Base station on moon is the next dream: ISRO chief

The Hindu ^ | 05/10/09

[ZX12R]

No, we’re in debt because we’re spending tax dollars on poor lazy able bodied fools.

And most likely, you ain't seen nothing yet.

[napscoordinator]

Well that is true, but much more money is being spent on things that we don’t need.

[cripplecreek]

There is no way, this power hungry government will risk funding colonies that they eventually will not be able to control.

There's vast mineral wealth on the moon and in space so government has a legitimate reason for not wanting private industry going to space. Personally I'm all for opening space to private industry.

[napscoordinator]

Actually I am going to be arrogant for one moment and say that if I was President for four years, the debt would be gone and so would most of the spending. The problem of course is that they have made it so difficult to decrease spending due to different laws. And because of that, we will never be out of debt. First thing I would do for real though is get rid of public television. I am sorry but Sesame Street can find a home on family channel or somewhere else. I told some people that and they thought I was a grinch, but seriously this is the dumbest thing in the world to do today...have a free tv channel when we have over 300 channels...

[Crazieman]

Well see now we can agree. And I highly support private progress towards space. Needs some encouragement, like eliminating most of the regulations on it and withdrawing from various space treaties.

Nuke PBS and NPR.

I would cause many, many constitutional crises. Would declare most departments unconstitutional and state my obligation to uphold it and would refuse to execute those departments. Would order them closed, defunded, and assets sold to the private sector. Would tell the congress to go to hell and state the military supports the constitution and not this crap (essentially, threaten congress with the military and knowing how pro-republican they are.) Give many, many speeches on federalism and state that all the closed departments won’t mean the end to those dependent on it and that states may be perfectly free to implement their own, and that they will have funding for it, as taxes will be appropriately axed and citizens will have more of their own money.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

NASA is fixated on pure research, which for them has degenerated into reinventing the wheel. For this reason, NASA needs to take a back seat, let someone else do the practical work, and then once it is done, NASA can sublet floorspace in the Moon base to do its thing.

So whoever is practical needs to do three things. Identify and overcome obstacles. Build and improve the Moon base. And accomplish a profitable purpose in doing so.

The obstacles are vacuum, extremes of heat and cold, cosmic and enhanced radiation, and extremely abrasive Lunar dust. The way to overcome these is by living in underground habitations. Surface habitations are fragile and short lived, have cramped space, and use enormous amounts of cargo space and weight.

This means that nuclear powered hard rock mining robots need to be sent to the Moon, where they can tunnel and prepare those tunnels for use, for several years before people arrive. They do not have to be fast, only methodical, and their landing craft can be cannibalized for use as pressure doors, reinforcing rod, ceiling, and flooring.

However, the purpose of going to the Moon as a profitable enterprise is far more problematic. It’s biggest advantage is as a launching pad for further space exploration, likely to Mars, and astronomy.

[Salgak]

No kidding. Using the Moon as a base to begin the economic exploitation of Space. . .now THAT’s a proposal I can support.

Lunar mining to support a construction shack, to build powersats. Orbital refining of asteroidal metals and other minerals.

It’s raining soup out there, and the people who say “Spend on Earth FIRST” don’t want us to invest in soup bowls.

And where DOES space spending get spent ? On AMERICAN companies like Boeing and Lockheed and Northrop-Grumman, building rockets and infrastructure HERE. Good, Solid High-Tech jobs that you can’t readily export. . .

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

As far as space mining goes, 433 Eros would seem to be the best bet.

“It has more gold, silver, zinc, aluminum and other metals than have ever, or could ever be mined from the upper levels of Earth’s crust.”

My guess would be that a robot ship would land on it, as the NEAR Shoemaker probe has already done, then it would crudely process tons of ore into a several ton big metal ball, then extend it out into space on a tether, using the asteroids own rotation to accelerate it, before finally releasing it on a Lunar orbit intercept path. Once captured there, it could be put on a much more stable path to Earth orbit, where it would be captured again, then parachuted to Earth.

