The European Space Agency has been looking at what it takes to construct a moon outpost.

Tomoya Mori is a senior at Brown University pursuing interdisciplinary studies in space exploration, multimedia and education. He is a co-founder at Metaplaneta, a creative think tank that investigates a multidisciplinary approach to space. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

"Been there, done that." President Barack Obama famously used that line to help shift the world's attention from the moon to Mars as a space destination in recent years, though the debate on where to go next continues. But whether humanity wants to colonize the moon or terraform Mars, establishing a settlement on other celestial bodies is a challenge of immense scale. 

So a more important question to ask is this: What does it take to establish a permanent human presence outside of Earth? 

Beyond the usual suspects

This question presents a great diversity of challenges that transcend disciplines. It goes beyond the realm of science and engineering, the two fields often considered the core of space exploration, and include politics, law, architecture, business and design. Extending a human presence beyond the planet will depend on diversifying the space community to include broader interests and perspectives. 

Already, a number of institutions collectively foster a multidisciplinary environment within the space industry. The Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA) in the University of Houston offers the world's only master of science program in space architecture. Other institutions educate students about space law and policy, including the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. 

These unique programs equip their students with specialized knowledge and skills for the field of space travel. The real value, however, is in bringing new perspectives to the ever-growing space industry. [Moon Base Visions: How to Build a Lunar Colony (Photos )]

Currently, most of those disciplines are functionally independent. Rarely do politicians talk about the architecture of space vehicles, or scientists talk about the potential of space business. But in reality, those fields are so intertwined that interdisciplinary fusion can be a real game-changer. 

The space industry should focus not merely on diversification, but also on the process by which diverse disciplines interact. It is time to take a more transparent, integrative and interdisciplinary approach to space exploration. 

One method for integrating disciplines, called the integrated design approach (IDA), has proven effective in sustainable design and could provide the same benefits for space. 

Lessons from an HVAC

Traditionally, designers have used a linear process to construct sustainable buildings. Architects make sketches and pass them on to the engineers, who evaluate the designs and then assign subcontractors, and so on. However, with that approach, time and money are already running out by the time conflicts and problems arise. 

IDA is successful because it involves all project members from the beginning, allowing them to identify and resolve potential conflicts earlier in the process. And the multidisciplinary environment forces project members to think outside their immediate areas of expertise, inspiring innovative solutions to problems and generally producing more energy-efficient and cost-effective results. 

For example, in the book "Integrative Design Guide to Green Building" (John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2009), the authors present real-life situations in which IDA led to a surprisingly efficient outcome. The book was written by 7group, a multidisciplinary team dedicated to sustainability and regeneration, and Bill Reed, a proponent and practitioner of sustainability and regeneration.

In the example, a team of architects, landscape designers and engineers was determining the placement of an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system in an office building, and the architect asked the mechanical engineer to provide an answer. The engineer was stunned, at first. Even though he had more than 20 years of experience designing HVAC systems, never in his life had anyone asked him where to locate one. After a few minutes, he provided a solution that turned out to be extremely efficient and cost-effective. Instead of placing the necessary mechanical room on the roof, which the architects had done in the last project, the engineer proposed placing heat-pump units on the ground floor of the building. Not only did this solution reduce the piping work and save $40,000 in construction costs, it also led to simplified maintenance and significant operational savings.

From that experience, the team realized the importance of questioning assumptions. All components of a building are interdependent, and therefore everyone's input should be respected — not only individuals within one's own area of expertise, but also everyone else in a team.

Innovative solutions or strategies often come from unexpected sources, and in this example, the multidisciplinary environment was critical to promoting openness and stimulating everyone's creativity. 

Finding transparency (literally)

The work of Danish architects in the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) provides another illustration. In 2009, the Urban Planning Department of Tallinn, Estonia, and the Union of Estonian Architects held an international competition for a new town hall in in Tallinn. Throughout the design process, the BIG architects received input from the jury about the citizens’ needs and take into account of the city’s governance system. The design had to be flexible and accommodate unexpected demands. 

The BIG group's solution was simple yet quite novel; it was to increase the transparency between the citizens and politicians, to improve governance and the town's participatory democracy. 

