"I propose a Moon village on the far side of the Moon," says Johann-Dietrich Woerner who has been in the role of Director General of the European Space Agency (Esa) for just a week.
He spoke to the BBC News:
"A Moon village shouldn't just mean some houses, a church and a town hall," says Woerner. "This Moon village should mean partners from all over the world contributing to this community with robotic and astronaut missions and support communication satellites…"
"The far side of the Moon is very interesting because we could have telescopes looking deep into the Universe, we could do lunar science on the Moon and the international aspect is very special," he explains. "The Americans are looking to go to Mars very soon – and I don't see how we can do that – before going to Mars we should test what we could do on Mars on the Moon…."
"In our genes there is something beyond just practical applications," Woerner says. "We like to discover, to pioneer – this is humankind and this is what brings us into the future."
"Should we build a village on the Moon?" (BBC News)
image: NASA, 1970s
