As there are no trees there, probably the best location for a nest on the Moon remains, however, the underground.

Moon, 2009

The future of mankind living on the Moon sounds neither bad nor good, but rather minimal.

As stated in the previous post also, although some of us would very much like to see  a real human lunar colony vibrating with activity, it seems we will not have this chance too soon.

If this happens not even in films, how could we hope it will happen in reality ? Or should we be so ultra-optimistic as to hope in a “life overcomes the movie” evolution of facts ? I wouldn’t exactly think so.

But let’s see how the mid-term future of human presence on the Moon is pictured by a presumptive credible sci-fi film called “Moon”.

Beyond the serious (and even metaphysical) theme of human identity (does a clone has a soul ?; especially as we see him praying in the take-off scene), the film is a good illustration of how a moon-base of the 21^st  century might really look like.

According to the filmmakers, this human settlement will be supposed to serve just one single purpose: to harvest helium 3 (a substance that could solve the global energy crisis) from the lunar soil and to send it regularly to Earth.

No other activities (scientific research of any kind - astronomical observations, biological experiments in vacuum conditions etc, etc - or military activities etc) are foreseen. Only mining done as thrifty as possible. And with that, the plot is generated. 


The Lunar Industries mining colony is typically made up by a single inhabitant, assisted by a robot without any humanoid design but who proves during the film remarkable qualities of friendship, qualities that we’d be happy to find in any of our real fellow beings.

Gerty, the robot, is a mix between Robinson Crusoe's Friday (i.e. a support against alienation caused by loneliness) and Big Brother (the all-seeing eye). Despite a quite rough interface of communication (a device moving through the base, caught by a rail fixed to the ceiling, equipped with a flexible arm and a small screen which displays different faces according to its mood; and having a very human voice), it embodies the perfect assistant: it prepares the meal, it cuts the hair, it bandages the wounds etc. But, most surprisingly, Gerty seems to have feelings and adopts attitudes, as we observe him smiling, laughing, in a state of confusion, unhappiness, crying, comforting the man and, finally, even helping the man against the instructions received from the Company. He even justifies this behaviour (refusal to follow his instructions) arguing that his main purpose is to serve the astronaut. Nice guy, this Gerty.

Moon, 2009

The interior of the colony seems perfectly suited for its destination, having all the functionalities needed to provide the man with a working and leisure environment: command centre, bedroom, kitchen, shower, garden, gym and a few corridors of a somehow…eerie white colour. Perfectly predictable, no surprise...so far.

Somehow surprising is the location of the building, which is not set, as we would expect, completely above the lunar surface, but in a space dug into the lunar soil. Why is this so, we are not told. Probably on account of protection reasons or maybe due to some economic calculations, who knows... Also interesting is the name of this underground bunker, „Sarang”, which in Malaysian means „nest”. In a sense, this name is quite justified: as there are no trees there, probably the best location for a nest on the Moon remains, however, the underground.

On the contrary, the machines displayed during the show are permanently reinforcing the feeling of credible sci-fi that dominates, more or less, the entire film. 

As such, the lunar rovers do not contain any extravagant element, they are basic solid vehicles, tank-like, seemingly perfectly fit to march across the unfriendly ground of the Moon. Similarly, the lunar harvesters, who collect and process the lunar soil in order to extract the desired substance, resemble, to some extent, the harvesters who can be seen at work on the earthly lands.

Even the astronaut of the 21^st Century is an absolutely common man, a little bit blasé person (with no impulse to explore the foreign world he inhabits), with joys and sorrows, fears and expectations, rather vulnerable, being haunted by the usual family life sinusoids (his wife left him for a while) and completely dependent on his feelings. A nice common man, who wants nothing else than to finish his contract and to return to his wife and child. As such, the only inhabitant of the colony counts impatiently the days remaining till the end of his mission, dividing his time between professional activities, conversations with his family from Earth, sports, watching tv and a few other hobbies such as gardening or modelling some little cardboard buildings.

Moon, 2009

On the other hand, the outdoor moonscapes are truly remarkable, displaying a perfectly intertwined realism and eeriness.

Both the splendid view of the Earth seen from the Moon and the monochromatic vastness of the lunar plains (empty and bleak but so challenging in terms of all that might be discovered there) provide the film with a huge power of seduction, bringing forth the mythological sense of  far off spaces into the spotlight: the mystery and fascination of a world waiting to be truly explored and discovered.

But if we are to give credit to the vision of the film, this exploration will not take place in the near future. On the contrary, Moon will continue to remain an untamed and hard-to-be-reached natural environment, where humans will work with difficulty, having only a limited presence there, that will be justified only be purely economic reasons and in no way by some exploratory enthusiasm.

To sum up, the future of mankind on Moon sounds neither bad nor good, but rather minimal.

We can only hope that our presence on Mars  will be more consistent than on the Moon.