February 14, 2025

This Week in Space 148: Clavius Base

1 hour 3 minutes

Clavius. The very mention of this vast lunar crater brings to mind spectacular images from "2001: A Space Odyssey"— landing spacecraft, alien monoliths, and more. But more immediately, Clavius may be the ideal place to build our first lunar base, and Dr. Pascal Lee rejoins us to explain why. Notably, Clavius is not on NASA's dance card as a first-siting consideration but Lee thinks it should be, for many reasons, including interesting lunar geology, possible sites for permanent settlements—including lava tubes, excellent prospects for transportation infrastructure, and much more. Join us for a fascinating look at the near future at Clavius Base!

Headlines:

Blue Origin lays off 10% of its workforce to shift focus to operational flights and Moon lander

NASA alters Vera Rubin Observatory biography of namesake astronomer Vera Rubin to remove mentions of her advocacy for women in science, amid the Trump administration push to eliminate DEI references

Beautiful iridescent clouds captured on Mars by the Curiosity rover

Northern Lights visible on Valentine's Day due to coronal hole triggering geomagnetic storm

Main Topic - Lunar Base at Crater Clavius:

Dr. Pascal Lee proposes establishing a lunar base at the crater Clavius near the Moon's south pole

Clavius offers key advantages: on the near side of the Moon, geologically diverse, open flat spaces for landing/expansion, access to pits and lava tubes

Clavius is better suited for a long-term base compared to the harsh environment right at the lunar south pole

The base would be powered by nuclear reactors; solar considered insufficient for larger bases

Water ice mining at lunar poles may not be economically viable; estimates require excavating huge amounts of regolith to obtain useful quantities of water

NASA seems to have concerns about south pole plans; the decision was likely driven more by geopolitical factors than science or engineering

Building a base at Clavius could inspire the public as life imitates art, echoing the site's depiction in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey

Desert locations on Earth like Atacama or Sahara could provide ideal locations for field testing lunar mobility systems

Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik

Guest: Pascal Lee

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