Difficulties in establishing a lunar base                                                                                   Danilo Anton            

                                                                            Thjere are some data that are little known about the moon and can give an idea about the real possibilities of their settlement in the future.  While the satellite of the Earth is at the same distance from the Sun as our planet, and receives a comparable amount of solar radiation, there are some differences that influence the temperature of the surface. One factor is that while on Earth, there is a relatively dense atmosphere in the Moon there is no atmospheere. With no atmosphere, in the Moon, variations in temperature between day and night are fast and extreme. But surely the most influential factor is the duration of the lunar day which extends for more than 29.5 days. That means the sun is on the horizon for 14.7 Earth days and, correspondingly, the night is equally long.                                    

More than 14 days of sunshine causes very strong warming on the surface that can experience very high temperatures of 130-140 degrees Celsius .. By contrast, in the night a strong freezing temperatures occur, bringing them to 140-150 centigrade below zero. Under these conditions, it becomes very difficult to operate inhabited bases without taking strong precautions, and of course, the cost and risks rises considerably (we must not forget that on the moon there is a sunrise every 14.7 days).In the Apollo missions the sunrise period was chosen for landing before temperatures go up too much. One alternative to solve thjis problem  is to establish bases near the polar areas where the thermal variation is somewhat smaller and in its vicinity there are some deep craters that never receive sunlight and contain ice that could be melted.Another option could be to use the "lava tubes". These are real tunnels, sometimes very long, formed when volcanic lava were deposited three or four billion years ago. Lava solidified on the surface and kept flowing in depth forming tunnels. In some of these tunnels (which can be several kilometers long with a width of several hundred meters) ceilings have collapsed and wide and deep holes have developed. They may serve as refuge to avoid exaggerated thermal contrasts. They would also help to protect the dwellings from solar radiation, cosmic rays and fallen meteors. We do not know what is inside those tunnels but, in my opinion, following the theories of Thomas Gold, I think they may contain accumulated gases emerging from the interior of the Moon (which is suffering degassing processes since its formation).In particular the gases emitted (some of which are probably frozen due to low temperatures) can be nitrogen, methane, water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. If so, this composition could provide resources for the future establishment of human beings.May be there is people who thinks that is not worth investing enormous resources in an adventure of colonization of this type. Perhaps there is no valid reason to do so. Or maybe there is-. It depends on our existential approach as a species. If we accept this challenge perhaps we will be starting a new era in human civilizations whose outcome is difficult to imagine.