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Sure if you make up some stuff that does not exist then its better. But if you actually want to talk about reality where we don't have a moon base that produce
by nickik 9y ago
Sure if you make up some stuff that does not exist then its better.
But if you actually want to talk about reality where we don't have a moon base that produces in-situ fuel, we don't have mining to get that, we don't have reusable lauchers to carry it into moon orbit and we don't have even a plan on how to store and use that fuel.
Even if that was your goal to devlop, then a moon orbit station would be a bad idea. If you want to build a moon mining base, it is much smarter to go to the moon directly and have the capability to deliver massive payloads there.
All that NASA is planning to do it establishing a small outpost and that will take at least 10 years. SLS/Orion/DSG are all very expensive and you can't even deliver anything to the actual moon. So you need another reusable laucher component that is not even in the budget.
SpaceX architecture is also far, far cheaper. One booster, one ship that can land on the moon or on mars. Its far cheaper, simpler and more capable architecture.
> plus more novel launch mechanisms like space elevators and mass drivers are more feasible on the Moon than on Earth
Yes, but those are extremly far in the future and the DSG will not get us there.
> The far side of the Moon is also an interesting platform for astronomy.
Agree, but NASA is not planning on using that. Building a Space station near the moon will not help that effort. In fact, the money NASA is using to build SLS/Orion/DSG is cutting away money that could be used for such a telescope (as it already does for current missions).
> We'd also learn a lot about a Mars mission by being on the moon, such as proving out safe long-term habitats at a distance where rescue missions are feasible, studying the effects of low (rather than zero) gravity in the long term, etc.
Of course you can learn many things from the moon. But its also extremly different then Mars in many other ways. If your eventual goal for humans is mars, then using earth, orbit and mars itself is a far better investment.