US plans Moon base

[HAL9000]

if history is any guide, the future is grim.

Space station "freedom" the forerunner to the international space station. Burned through $10 billion dollars and what did they produce ........................................................................................................... ( nothing, this is what an ESA consultant stated in a lecture at surrey uni )

Name changed to "International" space, this could end up costing $100 billion dollars.

A much better plan would be to spend the money developing space planes allowing cheap access to space for everying. But that's too much like socialism.

My prediction is that the moon base will go the way of space station "freedom", lot of money spent but little to show for the effort.

 

[Yossarian]

In this case, our entire future lies with us getting off this planet at some point. I'd say that's pretty important.

If it ever happens at all, it'll be a good few centuries yet before some kind of self-sustaining human colony gets going on any of those barren rocks out there, I reckon the human race is going to face much more pressing threats to its future before that happens!

 

[DotCommunist]

What's the big deal with Mars anyway. Build a base on the Moon by all means but use it as a stepping stone to somewhere that might harbour life (europa for instance). Mars :big red and dead

 

[Yossarian]

reckon they're going to want to get some practice doing things like getting a person onto Mars, or even getting people into space and back on a regular basis without the craft exploding, before they'll be ready to go swanning off to the moons of Jupiter...

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

If you're considering any project you need to consider not only the project itself but the people who are proposing to undertake it and their purposes in so doing. I'd turn this one down.

then you'd never have discovered america, india, africa, austrailia or indeed anything else on this planet. should we forego xrays becuase of the bomb?

 

[dylanredefined]

Hope they do it right and not spend the money like they did for the space station.

 

[Yossarian]

then you'd never have discovered america, india, africa, austrailia or indeed anything else on this planet.

Do you not think things would have worked out much, much better for the peoples of America, Australia, India, and Africa if they hadn't been 'discovered' by Europeans when they were?

 

[free spirit]

How about because the survival of the entire human race ultimately depends on our ability to move off this rock and colonise other regions of space so a Moon base would be a good step towards that goal?

but how many members of the human race do you ever envisage being able to actually move off this planet and colonise other regions of space?

fine if all you're concerned about is the survival of the species in a kinda zoo breeding kinda way, but bugger all use if you're concerned about the survival of the 6 billion plus people who actually live on this particular plannet and our decendents.

In terms of safeguarding the future of humanity the $100 billion+ this would inevitably cost would be much better spent sorting out climate change and or global poverty IMO

 

[Dr Jon]

In terms of safeguarding the future of humanity the $100 billion+ this would inevitably cost would be much better spent sorting out climate change and or global poverty IMO

Absolutely.

All this project can hope to achieve, is to instil a false sense of public optimism that we'll somehow be able to escape, when we finally exhaust the Earth's ability to sustain life.

 

[Loki]

If it ever happens at all, it'll be a good few centuries yet before some kind of self-sustaining human colony gets going on any of those barren rocks out there, I reckon the human race is going to face much more pressing threats to its future before that happens!

But the US isn't saying that the world should stop work on all the other threats and just focus on this moon base. If it was then you'd have a point. We are in fact able to work on multiple threats simultaneously!

In a few generations this base and whatever follows will have far more significance than it will to us, or our near descendents.

NASA's budget is a fraction of the US DoD's as I'm sure you know.

 

[kakuma]

put the jews on the moon

 

[Crispy]

Put ninjaboy on the moon. DaRKSIDE.

 

[kakuma]

westside

 

[Crispy]

westlife on mars

 

[Loki]

Put ninjaboy on the moon. DaRKSIDE.

I thought of that, but he'd only find a way to throw crap down at us earthlings.

 

[kakuma]

i could make it my life project to put the url for my website on the moon

 

[dylanredefined]

Put ninjaboy on the moon. DaRKSIDE.

As much as I agree with the sentiments there is a far side but no dark side of
the moon .

 

[dylanredefined]

I always think of this when I read these stories

A rat done bit my sister Nell with Whitey on the moon.
Her face and arms began to swell and Whitey's on the moon.
I can't pay no doctor bills but Whitey's on the moon.
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still while Whitey's on the moon.

The man just upped my rent last night cuz Whitey's on the moon.
No hot water, no toilets, no lights but Whitey's on the moon.
I wonder why he's uppin me. Cuz Whitey's on the moon?
I was already givin' him fifty a week but now Whitey's on the moon.

Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
The junkies makin' me a nervous wreck, The price of food is goin' up,
And as if all that shit wasn't enough:

A rat done bit my sister Nell with Whitey on the moon.
Her face and arms began to swell but Whitey's on the moon.
Was all that money I made last year for Whitey on the moon?
How come there ain't no money here? Hmm! Whitey's on the moon.

Ya know, I just about had my fill of Whitey on the moon.
I think I'll send these doctor bills
airmail special....
to Whitey on the moon.

He should have worked harder at school then is what I think.

 

[Aldebaran]

How about because the survival of the entire human race ultimately depends on our ability to move off this rock and colonise other regions of space so a Moon base would be a good step towards that goal?

The survival of the human race first of all depends on the human race being able to be human and act as humans should. We should preserve this planet for future generations, not colonise and - inevitably- disrupt and damage others.

