The Moon boosters of the Space Frontier Foundation, which organizes a yearly "Return to the Moon" conference. said: "It is not possible to say with certainty what the first lunar settlement will look like.

"It is based on our best knowledge of what is technologically possible within the 25-year time frame we have stipulated."

Otherwise, dozens of lunar investors in businesses that for now exist only in cyberspace have posted the first plans for a house or a town on the Moon and are already dickering over the price of lunar property.

Hilton had the idea of a lunar hotel at the end of the 1990s. The hotel chain has already put hundreds of thousands of dollars into feasibility studies. In 1967, then-Hilton CEO Barron Hilton dreamed of tourists vacationing at the Hilton on the Moon, where they would enjoy reconstituted steak and fresh cocktails.

The Lunar Reclamation Society has plans for a lunar house that would be too expensive if all the materials were carted from Earth; better to take machinery that turns lunar dust into iron, aluminum, glass, concrete and ceramic.

Once built, the homes would be covered with lunar dust to protect them and their occupants from the extreme temperatures of lunar days and nights.

So that the lunar residents do not feel like moles, the houses would be equipped with windows that open into tunnels furnished with mirrors that would act as periscopes to safely give a view of the outside, the group imagines.

"Within the next two decades, you will be able to take a two-week trip to the Moon at a price you would expect to pay for the luxury-class European capital tour," said the Artemis Project, which promotes private enterprise on the Moon.

"You and your spouse fly to the launch site at Groote Eylandt, Australia, where you board the shiny new Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) rocket, the Melva Gay.

"There are fifty passengers aboard, with a crew of five to take care of them. The SSTO flies to orbit, where within two hours she makes rendezvous with the fuel depot.

"You spend your first day in zero (gravity) at the fuel depot while the ship is serviced and retanked for the flight to the Moon," according to the Alabama-based group.

In 50 years, part of the Moon's cratered surface could be covered with solar panels, according to University of Houston physics professor David Criswell.

"By 2050, approximately 10 billion people will live on Earth, demanding five times the power now available," the Texas professor said.

"By then, solar power from the Moon could provide everyone clean, affordable and sustainable electrical power needs," he said. "No terrestrial option can provide the needed minimum of at least 20 terawatts globally."

SPACE.WIRE