Most people on the Moon or those visiting here have heard about the community of Molten. It is one of our oldest lunar settlements and has a reputation of being a rough place to live, which also makes it an attractive vacation spot for the adventurous kind. Its location is inside of an ancient lava tube within the basin Lacus Mortis, located about 650 km (400 miles) southeast of Seleneca. The name translates from Latin to English as Lake of Death, which the name alone helps excite the heart of the adventure seeker.
There are all sorts of vicious rumors about the place and the people who live or come from there. All of it untrue. Folks who grew up outside of Molten heard crazy stories, such as that they eat their children, are untrustworthy, and are dangerous. When you look at their history of tragedy, you should instead appreciate that that community’s hardships paved the way for the wonderful life we have here in Seleneca and elsewhere on the Moon. Today, my assessment is that they are at a turning point in their history. Their infrastructure is failing, and the expense to repair it all is high. Given the age of the settlement, it will be cheaper to build an entirely new settlement, than to retrofit their existing. They will soon have to decide, restore it or abandon it.
The exploration of Lacus Mortis began about 100 years ago when an American company called Astrobotic Technology based in Pittsburg Pennsylvania sent its Peregrine lander, a stationary robotic probe back in 2022. On board that initial lander there were scientific instruments from various companies and countries such as Mexico, UK, Chile, Japan, and Hungary. Additionally, the shipping company UPS sent shipments for various customers who what to send objects, loved one’s cremated remains, and information about themselves to the Moon. This link will tell you more about the company, and their early missions: Astrobotic Technology in Wikipedia.com If you are a true history buff, then their user-guide for payloads will also give you insight into to the technology of their day: Astrobotic Technology Payload Users Guide
When humans resumed regular travel to the Moon in the mid twenty-first century, and for those who thought Shackleton Crater at the South Pole was getting too crowded, some came to settle at Lacus Mortis, knowing that there were several lava tubes suitable for enclosure and habitation. The community was originally named after its founder, whose name we shall not mention. After he was found out to be a habitual sex offender, the community was renamed Mole Town, after its unofficial nickname. Years later, in a marketing campaign to improve the community’s reputation, the town changed its name to Molten, because it sounded similar to Mole Town, and with being inside a lava tube, it sounded appropriate.
The first Molten settlers primarily mined magnesium and titanium. They also advanced the technology used in the creation of Lunar Concrete that we use today here in Seleneca. As more mining operations opened elsewhere on the Moon, the market share for the companies in Molten shrunk, setting in motion a recession that lasted for decades and still inflicts the businesses there today. The community remained under the protection of the United States for decades. As their economic viability decreased and seeing no strategic reason to be located there, the United States abandoned them, and they became unwillingly an independent state. Adventure tourism is currently the highest grossing business sector there today.
Their resources continue to be stretched today as their infrastructure continues to deteriorate.
