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The rare ores under our feet are there because billions of years of heating/cooling cycles, water flow, and cracking events have managed to concentrate like mat

The rare ores under our feet are there because billions of years of heating/cooling cycles, water flow, and cracking events have managed to concentrate like materials. A given iron compound, say, all melts at the same temperature and pressure. So when the rock reaches that condition the iron all leaches away to a crack, where it concentrates. Then the same thing happens 20ky later, etc... Eventually you get an ore vein. That does not happen on the moon. It's cold. The rocks are just rocks. And I'll say it again, it sounds like you're engaging in this ridiculous fantasy not because you genuinely think the moon is a treasure chest but because you privately think war with China sounds kinda cool. You know how you get dumb wars? That's how you get dumb wars.

stcredzero 6y ago
That does not happen on the moon. It's cold. The rocks are just rocks. In the desert, a cup of water is a treasure. In space, even rocks are very useful as radiation shielding. And I'll say it again, it sounds like you're engaging in this ridiculous fantasy not because you genuinely think the moon is a treasure chest Lots of people have studied and thought about this. In relation to the environment, it is a treasure chest. It has the right materials to build the bulk of solar power satellites, much more economically than importing those materials from Earth. Again, with enough energy, even dumb rocks become ore. There is a lot more energy available in space. You know how you get dumb wars? That's how you get dumb wars. Here's a challenge: Name a dumb war that wasn't at least peripherally about the control of resources, especially energy. The recent ones have been at least peripherally about oil.
eloff 6y ago
I've no interest in wars, and I rather doubt that it would be China and the USA fighting over the moon. They won't last long enough to see that. This will be hundreds, if not thousands of years from now. I don't think there will be no resources of value on the moon, but I'm not an expert in the field, so I won't die on that hill. Sadly, even if there was nothing of value there aside from the land itself, we'd probably still fight over it.
- stcredzero 6y ago
  This will be hundreds, if not thousands of years from now. It's going to happen sooner than you think. Humans are bad at exponential change. It will be under 100 years from now.
  - eloff 6y ago
    We'll definitely be there in under a hundred years, just probably not in a huge way. I just would be surprised if we're fighting wars there before then. That said, humans are surprisingly belligerent, so maybe.

stcredzero 6y ago

That does not happen on the moon. It's cold. The rocks are just rocks. In the desert, a cup of water is a treasure. In space, even rocks are very useful as radiation shielding. And I'll say it again, it sounds like you're engaging in this ridiculous fantasy not because you genuinely think the moon is a treasure chest Lots of people have studied and thought about this. In relation to the environment, it is a treasure chest. It has the right materials to build the bulk of solar power satellites, much more economically than importing those materials from Earth. Again, with enough energy, even dumb rocks become ore. There is a lot more energy available in space. You know how you get dumb wars? That's how you get dumb wars. Here's a challenge: Name a dumb war that wasn't at least peripherally about the control of resources, especially energy. The recent ones have been at least peripherally about oil.

eloff 6y ago

I've no interest in wars, and I rather doubt that it would be China and the USA fighting over the moon. They won't last long enough to see that. This will be hundreds, if not thousands of years from now. I don't think there will be no resources of value on the moon, but I'm not an expert in the field, so I won't die on that hill. Sadly, even if there was nothing of value there aside from the land itself, we'd probably still fight over it.

stcredzero 6y ago
This will be hundreds, if not thousands of years from now. It's going to happen sooner than you think. Humans are bad at exponential change. It will be under 100 years from now.
- eloff 6y ago
  We'll definitely be there in under a hundred years, just probably not in a huge way. I just would be surprised if we're fighting wars there before then. That said, humans are surprisingly belligerent, so maybe.