The BIG town hall design has myriad glass windows and an open structure, offering the politicians daylight and a view of the city marketplace, and offering the town's citizens a chance to see their elected officials at work. 

Although the mayor of Tallinn had expressed his hope to build a new city hall, the proposal still remains a mere design, albeit one that shows the effectiveness of integrated design. Here, the architects not only provided a great working space for politicians, but also unified the city as a whole. 

Space habitation is not just space travel

Space infrastructures are, in essence, organic systems. They need to be more self-sustaining than any regenerative and sustainable green buildings on Earth. And because of the constrained living conditions they present, such buildings must include input from the astronauts and travelers who might use them, and the input from a range of designers, engineers and others.

For example, the habitation modules of the International Space Station must address energy and thermal balance, waste management, mechanical structure, and architecture, in addition to comfort and privacy, among other factors. 

The Habitation Design Center in NASA's Johnson Space Center often invites astronauts as consultants to improve module designs and make them more human-centered. It may seem obvious, but it is crucial that space vehicles be designed with feedback from astronauts, instead of becoming function-based machines like fighter planes. Rarely does one see inhabitants involved in the design process of an Earth-bound structure.  

For missions, like space colonization, of a larger scale, the IDA approach is even more necessary. Settling on a celestial body is far different from simply going there. To establish a sustainable living space in such a hostile environment, one needs to not only think about science and engineering, but also consider psychological, architectural, societal, political and economic aspects.

Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics

For most of human history, the moon was largely a mystery. It spawned awe and fear and to this day is the source of myth and legend. But today we know a lot about our favorite natural satellite. Do you?

 

Targeting the moon

Today, many of the world's space agencies have expressed interest in sending humans to the moon. Johann-Dietrich Woerner, the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), has been pushing his vision to establish a moon village. Although the agency has yet to officially approve that plan, his message has gone global. 

Despite the hint of novelty it carries, the concept of lunar colonization existed long before the Apollo era. Numerous books and papers have presented promising plans for a lunar colony, but none have been realized, or even attempted. One of the fundamental obstacles is financial. Even if the moon village concept succeeded, most taxpayers would not understand why it was worth the cost. 

And yet, the moon has the potential to help humanity grow as a species. A lunar colony could be a model for a sustainable ecosystem, a testing ground to strengthen international collaboration, a giant laboratory for cutting-edge scientific experiments and technological innovation, a platform for new businesses, a stepping-stone for further exploration of the solar system, and a mental exercise for challenging norms.

But if humanity is to establish a lunar colony, the world must employ IDA, involving all key players at the start. 

Space horizons 2016: international city on the moon

Over the weekend of Feb. 19 to 21, Brown University in Rhode Island will host Space Horizons 2016, a student-focused, three-day integrative workshop that brings students and professionals from all disciplines to conceptualize an international lunar city. 

The event will consist of four workshops — Politics, Infrastructure, Science, and Business & Technology — that will ask several questions: What would politically motivate participating countries? What is the economic value of a lunar city, and what commercial opportunities can sustain the lunar economy? What new experiments would emerge on a lunar base, and how would they help humanity live on the moon and beyond? What infrastructure is required to sustain a lunar ecosystem? 

Through the integrated-design approach, participants will be encouraged to think beyond their immediate expertise, and to recognize the connections between their skills and the space industry, making space more tangible to everybody. Each workshop will have experienced mentors and professionals, including representatives from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Lunar and Planetary Institute, PoliSpace, Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture, Masten Space Systems, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, Yale University in New Jersey, the University of Central Florida and the Rhode Island School of Design. Ultimately, the findings may lead to a joint project or publication. 

But Space Horizons 2016 is not the first to take on the moon village concept. At the end of last year, ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) hosted "The Moon Village Workshop", which took place in conjunction with International Symposium on Moon 2020-2030. The workshop invited professionals and students from all over the world to discuss and propose ideas to consolidate visions for the moon village concept. The participants were split into three groups: Moon Habitat Design, Science and Technology Potential in the Moon Village, and Engaging Stakeholders.

The three working groups came up with several recommended actions to be taken by the director general of ESA, including the design and operations of a moon-base simulation at the European Astronaut Centre and the engagement of the most direct stakeholders, such as media, national governments and citizens, at the next ESA Ministerial Council Meeting. 

