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Even with water in the shadows, the Moon is a harsh mistress.

P

Pauke! Pauke!

Charter Member
Even with water in the shadows, the Moon is a harsh mistress.

Should we build a colony on the Moon? The first settlement for humans off the planet Earth. How soon do you think it can happen? How do you think it would change society? It might be time to dust off the old Robert A. Heinlein science fiction novel from 1966, "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress." We might want to have some well thought out plans before we go about it.

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No. There is no reason to put a colony on the Moon, research stations, Yes. One would have to mine tons of the surface to come up with any appreciable amount of water, just to survive, let alone make rocket fuel. LCROSS just confirmed the presense of water that many have guessed at since the early 1960's. LCROSS did not change that fact that water is still in extremely short supply on the Moon. Remember, the Moon has basically been freeze dried over millions of years. Water isn't in solid ice form, it's crystalized. Out of that huge plume that LCROSS ejected, there was estimated 24 gallons of water, if I remember correctly. That's not a lot of water to survive on. And, it's not a renewable resource.

We already have something similar here on Earth, it's called Antarctica. Have we built a colony there? No, of course not. It will not sustain life, same as on the Moon, yet it is an easier place to live. No one wants to live their entire life in Antarctica because it's so harsh. Let's face it, Antarctica would be a better place to live than the Moon. Yes you can build greenhouses, but your population is still dependent upon the resources that are on hand. You still need to ship in vital supplies.

And why would we want to build a colony on the Moon anyway? Well, the answer everyone seems to say is, it's a stepping stone for Mars.

Okay.

But don't we know enough already from the ISS missions? Do we really need to duplicate that science on the Moon?

Let's face it, the Moon is a dead body. Has been for almost its entire life. It has the same craters recorded on it's surface, along with billions of others created over the billions of years from when it began. We'll find some interesting science along the way, but will the Moon answer the important questions we really are seeking the answers to?

- Where did we come from?
- Are we alone?

No, the Moon will not. The other place we've been exploring for the past few years, does have those answers. Mars.

We know of more solid ice existing at Mars polar caps, thanks to Mars Polar Lander. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured detailed pictures of sites where running water existed. The "Twins", Spirit and Opportunity, have provided incredible geologic science for the past 5 years past their original 90 day warranties! Water existed in large amounts at one time on Mars.

So then, let's not waste the time, resources, and funding on a Moon colony, let's use that same money to put a colony on Mars, instead. And even though Mars of course has extremely limited resources as well, it has a greater amount overall to utilize. Mars is better suited to support a long-term colony operation. And finally, and most important of all. Mars has greater science opportunities. We know already, thanks to our Mars exploration operations.

Mars has a better chance to answer our most important questions. Let's put the colony there, instead?
 
If... If in the future, I could buy a ticket to the Moon, and there was a huge hotel resort there and I could stay a week, I would! Bottom line..


As Burt Rutan said in his latest great speech, it has always been recreation and fun that brought in the fastest amount of progress in technologies (as well as some war). The government had computers for a long time and nothing happened much with them. But with games on computers, they took off and have become a huge global home system, featuring extreme gaming, learning, internet, etc. Same with flying and aircraft.

Watch what happens with people able to venture into space as tourists, then to the Moon, then to Mars. Imagine a Korean manufacturer in the future making space craft for Mars runs instead of vehicle cargo ships, etc.

I dont think 'colony' should be used in such a case as the moon. Resort tourism locations, government bases (like an Airforce Base), some research fascilities, and I think it would be pretty 'fun' up there.

Imagine if they find a TON of water on Mars... What if the soil is great for life, (plants and things).


Thats my 2 1/2 cents on it.. Tourism.. :d
 
I'm thinking more of the Moon as a very large orbital space station to be used to supply raw materials useful for space flight and perhaps construct equipment or even the vehicles that would be used for many missions to Mars or other planets and moons in the solar system. With a lower escape velocity from its surface than the Earth it would take less fuel to reach that velocity so you should have a larger payload that could be launched. Additionally, by using the Earth’s gravity after launching from the Moon to accelerate a vehicle’s speed in the direction that you want to go you would have another fuel savings. It would take several missions to Mars to establish anything like a colony there. I’m thinking of a Moon colony as the stepping off place for exploration, somewhat like the Azores or Verde Islands were for the European colonization of the New World.

I do think that Mars should be the ultimate objective but we will need a supply depot off of the surface of the Earth if we are serious about keeping a human presence on Mars. Unfortunately, it has been almost 40 years since we were last on the Moon. However, we do have better technologies than we had in the 1960’s. We could even build the HOLMES IV (High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV) as the Lunar Authority's master computer. Let’s just hope that Mike, short for Mycroft doesn’t become too self-aware, developing an immature sense of humor and eventually helping to lead the "Loonies" in a revolt against Earth.
 
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