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>He is overseeing a plan to return to the moon by 2024 Problem being there's no more reason to do it now than there was then. Everything you can do on the moo
by Causality1 7y ago
>He is overseeing a plan to return to the moon by 2024
Problem being there's no more reason to do it now than there was then. Everything you can do on the moon you can do better in earth orbit. Every reason I get quoted for building a permanent presence on the moon requires technology that's decades away at best. The moon is just a distraction from the real challenge: Mars. We're too unmotivated and uncommitted to shoot for Mars so we're going to go jump around on the dead rock next door and pretend that means anything at all.
- baggy_trough 7y agoIs there any more reason to go to Mars than to go to the Moon?
- duckymcduckface 7y agoIt's easier to settle: more gravity, more atmospheric pressure, more resources and we haven't been there yet. Plenty of reasons to go to the moon as well but nothing that could inspire a generation like a Mars mission could.
- BurningFrog 7y agoI think the Moon is vastly easier to settle since Earth is just a few days away, as opposed to 1-2 years. That beats every other consideration, ease-wise.
- kart23 7y agoMeteorites will be a serious problem. Theres no atmosphere on the moon, which means everything gets through.
- BurningFrog 7y agoDoes the super this Martian atmosphere do a much better job? I suppose it handles the sand grain sized ones at least, and they might be 99% of the problem. IDK. Either way, I think any full time habitats will have to be underground ob both Moon and Mars because of the radiation.
- redis_mlc 7y agoThere's no reason to send manned missions to either. Well, except for the infantile HNer dream to get a free ride, someday, somehow.
- hazz99 7y agoWhy is it infantile to want to experience life on another planet/moon?
- BurningFrog 7y agoI think both have the Everest reason: They're there!!
- MahlerFive 7y agoHere's a great answer to that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Mu8qfVb5I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Mu8qfVb5I
- Ancalagon 7y agoExcellent excellent excellent speech. Thank you so much for sharing that video!
- JabavuAdams 7y agoYou don't think we'll learn anything useful by having an ISS-ish human settlement on the moon?
- Causality1 7y agoNothing worth the cost of supplying it. 1.8 million dollars per kilogram. We could cut that maybe in half with modern rockets. Still not worth it. There's just not enough in the gap between "things we can do in orbit" and "things we can do with robots".
- JabavuAdams 7y agoI dunno, robotics requires so much planning, and technology development. If we have humans at a site, we can be like "Hey, take this pick-axe and go dig over there". To get a robot to do that requires up-front design, development, funding, and the inevitable turf-wars and politics. Imagine going out to weed your garden vs. convincing a committee with various unaligned priorities to fund a project to build a system to weed your garden. Four years later, it's cancelled due to new President / shifting priorities. Humans are just generally capable at a level that robots are not -- it allows for less pre-planning, and all the pre-planning is what kills NASA's ability to do anything in a timely and efficient manner. EDIT> I am in awe of the work done to e.g. put Curiosity on Mars, but the longer we drag out the planning and dev phase, the greater the chance the political and bureaucratic effects will derail the engineering.
- Causality1 7y agoYou think a frigging moon base won't be subject to every single one of those problems and a hundred more besides?
- jimmaswell 7y agoSpace telescope on the moon seems like a good idea.