It takes time for educational strategies to prove their effectiveness. And as long as the moon village concept remains a vision, it will be challenging to involve people from nonspace industries, especially in an era in which the space industry is generally considered exclusive to rocket scientists. 

However, the future of space exploration is in widening the community. Most innovative ideas are the products of interdisciplinary fusions. Just as much as technological advancements will accelerate space exploration, broader interests and perspectives will also catalyze the process of establishing space colonies. The integrated-design approach has the potential to not only open up new perspectives, but also offer a younger generation an opportunity to design the future of space exploration and radically change humanity's perception of space. It is those people who will advance society into the universe.

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.

People around the world cheered yesterday morning (Feb. 11) when scientists announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time whose existence was first proposed by Albert Einstein, in 1916.

The waves came from two black holes circling each other, closer and closer, until they finally collided. The recently upgraded Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) captured the signal on Sept. 14, 2015. Not every scientific discovery gets this kind of reception, so what exactly is all the hype about, and what's next for LIGO now that it has spotted these elusive waves?

First of all, detecting two colliding black holes is thrilling by itself — no one knew for sure if black holes actually merged together to create even more-massive black holes, but now there's physical proof. And there's the joy of finally having direct evidence for a phenomenon that was first predicted 100 years ago, using an instrument that was proposed 40 years ago. [Gravitational Waves Detected by LIGO: Complete Coverage]

But what is truly monumental about this detection is that it gives humanity the ability to see the universe in a totally new way, scientists said. The ability to directly detect gravitational waves — which are generated by the acceleration or deceleration of massive objects in space — has been compared to a deaf person suddenly gaining the ability to hear sound. An entirely new realm of information is now available.

"It's like Galileo pointing the telescope for the first time at the sky," LIGO team member Vassiliki (Vicky) Kalogera, a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University in Illinois, told Space.com. "You're opening your eyes — in this case, our ears — to a new set of signals from the universe that our previous technologies did not allow us to receive, study and learn from."

"Up until now, we've been deaf to gravitational waves," LIGO Executive Director David Reitze, of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), said during an announcement ceremony in Washington, D.C. "What's going to come now is we're going to hear more things, and no doubt we'll hear things that we expected to hear … but we will also hear things that we never expected."

With this new sensory view of the universe, here are some of the things scientists hope to discover.

Dark matter, dark energy: ESA and CERN set to unravel mysteries of the cosmos

https://youtu.be/C3FwXAz8DTg

New windows on the universe

LIGO is particularly sensitive to gravitational waves that come from violent cosmic events, such as two massive objects colliding or a star exploding. The observatory has the potential to locate these objects or events before light-based telescopes can do so, and in some cases, gravitational-wave observations could be the only way to find and study such events.

For example, in yesterday's announcement, scientists reported that LIGO had identified two black holes spinning around each other and merging together in a final, energetic collision. As their name suggests, black holes don't radiate light, which means they are invisible to telescopes that collect and study electromagnetic radiation. Some black holes are visible with light-based telescopes, because material in their immediate vicinity radiates, but scientists haven't seen examples of merging black holes with radiating material around them.

In addition, the black holes spotted by LIGO are 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, respectively. But Reitze said that as LIGO's sensitivity continues to improve, the instrument could be sensitive to black holes that are 100, 200 or even 500 times the mass of the sun that are further away from Earth. "There could be a really nice discovery space that opens up once we get out there," he said.

Scientists already know that studying the sky in different wavelengths of light can reveal new data about the cosmos. For many centuries, astronomers could only work with optical light. But relatively recently, researchers built instruments allowing them to study the universe using X-rays, radio waves, ultraviolet waves and gamma-rays. Each time, scientists got a new view of the universe.

In the same way, gravitational waves have the potential to show scientists totally new features of cosmic objects, LIGO team members said. [Study of Gravitational Waves Could Unravel Many Mysteries (Video)]

"If we're ever lucky enough to have a supernova in our own galaxy, or maybe in a nearby galaxy, we will be able to look at the actual dynamics of what goes on inside the supernova," said LIGO co-founder Rainer Weiss of MIT, who spoke at the announcement ceremony. While light is often blocked by dust and gas, "gravitational waves come right out [of the supernova], boldly unimpeded," Weiss said. "As a consequence, you really find out what's going on inside of these things."