There is enough "spacial exploration waste" in space floating around already, forming a real danger for every spacecraft now and in the future and possibly for Earth itself.

Don't you think it would be wiser and much more efficient to confront all the current problems we face first and then think about "going further" next?

I'm not against scientific exploration of space at all, I find it a fascinating subject, but I don't see anything good coming from this "poject" because clearly it is -once again- merely driven by delusional US Imperialism.

salaam.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Do you not think things would have worked out much, much better for the peoples of America, Australia, India, and Africa if they hadn't been 'discovered' by Europeans when they were?

can't say tbh as that's a hyperthetical, sure they prolly wouldn't have been in most cases enslaved and wiped of the face of the planet by europeans, this doesn't preclude them killing themselves off or simpley running out of food like the mayans did... then all we'd have is bones to look at any way, one might respoanbly argue that them killing themselves off is far prefferable to europeans killing them off but the reality is still the same dead people...

It still dones't however change the fact that the intentions of those who 'discovered the colonies and beyond wasn't that of good nature... it was specifically personally focas on self agrandisement and yet 250 years on it's irrelevent those places are now in effect in the hands of the people, all be it a ruling class europanised verion of the people, and accepted that niether the states nor austraila give anywhere near enough prominence to their aboriginals. It still doesn't follow that the explorers mentality continues to pervade the discovery... people die... the world moves on people change, attidues change...

so the USAF/industrail military complex wish to fund the discovery of the moon and then possibly mars... It's more likely that it'll be virgin and time warner aol who acutally turn these things in to comercail sucesses and spear head the comercialiseation of these ventures and this will result in humanity making more leaps forward...

By it's very nature captialism has to be neotenic i thas to be bigger better newer more more more... so this can only benifit us, sure at some point we'll need to bear in mind that acctually consumerism isn't what we are here for however until that point we might actually want them to pay the for the expensive infrastructure stuff ... it'll only become more expensive in 100 years time...

 

[guinnessdrinker]

What's the big deal with Mars anyway. Build a base on the Moon by all means but use it as a stepping stone to somewhere that might harbour life (europa for instance). Mars :big red and dead

if you're going to colonise somewhere that might have life, you might bring it back to Earth with all its consequence. incidentally, since apparently there might be water on Mars according to the latest report, it might not be dead after all.

 

[MikeMcc]

if you're going to colonise somewhere that might have life, you might bring it back to Earth with all its consequence. incidentally, since apparently there might be water on Mars according to the latest report, it might not be dead after all.

But the chances of it doing anything are remote. Transplant the bacteria found in rocks in antarctica or at high pressure at the bottom of the ocean and they quickly die. The chances of anything surviving a sudden change of environment are miniscule.

Editted for being a bloody useless typist!

 

[kerb]

would the plug sockets still be the same?

 

[Jonti]

... our entire future lies with us getting off this planet at some point...

Well, yeah, at some point within the next few billion years.

What's the hurry?

 

[DotCommunist]

Well, yeah, at some point within the next few billion years.

What's the hurry?

A few billion years is a tad optimistic. Given the way we're fucking things up at the moment even another millenia is optimistic

 

[MarkMark]

I agree, but unlike the Moon and Mars, Earth is still habitable. So instead of accepting the inevitable, it would be better to find solutions down here.. cleaner energy, efficient living etc .... then space can be explored later, at leisure!! Like the Jetsons on a Sunday afternoon outing, rather than being forced to escape ecological armageddon down here to go and eek out a miserable existance as a strontium miner in life support dome 2A-19b on Mars. Can you imagine it? ... it would be like being in a never ending Big Brother. Fuck that, I'd probably go nuts with my ray gun after two weeks </the shining>

 

[guinnessdrinker]

I agree, but unlike the Moon and Mars, Earth is still habitable.

there have been talks of terraforming Mars.

 

[MarkMark]

there have been talks of terraforming Mars.

indeed there has, but if humans being cant manage it down here, what hope is there elsewhere where the odds are worse?

 

[kyser_soze]

I'm torn on this one - part of me says that it's a complete waste of time, money and expertise that would be better deployed engineering asteroid belt surveyors, sending a whole fleet of probes out to the Jovian and Saturnian (?) satellites, large scale robot exploration of Mars etc etc, not to mention building more hyper-cool deep space telescopes and observators etc...

But...

It's the fucking MOON man! Altho I'm happy to have been born in interesting times it still sticks in my craw that the most I've ever seen of manned spaceflight has been an estate car lifting satellites into orbit and the construction of a failed international experiment (the ISS)

Why would a US-only moonshot succeed where ISS has failed? Because the ISS was a joint project, this is about national prestige (especially since both China and India have ambitious space programmes of their own) as well as maintaining the US lead in technology - totally different proposition.

So I don't know...I know all the arguments about manned spaceflight etc etc but at the end of the day sending a robot vs sending a man...there's a different emotional attachment to human exploration of space...

Altho if someone comes up with a viable design for a space elevator I reckon that's the way forward cos it changes the energy equations needed for space utterly.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I hope this time there is not a great big explostion that knocks the moon out of orbit.