DailyDirt: To The Moon, Alice!
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The Earth’s moon seems like a nice place to visit, but there are a surprising number of people who seem to want to go there permanently. Manned spaceflight has seen better days, but is it really time to invest in a moon colony now? The land is pretty cheap up there, and no one’s making any more of it… but there’s a tiny problem of getting there. Here are just a few more links about manned trips to the moon.
- Newt Gingrich’s proposal to create a moon base by 2020 (excluding the 13,000 colonists part) was feasible in 2005 when George W. Bush had similar ideas, but now it could be a bit more difficult to accomplish in just 8 years. A new space race to the moon could see commercial space companies beating NASA to the lunar surface… (especially if vast amounts of unobtainium could be mined on the moon). [url]
- NASA isn’t exactly sure when manned test flights of its Orion will begin, but it should happen by 2021. Unmanned test flights are scheduled for 2014, but the new rocket to take cargo/passengers 3,700 miles away from Earth hasn’t been finalized yet. [url]
- What would space programs be like if the Apollo program never made it to the moon? Maybe there’d be a Russian/Soviet moon base or an international station on the moon — or maybe the lunar surface would be covered with robots by now. [url]
- To discover more links on space exploration, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: apollo, lunar base, manned spaceflight, moon, newt gingrich, orion, space
Companies: nasa
Comments on “DailyDirt: To The Moon, Alice!”
BEtter question
What would NASA have accomplished if it had never had the space shuttle program?! NASA could have established a moon base already if it hadn’t been distracted by nonsense re-usable spacecraft.
Re: BEtter question
“nonsense re-usable spacecraft.”
Not sure what you mean by nonsense. Perhaps you should review what was accomplished by that program.
Re: Re: BEtter question
Hmm. The shuttle program was pretty cool, but other than showing off that it could be useful in satellite repairwork (eg. the Hubble repair missions) — I’m not sure what the shuttle program did that a non-reusable rocket system couldn’t have done. (And the shuttle wasn’t really that reusable since it needed to have its entire heat shield rebuilt after every mission!)
Re: Re: Re: BEtter question
That may or may not be a valid point, however use of the word nonsense is in this case nonsense.
Re: Re: Re: BEtter question
Michael,
I believe that many of the shuttle parts were refurbed after every mission, but the “entire heat shield” was not rebuilt. It was inspected.
Every individual tile was examined for any damage and suspect tiles were replaced as well as any gap fillers or parts designed to be replaced. Certainly a tedious process, but not the same as rebuilding the entire underside of the shuttle.
Re: Re: Re:2 BEtter question
okay, “rebuilt” is a bit more extreme than “inspected and refurbished” — but if anyone has the cost comparisons for the refurbish process versus building a new Soyuz system (or an expendable rocket), it’d be interesting to see how much the shuttle’s refurbs could have reallocated to build expendable launch systems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program
Ignoring the financial disencentives …. there are many technical problems associated with establishing a permanent base upon the moon.
Solar Flare – lack of a large electromagnetic field can be detrimental to ones health.
Incoming – What does one do when an asteroid is heading in your general direction? Keep in mind that a direct hit is not necessary in order to ruin your day, and there is no atmosphere to slow it down.
Dust – pesky little bits of rock get into everything and cause a real mess.
Resupply – the bare essentials will not last long, what does one do when, not if, the resupply is delayed.
I’m sure there are many more ….
Re: Re:
“Incoming – What does one do when an asteroid is heading in your general direction? Keep in mind that a direct hit is not necessary in order to ruin your day, and there is no atmosphere to slow it down.”
Conversely, there’s no atmosphere to carry a shock wave or create a “nuclear winter” dust cloud around the moon.
Only a direct or near-direct (within 5 miles or so) impact would affect a moonbase.
Re: Re: Re:
“Only a direct or near-direct (within 5 miles or so) impact would affect a moonbase.”
Shock waves travel quite nicely through the ground, and the moon is not immune to the adverse affects of ejecta.
Your five mile number is based upon what size of object, and made up of what type of material? This can make a difference. Regardless, what would one do – jump in the moon buggy and high tail it outta there? Based upon our present day capabilities, one would get very little notice prior to impact. Maybe enough time to kiss your ass goodbye.
“Experts say Gingrich moon base dreams not lunacy”
We could send the entertainment industry execs up there where no one can pirate from them. Win/win!
Hopefully a massive explosion will knock it out of orbit into deep space!
Without Patents
I wonder where they would be if patents hadn’t existed?
Or, an alternate question, what difficulties did they encounter because of patents?
Re: Without Patents
Abstract Ideas Can?t Be Patented. Or Can They?
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/abstract-ideas-cant-be-patented-or-can-they/
Procedure for generating operational ballistic capture transfer
http://www.google.com/patents/US6278946
Free return lunar flyby transfer method for geosynchronous satellites
http://www.google.com/patents/US6116545
There are more …….
Are you so sure the Apollo program really made it to the moon?
Re: Re:
Of course. Mythbusters proved it. What more could you ask?
If anybody?s interested in more about our return to beyond low earth orbit, I highly recommend this site: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/news/constellation/
I really wish someone would focus on building a space elevator.
Re: Re:
“I really wish someone would focus on building a space elevator.”
Progressively-more violent weather conditions make such a project unfeasible with current tech.
Returning to the moon is a horrible idea. Haven’t you seen Apollo 18?
What we should do is build a space elevator.
Moon Technology
Here’s a scary thought – your iPhone has more computer power than the Apollo spacecraft that flew to the moon and back.
Moving on Moon
Moving on Moon sounds wonderful,but the technology can’t permit yet~
Space colony
Wouldn’t an orbital space colony be a better idea than a moon base? A Bernal sphere, or possibly an O’Neill cylinder?
A space colony would have zero-gravity manufacturing capability, and provide an Earth-like environment.
A moon base would have neither of those advantages. Everyone who lived there would atrophy from the constant low gravity.
If The Soviet Union would have made it ti the Moon first,WE WOULD ALL BE SPEAKING RUSSIAN. Period.
No two ways about it. If the Soviets had “the high ground”, they would have used the military advantage to subjugate the rest of the world.
They could have just thrown lunar boulders at any country that defied them. The result of such impacts would be similar to an asteroidal impact. It wouldn’t take any more technology to do that, than they would have already developed to get there.
Re: Re:
And if the British had won the Revolutionary War, WE WOULD ALL BE SPEAKING ENGLISH. Period.
Re: Re:
LOL – Wut ???
This is funny, regardless of sincerity.
mooning ...
“does not compute … DANGER! WILL ROBERTSON! DANGER! it’s Newt Gingrich”
When you consider the expense ....
So long as the money supply of the middle class continues to be siphoned away in the “No New Taxes” (aka Welfare for the Wealthy) programs, spending that much money on a “grand gesture” (which, by the way, likely gains votes in Florida, where the space program is centered) IS lunacy, no matter what space program advocates say.
Increase the money supply for the middle class, by bringing the money back from the one percent, and then we can consider it (though I believe it would still be a bad idea).
Recently i have heard about James Koehler. As i have never heard about him. I have gone through his site that was just too good. He has done just amazing impressive work. Its really good job of him. Everyone can inspire from him. 10k training