The European Space Agency (ESA) achieved an amazing feat last year when it landed the first man-made spacecraft on a comet. Now, the space agency is setting its eyes on another ambitious goal: building the first village on the moon.

The future head of the intergovernmental space exploration body, Jan Woerner, said that ESA considers building a village on the moon. He said that the planning for the so-called "Lunarville" could start as soon as funding is found, possibly as early as 2024.

The outer space village would replace the International Space Station (ISS), which currently operates in low-Earth orbit albeit Lunarville would come with a higher price tag.

Woerner, however, is confident that countries will help cover the cost, citing that the project could bring about beneficial technological advances on Earth. The lunar habitat will be located in the moon's 2.6-mile Shackleton crater.

"The construction of a station on the moon would trigger a huge surge of technological innovation on Earth," Woerner said. "The back side of the Moon, which we can't see from Earth, would provide the best conditions for research where telescopes could be set up to have an undisturbed view into the depths of space."

Woerner also pointed out opportunities to learn more about the moon as well as lunar resources that could be valuable on Earth. The gas Helium 3, for instance, which is not present on our planet, is being considered as a source of energy for the future.

On June 7, ESA shared a video that describes how it intends to take advantage of technologies such as inflatable habitats and 3D printers to accomplish its ambitious plan. The goal is to support up to four astronauts at once inside the lunar shelter.

The plan is to first deploy an inflatable dome on the lunar surface. With this in place, 3D printing robots will start building an outer layer around the inflatable dome using lunar dust and dirt, which will completely cover the dome and protect it as well as its future inhabitants from meteor impacts and cosmic radiation.

Before constructing Lunarville and before sending astronauts to the lunar habitat for long periods of time, ESA still needs to accomplish certain things. For one, it will need to establish a permanent shuttle service in case medical emergencies arise.

Watch the video on Lunarville below:

Photo: Steve Jurvetson | Flickr