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I imagine there is a massive benefit to trying to secure and claim this cave before others have a chance to. Turn key Cheyenne mountain complex on the moon with

I imagine there is a massive benefit to trying to secure and claim this cave before others have a chance to. Turn key Cheyenne mountain complex on the moon with little complex lunar excavation required? Yes please, says every nations strategic space command at once. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more such sites, undisclosed for fear of competition settling on the site, but already identified for future basebuilding purposes.

Bluestein 2y ago
I for one honestly think that now the race's begun in earnest ... (Not for lack I am sure, and, as mentioned, of comparable as-of-now secret comparable sites already known about ... ... but because public knowledge of at least this one makes for vox populi pressure uoon spacefaring actors.-
- dr_dshiv 2y ago
  Here’s my not-tongue-in-cheek Moonball deck. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16QpeWjf1Hbxp_15D5VtxJdLMzLo8LFhBPJRagyWFdjY/edit https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16QpeWjf1Hbxp_15D5Vtx... And speaking of races on the moon: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/moon-walls-running-1.7192281 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/moon-walls-running-1.7192281
  - Bluestein 2y ago
    Please do post, particularly the Moonball link, more widely :)
  - chuckledog 2y ago
    Interesting deck that shows moon caves are not a new concept at all. I’m surprised this hasn’t shown up in more sci-fi movies by now… slides 11 and 16 are quite compelling! Now how do we know there isn’t anyone there already… ;)
shiroiushi 2y ago
Yep, I'm looking forward to seeing how China (and maybe their Russian partners) develops the Moon and the resources there, and seeing how this affects economies and the power balance here on Earth. Because the western countries certainly aren't going to succeed in getting there first.
- vkou 2y ago
  What resources? There is nothing that we want on it that is economical to extract and use.
  - wongarsu 2y ago
    As far as we know there is little that's economical to bring back to earth. There are quite possibly enormous iron and nickel reserves from meteor impacts (e.g. [1]). Mining them for use on earth isn't that interesting, but if you want to build large structures in space (or on the moon) having metal that far out of earth's gravity well is pretty valuable. And then there are the unknown unknowns. We spend a lot of time prospecting earth, and haven't spent all that much prospecting the moon. This will be much easier with boots on the ground. And while the moon's lack of geological activity means it isn't good at concentrating resources, it also means remains from impact events remain much more reachable and concentrated than on earth. 1: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019GL082252 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019GL08...
    - thaumasiotes 2y ago
      Claiming that iron reserves on the moon are valuable because they make it easier to maintain control of the iron reserves on the moon isn't going to convince many people, and zero competent people.
      - fullstackchris 2y ago
        Don't know why you are being downvoted... I've noticed that this whole asteroid mining (or really mining of any extraterrestrial body at all for that matter) has almost reached meme levels of hysteria here on hackernews... I too don't understand it.

Bluestein 2y ago

I for one honestly think that now the race's begun in earnest ... (Not for lack I am sure, and, as mentioned, of comparable as-of-now secret comparable sites already known about ... ... but because public knowledge of at least this one makes for vox populi pressure uoon spacefaring actors.-

dr_dshiv 2y ago
Here’s my not-tongue-in-cheek Moonball deck. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16QpeWjf1Hbxp_15D5VtxJdLMzLo8LFhBPJRagyWFdjY/edit https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16QpeWjf1Hbxp_15D5Vtx... And speaking of races on the moon: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/moon-walls-running-1.7192281 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/moon-walls-running-1.7192281
- Bluestein 2y ago
  Please do post, particularly the Moonball link, more widely :)
- chuckledog 2y ago
  Interesting deck that shows moon caves are not a new concept at all. I’m surprised this hasn’t shown up in more sci-fi movies by now… slides 11 and 16 are quite compelling! Now how do we know there isn’t anyone there already… ;)

shiroiushi 2y ago

Yep, I'm looking forward to seeing how China (and maybe their Russian partners) develops the Moon and the resources there, and seeing how this affects economies and the power balance here on Earth. Because the western countries certainly aren't going to succeed in getting there first.

vkou 2y ago
What resources? There is nothing that we want on it that is economical to extract and use.
- wongarsu 2y ago
  As far as we know there is little that's economical to bring back to earth. There are quite possibly enormous iron and nickel reserves from meteor impacts (e.g. [1]). Mining them for use on earth isn't that interesting, but if you want to build large structures in space (or on the moon) having metal that far out of earth's gravity well is pretty valuable. And then there are the unknown unknowns. We spend a lot of time prospecting earth, and haven't spent all that much prospecting the moon. This will be much easier with boots on the ground. And while the moon's lack of geological activity means it isn't good at concentrating resources, it also means remains from impact events remain much more reachable and concentrated than on earth. 1: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019GL082252 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019GL08...
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    Claiming that iron reserves on the moon are valuable because they make it easier to maintain control of the iron reserves on the moon isn't going to convince many people, and zero competent people.
    - fullstackchris 2y ago
      Don't know why you are being downvoted... I've noticed that this whole asteroid mining (or really mining of any extraterrestrial body at all for that matter) has almost reached meme levels of hysteria here on hackernews... I too don't understand it.