‘Lunar tourists’: Science experts predicts the future of space travel

3AW Mornings science correspondent, Dr Gail Iles, believes within ten years there will be at least four bases on the moon’s surface.

The Senior Physics Lecturer at RMIT said it will be a mixture of government and commercial bases.

“It’s not just government agencies … now we’ve got these commercial companies,” Dr Iles said on 3AW Mornings.

“In ten years time I believe we’re going to have a NASA moon base, a Chinese moon base, and we’re going to have at least two other commercial moon bases that perhaps people are going to go on holiday there, and there are going to be lunar tourists.”

It comes as geo-political tensions through the future of the international space station into doubt.

“The problem with the space station is that it has some thrusters that kind of control it’s motion … but all those thrusters are on the Russian part,” she said.

“So if Russia really does threaten and says we’re going to separate the Russian part from all the other parts, they’re saying ‘ha ha, now you can’t fly anymore’.”

Press PLAY to hear more of the wide-ranging chat with Dr Iles below 

Image: iStock by Getty