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But how is the Moon not a sufficicent backup plan?

• O5vYtytb 5y ago
  How can a moon civilization support itself without the Earth?
  • jmyeet 5y ago
    The Moon has abundant iron and aluminium. Carbon and hydrogen are possibly an issue but capture a comet or two and that problem goes away. I'm not sure what the state of phosphorus is but luckily we don't need all that much of it. What would we need from Earth? What would be economical to ship from Earth?
    • O5vYtytb 5y ago
      > but capture a comet or two and that problem goes away. So the moon colony needs to be capable of making the things to go and capture a comet, and more comets in the future to replenish supplies, to support itself. That's a very large civilization.
• bostonsre 5y ago
  The dust on the moon is extremely abrasive, the temperature fluctuations are more extreme, there is no atmosphere that provides protection against meteorites and high energy particles (not that mars has a thick atmosphere, but it is better than nothing), and the gravity of the moon would be a lot harder for humans to adjust to.