Astronauts may soon live on the moon by the 2030s as the European Space Agency announced its massive plan to build a 3D printed lunar village in a span of 15 years during a conference at the European Space Research and Technology Center in the Netherlands.

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This conference was attended by more than 200 scientists including industry experts and engineers as the ESA revealed how these moon villages will be built using massive 3D printers that are operated by astronauts, where this lunar base construction can begin in about five years. 

This lunar base will also be permanent which will also be specifically designed to replace the International Space Station and to operate like it. Special 3D printing technology will create these structures for the moon base using lunar soil which is also known as lunar regolith. 

When this space program becomes successful, this will be considered as the first ever human settlement in space, but on a surface, where future studies and experiments will be crucial for space exploration. This can also serve as a springboard for further manned explorations across the solar system, especially to Mars. 

ESA has already been the front runner when it comes to developing space exploration transportation systems for manned missions especially in lower Earth orbit.  This new lunar base plan will also hopefully become the successor to the ISS.

As ESA began to initiate efforts to develop this new moon base, NASA on the other hand says that it will focus more efforts on manned missions towards and asteroid as a springboard to sending humans to Mars by the 2030s.

According to ESA's director general, Jan Woerner, it has been 43 years since man abandoned the moon, where it also remained the only planet attainable by human space missions with current technology and yet it is still poorly understood. He adds that for scientists, Earth went through massive evolution since its formation caused by vegetation and animals, where the moon serves as a silent archive for the solar system.

Apart from astronauts soon inhabiting this lunar base, Woerner also envisions that this can also become a thriving "village" for many nations of Earth, paving more opportunities for scientific studies and even space tourism along with mining activities for new and renewable energy sources. 

To date, scientists from ESA have already been conducting tests for this printing construction on the moon, using blocks made from lunar regolith. The 3D printers were able to generate material measuring 6.5 feet to 11 feet per hour, according to Laurent Pambaguian of ESA's materials technology section.