The moon is closest to our body, so it is no surprise that constantly appear new and new projects related to its development. So recently, the press picked NASA plans for the organization in lunar orbit manned space station. And on the surface of our satellite is planned to put powerful supercomputer.

In late September, NASA chief Charles Bolden has presented the project to the White house. Long inhabited space station EML-2 is supposed to build in the Lagrangian point L2, which is at a distance of 61 thousand kilometers for "reverse" side of the moon and 446 thousand kilometers from the Earth where the gravitational forces of two bodies equilibrium, so located where the object can stay in the stillness indefinitely without any additional power consumption.

Most likely, EML-2 will be built from components that have proven to the ISS, including Russian and European modules. To send the orbit of the moon will be used the new American rocket super-heavy class SLS, which will be launched in 2017.

The main purpose of the mission is to create a TRANS-shipment point, which will serve as a basis for sending spacecraft and expeditions to Mars and asteroids. Also EML-2 will be able to monitor and coordinate the work of the lunar robots and will be a test to prepare for the first interplanetary manned flights.

One of the main problems to be resolved is the protection of the inhabitants of the station from radiation, the level of which in far space can reach dangerous quantities. In addition, because of the large distance between the Earth and L2, all on-Board systems EML-2 should be much more Autonomous than those that are established in the ISS, after all, to ensure emergency communication with the control center will be impossible. It is also necessary to pay special attention to energy supply and storage of reserves.

However, it has not yet named the price. If it is too high, it may become a serious obstacle for the project implementation. Perhaps for its implementation will need to attract and representative offices of other States. NASA has already said that work on the project will be an international consortium, as in the case with the ISS.

Meanwhile, a graduate of the University of southern California, Julian Chang at a conference in Pasadena, dedicated to the study of outer space, made a proposal to place on the moon... supercomputer! Why? Chang believes that this will help to solve many problems of space exploration.

According to the plan Chang, powerful computing machine can be placed in one of the deep dark craters on the Earth satellite. Thus, the Moon will cover it from the earth's electromagnetic interference. Working for a nuclear or solar engine, the computer can process data for space flight and the provision of deep space communication. In recent decades, these tasks become more and more actual in connection with increase in quantity of data from automatic probes, as well as with the fact that manned missions beyond Earth's orbit appear to be increasingly real.

Thus, the network of deep space communication, consisting of 13 huge antennas located on the territory of the USA, Australia and Spain, are already overloaded. You want to build a massive new devices for data transfer, and their operation will cause the rotation of our planet. A much more appropriate to shift the processing of information on the lunar supercomputer, " says Chang.

If you place a super machine in a cold region, near one of the lunar poles, the lowered temperature will provide cooling for high-performance chips and will be used for power transmission superconducting materials, which will increase the efficiency of its work. By the way, for cooling supercomputer Chang offers to use water, which presumably contained on the moon in the form of ice.

That such a computer would be of enormous benefit to mankind, no doubt. But again - how much will all this cost? According to various estimates, the cost of the project of the lunar supercomputer can be from 10 to 20 billion dollars. As you can see, dearly. However, it can become part of the international lunar base that greatly simplify the implementation of ambitious plans.