Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-68.132.187.232-20170416174603/@comment-27819070-20170427010538

96.250.185.108 wrote: Chancellor1 wrote: I'm an avid "space guy", and have to say that keeping in orbit and waiting was the best plan. It would be to hard to settle the moon, or even get there. ... Hey 'space guy' getting to the moon is relatively easy once you are in orbit. The hard part was leaving the earth. If you have  time on your hands,it can be done with very little fuel  and gravity assist.

True... but my main concern is actually settling it. It's totally inhospitable, and the Ark likely wasn't equipped with proper Lunar Landers or outposts. It does not seem as though the Ark's landers contain sufficient fuel for a controlled descent and then a relaunch to a sufficient altitude as to enter Lunar orbit, let alone perform docking with the Ark again. Even if you landed everyone would need a spacesuit (although even these may fall short in some areas, as Lunar specific suits are better for the Lunar Environment and preventing wear and tare on excursion. I don't think they have hundrers of space suits. Bringing all of farm station down to the Lunar surface would be a bad idea, because relaunching the Ark (which wasn't designed to land) and escaping Lunar influence and entering a proper Earth orbit and then deorbiting into the Earth atmosphere would be far too difficult on be fuel supplies. As such, food would be insufficient on the Moon, with very little ability to grow more, as Lunar soil simulants produce fairly minimal amounts of fodder in contrast to Martian or Earth soil samples and simulants. It's simply far safer, more feasible, and more forward thinking you stay in orbit. I'd ability note that the moon is impossible to terraform with current technology.

Orbit is the best and easiest way to survive.