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VaBeachGuy

Why should we go back to the moon?

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Would it be a waste of time and money to go back to the moon?

 

I don't believe it would be. In fact I believe it would be of great benifit to humanity if we went back.

 

But why go back? To build a power plant, that's why. The solar energy that could be harvested on the moon and sent back to earth in the form of microwaves could supply the earth with 20 terawatts of electricity or more.*

 

This would be an enormous project that would cost trillions of dollars, but the sales of the electricity on Earth at about 10 cents per kilowatt hour could start turning a profit within 5 years.**

 

There's other reasons to go to the moon and establish a base there but the one above shows how it could be benificial to humanity to do so.

 

* GlobalTechnoScan.com

 

** From the book A Man On The Moon by Andrew Chaikin

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Our technology isn't advanced enough for interplanetary travel. However, in my opinion, the best way to develope an effecient means of interplanetary travel, is to do so via traveling back and forth to the moon. :look:

 

Besides, Mars isn't going anywhere. :lol:

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WOW I didn't think that solar power on the moon could be such a profitable project. But since the bright side of the moon is the side we see we'd have to look at solar panels. I think it would ruin the beauty of the moon. We've already ruined the earth, why ruin the moon too? :look:

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We can use the solar power to power a small colony on the moon, a colony of explorers. As you may or may not be aware, the moon's surface gravity is much lower than Earth's this would greatly cut the costs of space travel, as the take-off expends the most fuel. With the gravity being lower, the shuttles would require less energy to escape the gravity. From the moon we could travel much further...

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i always thought that we should go back to the moon, especially to perfect the things they want to do when they get to mars. why risk things going so far away, just try out the theories here on the moon. not to mention the solar energy plan sounds good too.

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Stardate:213595.9

 

 

What about putting a telescope on the moon?I was watching a program on the Hubble telescope and the stuff they have discovered with it.At the end of the show they were saying that scientists were developing the next generation of space telescopes that could see far beyond Hubble.Why not put it on the moon?There is relativly no atmosphere to interfere with it and it would be on a fixed surface

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Stardate:213595.9

 

 

What about putting a telescope on the moon?I was watching a program on the Hubble telescope and the stuff they have discovered with it.At the end of the show they were saying that scientists were developing the next generation of space telescopes that could see far beyond Hubble.Why not put it on the moon?There is relativly no atmosphere to interfere with it and it would be on a fixed surface

That's another thing that would be of great use, a radio telescope on the back side of the moon would have no interference from transmissions from Earth and no interference from light. The possibilities for this would be the ability to see land formations on planets orbiting other stars.

 

 

Captain Bolivar

WOW I didn't think that solar power on the moon could be such a profitable project. But since the bright side of the moon is the side we see we'd have to look at solar panels. I think it would ruin the beauty of the moon. We've already ruined the earth, why ruin the moon too?

 

The solar plants, panels or collectors on the moon wouldn't be visible from Earth, and if they were I think it would be an even trade off if it meant that we (humanity) would no longer need to use fossil fuel (coal) for electricity. Think about the benefit to our economies and to the Earth's environment.

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I think going back to the moon is great idea that's suppose to be a substance there that can be used for fuel to make the rockets go fast, I think it a type of hydrogen and we do need a new way of getting electricity. If we build a colony on the moon it would help us know and learn how to build one on Mars.

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I think going back to the moon is great idea that's suppose to be a substance there that can be used for fuel to make the rockets go fast, I think it a type of hydrogen and we do need a new way of getting electricity.  If we build a colony on the moon it would help us know and learn how to build one on Mars.

You're right, it's Helium-3 which is very rare here on Earth. It's a gas that is contained within the lunar soil and is deposited by the solar wind. All we would have to do is scoop up the lunar dirt, heat it up to separate the Helium-3. This would have a side benefit of producing water and other gasses which would sustain a Lunar base.

 

There are so many reasons to return to the moon, and many of those reasons would be of great use to mankind.

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I think the Moon is valuable to us in many ways all of which are important to the future of Humans in space but I have had to get it through my thick skull it's gonna take time. I hate that the road to the solar System is long and I probably wont get to see the things I want to see done in space in this lifetime but that is necessary. Look at how it seems NASA is dragging it's feet for safety's sake yet still suffers major accidents. For now I am content in the knowledge the Space Station (ISS) is being built, I believe the ISS is now the correct First Step to be taking.

 

When we are ready, here is the #1 benefit I see from going back to the Moon.

 

1. It is our closest neighbor in space and invaluable for "learning" how to do things in an alien "planet" environment. We could learn lot's of things there, things we need to know before taking the next giant leap to further destinations of exploration.

 

Every other benefit of going to the Moon (space telescopes, mining and eventually habitation) would then springboard from achieving the above goal.

 

I know some people want Mars Now (me to) but that is impractical to do without having experience first. For now, the robots we are sending to Mars are unlocking secrets and pathfinding for future manned missions.

