The scientist leading the work, Prof Mahesh Anand, envisages living on the moon in self-sustaining research stations, which would make it easier for humans to explore deeper into the solar system, including perhaps the first crewed mission to Mars.

“It’s our nearest planetary neighbour, it’s something you can see whenever there is a clear sky. For me, there is nothing better than to reach out to our nearest neighbour and find out what secrets it holds. And it turns out that the moon has many, many secrets, many of which can tell us about the history of our own Earth,” he said.