[Crazieman]

Can’t do that if they’re taxed to death.

Imagine how much we could do if we had the fairtax going. ZERO tax on corporations! The productive ability of the country would be tantamount to an explosion. Tens of millions of jobs would be spontaneously created.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

I don’t see a need for this. I say we fix things here on Earth.

That's sort of like the reasoning (most) Muslims have:

"Islam is the perfect religion. Of course Muslims suffer the most, but that's because they are not following it strictly enough..."

There will never be an end to this futile hope for the perfection of the present.

[haroldeveryman]

“I really think we should be teaming up with the Indians. At least they show some ambition.”

I like the idea, but will we have anything left to offer them? Forty percent of our Silicon Valley businesses have been started by Indian nationals. Most the advanced hard science and engineering degrees in U.S. universities are being earned by foreign students (mainly from south and east Asia), who are increasingly returning to their countries of origin.

Our heroes are no longer Davy Crocket or Buck Rodgers, but Snoop Dog and Marilyn Manson. What is being held out to our youth for inspiration is American Idol and gay marriage, not space travel.

The only “science” our kids have learned in the past twenty years has been political “science”. Could it get any worse? To come to think of it, could our Kenyan president be just the start of a trend?

[cripplecreek]

There will never be an end to this futile hope for the perfection of the present.

Not without a drastic change in human behavior. Liberals who oppose space exploration always give the "We need to fix earth first" excuse but it's just not going to happen.

I always tell them if they want to stop mining on earth, start mining space where the minerals tend to be in a far more pure form thus reducing the need for expensive refining.

[wastedyears]

Monstrose - Space Station # 5

Start, with the sun
And move on out
The future’s in the skies above
The heavens unfold
And a new star is born
Space and time makin’ love

Chorus:
Oh what a time we had
Living on the ground
I’ve moved to station #5
See you next time around,
Next time aournd

As far you want, as close as you need
It’s all in the mind, you know
This old world hasn’t really seen it’s day
It’s here, time to go

Chorus

Remember when it was so clear
We were young, but the memory still remains
To pick fruit from a tree
Fish from the seas
Now nothing’s left here, but the stains
Well I can’t cry no more
Can only be glad
There’s other places we can be
If the time suits you right
I’m leaving tonight
Come fly away
With me!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Oh, yeah
Start, with the sun
And move on out
The future’s in the skies above
The heavens unfold
A new star is born
Space and time makin’ love
Chorus

[GraceG]

Building an armada of Rockets to send remote mining and construction equipment to the moon is the best shovel ready project, it will definitely bring high tech jobs and if we can eventually build a self sufficient lunar colony we can move from having all our eggs in one basket to having a sort of backup for humanity if you will.

I say we strip mine the moon and turn it into a giant solar paneled disco ball in the sky and use it to build giant orbital habitats, giant solar power stations for the earth and maybe even a jumping point to planetary and interstellar colonization!

[colorado tanker]

However, the purpose of going to the Moon as a profitable enterprise is far more problematic.

Well, this way seemed to make money:

Station Manager Sheppard: "Let me tell you what you're dealing with here. I run a franchise. The company hired me to dig as much ore out of this hellhole as possible. My hookers are clean, some of them are good looking. My booze isn't watered. The workers are happy. When the workers are happy, they dig more ore. They get paid more bonus money. When they dig more ore, the company's happy. When the company's happy, I'm happy."

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

There is one major problem with Moon mining. The only concentrated material of value on the Moon is Helium-3, and it is only potentially useful in fusion reactors that haven’t been built yet, and in hundreds of tons quantities.

The reason other minerals aren’t concentrated enough to mine is simple: no water. Hot water or cold water, it is the solvent essential for concentrating ores enough to mine.

[colorado tanker]

There is one major problem with Moon mining.

Dang it. We'll just have to push on to a better opportunity, I guess. :-))