The new stage of the lunar race was launched in 2007, when China announced its plans to colonize the Moon by 2030. Other space powers also unveiled their lunar programs after Beijing. Russia expects to establish the first lunar colonies by 2050.
The colonization of the Moon opens up vast prospects for human civilization, including the mining of minerals, the creation of a lunar power grid that would beam electricity to the Earth, construction of an observatory on a celestial body with no atmosphere and launching spacecraft.
