Eli5: Why is Earth’s moon often the top candidate for the attempted establishment of a human colony in space?
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Mainly proximity. First off it’s close enough that we’ve sent several probes and people so we’re quite familiar with it’s atmosphere and topography. That allows us to know with more certainty the challenges of living there. Second we can quickly transport supplies and equipment lowering the cost and risk.
Honestly, because it’s really close.
The Moon is a great candidated because the cost of transport between Earth and Moon is *relatively* timely and inexpensive.
Colonising the moon would also theoretically make travel to other places easier, as it would be easier to escape the Moon’s gravity than the Earth’s – we could move bigger payloads with less fuel.
Because it’s small and close, mostly. Being able to reach the moon relatively quickly is an asset given frequent (and expensive) resupply missions that would be needed. The moon’s small size means it would be relatively easy to launch material back off the moon for return journeys.
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