Posted on 10/09/2012 1:24:00 PM PDT by null and void
It will cost a LOT, in the billions and Private Industry should pay for it and in exchange they should get property rights for lunar real estate as well as reaping any future rewards from it TAX free!
I say we send construction robots there first and start building stuff first before even sending any humans, the moon is close enough you can control robots easily enough without that much communications lag. Humans cost a lot more to keep alive than robots. So if your construction bots can build the whole settlement before even sending the first permanent humans there you save a TON of money.
Also asteroid mining could be more practical early on as you may be able to robotically mine and asteroid for precious metals like platinum and gold before the moon because the moon is sorely lacking in those metals.
This is a “thanks for the ping”, ping. :)
Good answer...
3Helium.
Science fiction
So were geosynchronous communications satellites.
considering that the apollo project brought back 842 lb for $170,000,000,000 (in today's dollars) The cost for a moonbase would be in the trillions. The entire US GDP is $15.9 trillion.
Private Industry should pay for it and in exchange they should get property rights for lunar real estate
I have to grant you plenty of chutzpah. You want to force a fortune out of the private sector and pay them off in totally worthless "Lunar real estate"
Private industry MUST make a profit to survive. There is NOTHING on the moon that's worth the cost of getting it. I'll do the math for you. a pound of moon rocks - intrinsically the same value as a pound of rock you pick up anywhere - cost $202,000,000 (2010 dollars)to acquire. I'll sell you a pound of rocks with the same elements in them for $10.00 and make a $9.90 profit.
construction robots there first and start building stuff
science fiction
asteroid mining
science fiction. FR space kadets never do the math. They confuse science fiction with fact (like the 3He crowd) and generally don't want to hear that their space dreams are never going to materialize because of the vast expense and miniscule return
I enjoy reading SF, but I don't confuse it with reality
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