 

To environmentalist's concerned for the health of the Moon I would like to quote the Aliens from the film 2010 The Year We Make Contact:

 

"ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS

USE THEM TOGETHER

USE THEM IN PEACE"

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All of these are wonderful ideas and reasons, but the most important one is missing, and that is the jobs and the boost to the economy going back to the moon would create. Ray Bradbury put it best 30 years ago when he said during the Apollo cuts that not one red cent was ever spent on the moon. The money was spent here in places like Waukegan, Houston, Oak Creek and numerous other places where the money bought jobs for the contracted companies making parts and components for NASA. People were going to the moon with the astronauts because they were all responsible for the success of sending and landing and bringing them back safely. The only thing the cuts that congress made in the seventies did was put those same people on the unemployment line and turn our best and brightest people into cab drivers and short order cooks. This was dim witted, ten watt blub thinking and no doubt was a bigger part of the recession of the seventies then anyone in the government was willing to acknowledge. This was like saying lets fire more people in order to hire more people. Going back would give many college students who are studying things like astrophysics and such a real reason to continue their course of study and keep our best minds from being corrupted from the likes of Enron and other so called energy technology companies and also keep the public more involved since many of them would have livelihoods tied into the space program. You bet let's go back and keep the economy growing. Going into space is just not for the astronauts but for us ordinary joes here on earth. Does anyone really realize that much of our present technology is a direct descendant of the space program? Much of what we have and use today was first conceived in the minds of those NASA technologists who had to make things smaller and more powerful to fit into those tiny space capsules. Technologists who couldn't find a job after their postions were downgraded or outright eliminated. Is it too much to consider that the two shuttle disasters could have been prevented if congress wasn't so quick to take money away from NASA?

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We should go back to the moon because we're starting to run out of cheese!  :bow:

I'll get the cow, you get the farmer. :)

OMG! You guys! :lol: :bow: bad one, but amusing...

 

 

Yes, I would like to see us go back to the moon if only for a couple missions. People keep pushing the travel to Mars idea, but it has been a couple decades since humans planted a foot on the moon....we've been merely orbiting in various levels around the earth(and definately not without incident)...so why push Mars? We need to do baby steps before we walk, then run into the cosmos. ACK, to put it is simple terms I guess is....think someone who has never seen SNOW before, decides to do the Olympic Ski Jump. That person may get lucky and land on his feet, or crash to the ground and die(gross and harsh but true and honest)...

 

 

I wish to become an astronaut(though my increased disability may make that impossible :) , and going to Mars sounds great...but I would not mind setting more realistic goals of the moon(or heck the Space Station, or even merely orbiting the Earth-which I have wanted to do since I was about 3)

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I think we should strive for the moon, and forget mars! Afterall, wouldn't you rather explore Georgia than Equador? Ya know, cool comfy climate versus unbareable heat? But, in all seriousness.. I think they should have all of their eggs in one basket. You see, we haven't even really scratched the surface of the moon, and already we're on our way the "Where no man has gone before"

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well, i think we need to come together in a world peace before we can go anywhere. We need to set aside our petty differences and become a bunch of earth loving, people loving hippies that live as one with Mother Nature!

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Well, I don't think we should Return to the moon since we have never been there!

I think it was all just a great big bluff.. I mean, how can the flag wave with the wind if there is none??!!

 

But I still think we should visit the moon and set up a small base, just to see if we could really do it.. it would be amazing..

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Humans could be living on the Moon within 20 years, says a leading lunar scientist.

 

Daughter of Earth? The Moon was probably once part of our planet

According to Bernard Foing of the European Space Agency, the technology will soon exist to set up an outpost for visiting astronauts.

 

However, political will is needed to inspire the public to support the initiative.

 

"We believe that technologically it's possible," the project scientist on Europe's first Moon mission, Smart-1, told BBC News Online.

 

"But it will depend in the end on the political will to go and establish a human base for preparing for colonisation of the Moon or to be used as a refuge for the human species."

 

Ion drive

 

The unmanned Smart-1 craft, which is due to be launched in early September, is flying to the Moon to demonstrate that Europe has the technology for future deep space science missions.

 

Its main form of propulsion is an ion engine powered by solar-electrical means rather than conventional chemical fuel.

 

 

The craft will make an x-ray map of the moon

When it arrives at the Moon, after a 15-month voyage, it will search for water-ice in craters and determine the abundance of minerals on the surface.

 

In the process, it will look for landing sites for future lunar exploration such as a sample return mission planned by the US space agency (Nasa) for 2009.

 

"The Moon could be used as a test bed for future human missions," says Sarah Dunkin, a leading British scientist on the Smart-1 project.

 

"To actually live on another world would be quite a test of technology as well as human physiology. We don't know what the long-term effects of living in a low gravity environment would be."

 

Any long term plans to set up a lunar base are bound to rely on international co-operation.

 

They could include India and China, two nations which have recently pledged to send astronauts back to the Moon.

 

However, under current policy, the UK would not be included because it does not support human space exploration.

 

From BBC News Online

 

 

I saw this on BBCworld news yesterday. The craft is solar powered and that's why it will take so long to get there

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The craft will make an x-ray map of the moon

When it arrives at the Moon, after a 15-month voyage, it will search for water-ice in craters and determine the abundance of minerals on the surface.

 

 

See this is what I don't get, how many times and how many different crafts does it take to map the Moons resources? :) Didn't Clementine get the job done? I wonder they're stalling... :)

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However, under current policy, the UK would not be included because it does not support human space exploration.

I didn't know that...bummer.

It news to me also. :lol:

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I was sure during the moon missions of the late sixties and early seventies that the next step was building colonies on the moon. I also fully expected that they would be so developed by the time that I retired that people would be able to take vacations on the moon, and that is what I ws hoping to do for my retirement travel. Was I disappointed when it was all stopped!

 

Of course we should go back to the moon! Because it is there!

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However, under current policy, the UK would not be included because it does not support human space exploration.

I didn't know that...bummer.

I didn't know that either... B)

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I'm all for going back to the moon.

The Lunar Landings that I watched on TV as a kid were the best things on TV back then.

When Armstrong first stepped onto the moon was one of my favorite childhood memories.

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To collect golf balls ....

 

Seriously, rereading the prior posts - a solar energy plant would be useful. What about mining? And scientific research would still have a place.

 

If we could get to the point of mining materials and constructing spacecraft there - they would be much easier to launch into space so a permanent base would be handy.

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As far the mining goes, who owns mining rights on the moon? Would it only be countries who have been involved in space exploration, or all the countries of the earth?

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