Planetary Futures · Luna
Luna in 3000 AD: the lock between Earth and the wider Solar system.
By 3000 AD, Earth’s Moon is both an archive and an engine: ancient regolith, glittering industrial arcs, and city belts in eternal sunlight all knit together into a high-traffic logistics hub.
Architecture & Habitat
Luna’s built environment is dense, layered, and relentlessly optimised to interface with Earth and space simultaneously.
Polar cities & light belts
- Major cities located on “peaks of eternal light” near the lunar poles.
- Continuous solar collection rings supply near-constant energy.
- Residential districts dug into crater walls, with Earth-facing windows and radiation-shielded roofs.
Subsurface networks
- Massive underground transit, storage, and industrial complexes carved into ancient lava tubes.
- Dedicated archival vaults preserve records, seeds, and culture from multiple epochs.
- Lunar regolith processed into radiation shielding, construction materials, and glass.
Heritage & megastructures
- Historic Apollo, Artemis, and early outpost sites maintained as protected heritage parks.
- Megastructural arcs link multiple crater cities into continuous urban corridors.
- Art installations use Earthrise and Earthset as dynamic backdrops.
Transportation & Environment
Luna is the hinge between deep gravity well and open space, with transport systems designed for absurdly high throughput.
Earth–Luna corridor
- Multiple space elevator systems from Earth’s surface to high orbit, feeding a constant stream to Luna.
- Lunar cyclers and rapid transit shuttles operate on predictable schedules measured in days.
- Automated cargo pipelines move refined materials and finished goods between orbits and the surface.
Lunar surface transport
- Maglev lines and sealed rover-tubes connect poles, near-side, and far-side facilities.
- Personal transit pods operate in vacuum tunnels, offering shirt-sleeve commutes between hubs.
- Far-side observatory complexes are strictly low-traffic to preserve radio quiet.
Environment & climate
- No atmosphere, but highly engineered micro-environments within domes and tunnels.
- Thermal management is key: radiators and heat sinks dominate industrial skylines.
- Dust control is a major engineering and regulatory focus even in 3000 AD.
Politics, Technology & Economics
Whoever controls Luna’s infrastructure has leverage – so Luna’s politics are carefully balanced inside and beyond formal treaties.
Political structure
- Luna is governed as a neutralised logistics and research zone under a multi-decade charter.
- Local councils manage city-level affairs; the Lunar Assembly coordinates with Earth and the wider federation.
- Strong conflict-of-interest rules limit direct control by any single planetary bloc.
Technology & industry
- Heavy focus on in-situ resource utilisation and high-precision manufacturing.
- Lunar shipyards assemble deep-space vessels and megastructural components.
- Data centres and observatories cluster on the far side, shielded from Earth’s radio noise.
Economics & flows
- Value flows through Luna more than it originates there – it is a hub rather than an origin point.
- Residents enjoy high baseline prosperity but live under tight safety and environmental rules.
- Tourism remains strong: people still want to stand in one-sixth gravity and watch Earthrise.