Other exotic objects scientists hope to study with gravitational waves are neutron stars, which are mind-bogglingly dense, burned-out stellar corpses: A teaspoon of neutron-star material would weigh about a billion tons on Earth. Scientists aren't sure what happens to regular matter under such extreme conditions, but gravitational waves could provide extremely helpful clues, because these waves should carry information about the interior of the neutron star all the way to Earth, LIGO scientists said.

LIGO also has a system set up to alert light-based telescopes when the detector seems to have spotted a gravitational wave. Some of the astronomical events that LIGO will study, such as colliding neutron stars, may produce light in all wavelengths, from gamma-rays to radio waves. With LIGO's alert system in place, it's possible that scientists could observe some astronomical events or objects in various wavelengths of light, plus gravitational waves, which would provide a "very complete picture" of those events, Reitze said.

"When that happens, that'll be, I think, the next big thing in this field," he said. 

Relativity

Gravitational waves were first predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which was published in 1916. That famous theory has stood up to all kinds of physical tests, but there are some aspects that scientists haven't been able to study in the real world, because they require very extreme circumstances. The extreme warping of space-time is one example of this.

"Until now, we have only seen warped space-time when it is very calm — as though we had only seen the surface of the ocean on a very calm day, when it's quite glassy," Kip Thorne of Caltech, another founding member of LIGO and an expert on warped space-time, said at yesterday's ceremony. "We had never seen the ocean roiled in a storm, with crashing waves. All that changed on Sept. 14. The colliding black holes that produced these gravitational waves created a violent storm in the fabric of space and time." [The History & Structure of the Universe (Infographic)]

"This observation tests that regime beautifully, very strongly," Thorne continued. "And Einstein comes out with beaming success."

But the study of general relativity via gravitational waves is far from over. Questions remain about the nature of the graviton, the particle believed to carry the gravitational force (just like the photon is the particle that carries the electromagnetic force). And scientists have many questions about the inner workings of black holes, which gravitational waves may help illuminate (so to speak). But all of that, the scientists said, will be revealed slowly, over the course of many years, as LIGO and related instruments collect more data on more events.

A legacy for the future

Looking toward the next three years, Reitze said the collaboration is focused on increasing LIGO's sensitivity to its full potential. This will make the observatory — which consists of two big detectors, one in Louisiana and the other in Washington state — more sensitive to gravitational waves. But scientists don't know how many events LIGO will see, because they don't know how often many of these events occur in the universe.

LIGO detected the binary black hole merger even before the instrument began its first official observation campaign after its recent upgrade, but it's possible that this was a lucky break. To get the gravitational astronomy train rolling, LIGO simply needs more data.

When asked to comment on LIGO's impact on the world beyond the scientific community, and about how gravitational-wave science might influence people's daily lives, Reitze simply said, "Who knows?"

"When Einstein predicted general relativity, who would have predicted that we'd use it every day when we use our cellphones?" he said. (General relativity provides an understanding how gravity influences the passing of time, and this information is necessary for GPS technology, which uses satellites that orbit further away from the gravitational pull of the Earth than people on the surface).

LIGO is "the most sensitive instrument ever built," said Reitze, and the technological advances that have been made while building the observatory may feed into technologies that will be used in ways people can't yet predict.

Thorne said he sees the larger contribution of LIGO slightly differently.

"When we look back on the era of the Renaissance, and we ask ourselves, 'What did the humans of that era give to us that's important to us today?' I think we would all agree it's great art, great architecture, great music," he said.

"Similarly, when our descendants look back on this era, and they ask themselves, 'What great things came to us?' … I believe there will be an understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe and an understanding of what those laws do in the universe, and an exploration of the universe," Thorne added. "LIGO is a big part of that. The rest of astronomy is a big part of that. And I think that cultural gift to our future generations is really much bigger than any kind of technological spin-off, than the ultimate development of technology of any kind. I think we should be proud of what we give to our descendants culturally."

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.