Professor Johann-Dietrich Woerner, new Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), has shown his desire to build a village on the far side of the moon. For the project, he has said that partners from across the globe need to contribute through robotic and astronaut missions and support communication satellites.

He gave the idea last month when he officially took up the responsibility of the head of the ESA. He also spoke about NASA‘s plans to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. He was of the view that the technical ability to have a safe mission to the planet in three decades is not present with the mankind. Therefore, it would be better if they focus on colonizing the moon.

He thinks that there is a need to move beyond the International Space Station. “We should look for a smaller spacecraft in low-Earth orbit for microgravity research and I propose a Moon village on the far side of the Moon”, affirmed Woerner.

For Woerner, the project is quite interesting as telescopes could be used to look deep into the Universe and they could also do lunar science on the moon. He thinks that before going to Mars, they should give a try a project on the moon.

He said that the project could also benefit NASA’s future plans of capturing a boulder from the surface of near-earth asteroid into lunar orbit for exploration purpose.