INTERNATIONAL LUNAR EXPLORATION PHASE
- with low-cost transport, where would international astronauts go? -


INTERNATIONAL LUNAR EXPLORATION SCENARIO


Below is a very hypothetical scenario of two years' worth of international lunar exploration missions at one mission per week. The specific series of missions included the following design choices:

  • Less naturally newsworthy locations and activities are done earlier and the more exciting ones later. In this way the firsts in each category will be exciting because they are first whereas the latter will be more exciting because they are naturally so.

  • Countries are matched to a site or activity if there is a natural association to them. So for example, the crater named after Nicolaus Copernicus who was from Poland. Therefore the choice of who gets to be the first to visit the crater named after him would be determined by Poland. Similarly, for example, Iraq might choose for its team to set up the GardenHab because Babylon (which was in Iraq) was famous for it hanging gardens.

  • Certain activities are clustered so as to create a month-long theme. So for example, the month of March 2026 would be the month that astronauts from different countries would be exploring ridges. This helps the world public pay attention to what is happening on the Moon rather than it just being a random set of activities.
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 Historic
Inflatable habitat
Infrastructure
Inflatable habitat
Lunar Pit
Inflatable habitat
Irreg Mare Patch
Inflatable habitat
Crater, young
Inflatable habitat
Historic
Inflatable habitat
Lunar Pit
Inflatable habitat
Irreg Mare Patch
Inflatable habitat
Power
Inflatable habitat
Historic
Inflatable habitat
Historic
Inflatable habitat
Lunar Pit
Inflatable habitat
Irreg Mare Patch
Inflatable habitat
Historic
Inflatable habitat

Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat - Field
Inflatable habitat - Field
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Lunar Pit
Irreg Mare Patch
Crater, young
Crater, old
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Lunar Pit
Lunar Pit
Magnetic anomalies
Crater, young
Inflatable habitat - Field
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Power
Power
Comm
Power
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Lunar Pit
Lunar Pit
Lunar Pit
Irreg Mare Patch
Crater, young
Crater, old
Crater, old
Resource
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Inflatable habitat
Lunar Pit
Lunar Pit, Man-made
Lunar Pit
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Historic
Magnetic anomalies
Crater, young
Crater, old
Crater, old
Ridges
Ridges
Historic
 Impact crater
Port
Landing pads
Medical

Utility

Utility

Community
Impact crater
Recreation

Medical

Recreation
PPI
Recreation
Impact crater

Uncrewed lander
Port

Utility

Utility
Impact crater
Utility

Utility
Transportable
Mining hab
Impact crater
Uncrewed lander
Uncrewed lander
Impact crater
Impact crater
Impact crater
Impact crater
Impact crater
Impact crater
Impact crater
Impact crater




Impact crater
Uncrewed lander
Uncrewed lander
Uncrewed lander
Uncrewed lander
Uncrewed lander
Uncrewed lander




Mining hab
Multipurpose
Utility
PPI
PPI
Relay
PPI
Uncrewed lander
Impact crater
Uncrewed lander
Uncrewed lander







Thorium
Utility
Utility
Recreation
Recreation
Recreation
Community
Cryo bunker
Multipurpose



Crewed exploration
Lander & rover
Lander & rover
Crewed exploration
Crewed exploration
Lander & rover
Impact crater
Crewed exploration
Crewed exploration






Crewed exploration
 Ranger 4
North pole
Polar
Hospital
Aristillus
Manufacturing
Sosignes graben
Garage
Copernicus
Meeting room
Apollo 16 subsatellite
Golf range
Kepler
ER
Others
Swimming pool
South Pole B
Spa
Apollo 12 LMAS
Museum
Surveyor 5
South pole
Jackson
Life support
Cauchy-5
Chemistry
Apollo 14 SIVB
Sanitation

Large centrifuge
Emergency medical
Nickel-Iron
Apollo 13 SIVB
Surveyor 6
Surveyor 7
Surveyor 2
LADEE
GRAIL A
SMART-1
Chandrayaan 1 MIP
Hiten
Kaguya
Okina
Das
Mare Tranquillitatis (many)
Kepler
De Gerlache
Lunar Prospector
Luna 13
Surveyor 1
Luna 16
Luna 20
Luna 24
Luna 23
Aristarchus
Crookesc
Mare Marginis
Giordano Bruno
Thorium / KREEP
Intl Lunar Expl Hab - North
Farm
Malapert Peak
North Pole A
Malapert
South Pole A
Ranger 9
Surveyor 4
Luna 9
Surveyor 3
King
Lalande
Stevinus
Ina Crater
Aristarchus & Schroter Valley
Hinshelwood
Whipple
Lalande Crater
Metallurgy
Greenhouse
Sports
Performance Center
Park
Restaurant
BioPreserve
UniHab - North Pole
Copernicus

Tycho
Apollo 16
Chang-e 3 / Yutu
Lunokhod 1 & Luna 17
Apollo 14
Apollo 17
Lunokhod 2 & Luna 21
LCROSS Centaur
Apollo 12
Apollo 15
Reina Gamma Formation
Tycho
Cabeus Crater
Shackleton Crater
South pole areas
North pole areas
Apollo 11
 USA
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N/A
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USA
???
N/A
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N/A
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USA
???
USA
???
N/A
???
N/A
???
USA
???

???
???
???
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
& B USA
ESA
India
Japan
Japan
Japan
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
USA
Russia
USA
Russia
Russia
Russia
Russia
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
???
???
???
???
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???
USA
USA
Russia
USA
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
???
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???
???
???
???
???
???
N/A
N/A
N/A
USA
China
Russia
USA
USA
Russia
USA
USA
USA
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
USA
Impact on the far side of the Moon.



4 pits







4 pits





Lunar Module upper stage



7 pits









Saturn IVB upper stage






Moon Impact Probe


relay satellite for Kaguya
6 pits


Lunar south pole.
carrying ashes of Shoemaker
3rd craft to soft land
First American soft lander
Sample return
Sample return
Sample return
Tipped over at landing
13 pits
11 pits

Far side. Whirlpool





Coverage area


crash during landing
First craft to soft land
Apollo 12
51 pits
19 pits
16 pits


Lunar north pole.
Lunar north pole.









43 pits - Largest pit

66 pits - 2nd largest pit
Lunar rover; Shadow Rock

10.5 km
Shephard's golf
Lunar rover; Tracy's Rock
37 km
large impactor
Landed near Surveyor 3
First lunar rover; Hadley Rille

Boulder on central peak
Where water was confirmed
Lunar south pole.


First people on the Moon.



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