the amount of daylight to night on the moon varies but at its equatorial plane to the Sun it receives around 13 Earth days and 15 hours of Sunlight followed the same night (giving a new meaning to a long cold night)
Day and Night on the Moon
Moon Earth from DSCOVR satellite EPIC CCD camera
captured by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope on the DSCOVR satellite orbiting 1 million miles from Earth about 1.4 million km, with the Sun behind the camera, and the Moon in front of the Earth. It demonstrates just how dark the Moon really is (it only looks bright against the night sky)
Building in the moon
The moon's crust is around 50Km thick and moon quakes and seismic activity is low so building cities inside the moon would allow for Billions of people.
Growth can begin by using lunar dust as a resource for 3D printers to make boring machines, lunar dust can be easily obtained with a simple small machine that only need to function until the boring machines start their work then use the excavated material.
Lighting can be from mirrors on the surface.
Breathable air mixtures for Lunar and Mars habitats to sustain life require 20% Oxygen.
The latest moon missions and moon base ideas, one comes from a UK company that want to crowd fund Lunar Mission One. A second is a range of 9 papers written by New Space.
An interesting idea for using lunar resources would be a lunar space elevator.
Russian 2030 Manned base
Russian scientists are planning to build a space observatory right on the moon's surface, beginning with a robot research lab in the near future.
See also Vostochny Cosmodrome
A private company that has made inflatable habitats including the BA 330-MDS . Sadly after Bigelow's success with BEAM attached to the ISS is not likely to do any more.
Bigelow Moon Base 1
Bigelow Moon Base 2
SpaceX
Details are very sketchy as their main goal is Mars, but they do have some plans for the Moon. Elon Musk has said SpaceX will do a mission to "loop around the moon" and also the possibly of a mission to land on the moon "to prove the capability". Its Lunar Starship has won a NASA Artemis contract to land 2 astronauts from low Lunar orbit to the Moon's surface in 2025.
SpaceX Moon base
CHINA
China plans Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) or "Chang'e Project"
China plan to launch a two man crew to the Moon landing for 6 hours before 2030 using its .Mengzhou and Lanyue - China’s human lunar exploration vehicles.
Also the international lunar research station (ILRS)
The Chinese Chang'e 3 Luna Rover "Jade Rabbit" landed on 14 Dec 2013 but failed to use its ground penetrating radar.
2018/19 saw the very successful "Chang'e 4" Far side mission.
China "Chang'e 5" sample and return mission landed Dec with with 3.81 pounds (1.73 kilograms) of lunar material collected from the Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") region..
Chang’e-7 will land on the Lunar South Pole to carry out a comprehensive survey, followed by Chang’e-8, which will lay the groundwork for a research base on the Moon.
The Chang'e 6, 7 and 8 missions hope to use the upcoming 2024 Queqiao-2: Moon L2 relay satellite.
China is also looking to sending men to the Moon in the late 2020s.
Tentative moon base See China's Lunar Palace 1
The surface of the moon as captured by the Israeli spacecraft “Beresheet” with the Earth in the background.
South Korea
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is South Korea's first lunar mission.
Launch date: December 2020 on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Golden Spike
This company has some ideas of a lunar base
Colony with Rover
Israel
SpaceIL Lunar Rover called Beresheet on its way to the moon 4th April 2019 took the following picture, unfortunately it crash landed. Now working on Beresheet 2 due to attempt a landing in 2026.
Lunar Xprize
ESA Manned Moon part of the Aurora Mission - postponed.
ESA Moon Village
Moon Express - private resource mining
COLONIZING THE MOON
Building the Lunar Base
Japan is planning a moon landing for 2029.
Private Missions
ispace (Japan) Lander and Rover
Blue Moon Lander
#dearMoon Private SpaceX StarShip(BFR) moon flyby.
Dynetics Human Lander
Intuitive Machines(US) Nova-C lander
Can anyone 'own' the Moon?
Potential ownership of celestial bodies has been an issue since space exploration began during the Cold War. While Nasa was planning its first manned lunar missions, the UN put together an Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 by countries including the US, the Soviet Union and the UK.
Moon Agreement
My take on having 6 manned flights to the Moon every year for $2B start-up and then less than $700m a year.
Fun Fact
It has been found that Radishes Can Likely Grow in Lunar Regolith
They also grow fast, getting a lot of growth within a single lunar day. Radishes are on the menu!
So if you plan to go to the Moon I hope you like to eat radishes.