Moon Base

[cubby]

Moon Base:

Good? Bad? Pointless? Necessary? What are the pros and cons of building one and what is your opinion on returning to the moon.

[Templar 331]

A permanent base? Pointless. Like the Moon landings? I can see reasons for doing them again.

[Mihalik]

Moon Base:

Good? Bad? Pointless? Necessary? What are the pros and cons of building one and what is your opinion on returning to the moon.

It will become a thing, once we perfect Nuclear Fusion. Helium3 is present on the Moon in amounts and concentrations that would make exploitation financially viable.

I don't see us returning to the Moon anytime sooner, simply because there is nothing else worthwhile up there.

[IRunSoFarAway]

We could, but we'd have to fight for it, as the Nazis already control the moon, this is why we haven't gone back.

[Shemsu Hov]

Moon Base:

Good? Bad? Pointless? Necessary? What are the pros and cons of building one and what is your opinion on returning to the moon.

I have concerns over mining the moon. For one, it doesn't seem like a good idea to reduce the mass of the moon while increasing the mass of the earth. So I don't think mining would be a good option. But maybe using it as a shipping base for metals, then shuttle them down as the moon passes close to the destination. Turn it into a space sport. I don't think there's any military reason to build a base on the moon for one country alone. It'd have to be a multi-country thing.

[Mahourai]

I have concerns over mining the moon. For one, it doesn't seem like a good idea to reduce the mass of the moon while increasing the mass of the earth. So I don't think mining would be a good option.

lmfao what

[Deleted]

Pro's -
Advances in technology.
Launching point for manned mission to Mars.
Possible mining of Helium-3
Launch point for exploration of the rest of the solar system.
Lots of other Pro's

Con's -
Cost.

if we are going to have manned exploration of the solar system, then the production, storing, and distribution of fuel and supplies from the moon is a necessity due to the reduced amount of fuel needed to escape luna gravity.

[lockedout]

We could, but we'd have to fight for it, as the Nazis already control the moon, this is why we haven't gone back.

Had to google this but the internet says it's true.

[Deleted]

lmfao what

You know, tidal force? Do you know what would happen to our planet if the Moon suddenly wasn't there? Not a pretty sight. The Moon's tidal grasp not only affects the oceans, but the actual crust of the planet as well.

But, yeah... It's not like we'd make a huge dent on the mass of the Moon any time soon, so it's a bit of a non-issue.

[Kaleredar]

We could, but we'd have to fight for it, as the Nazis already control the moon, this is why we haven't gone back.

No, no, Newt Gingrich controls the moon.

- - - Updated - - -

I have concerns over mining the moon. For one, it doesn't seem like a good idea to reduce the mass of the moon while increasing the mass of the earth. So I don't think mining would be a good option. But maybe using it as a shipping base for metals, then shuttle them down as the moon passes close to the destination. Turn it into a space sport. I don't think there's any military reason to build a base on the moon for one country alone. It'd have to be a multi-country thing.

You'd have to mine the moon quite extensively to have any sort of appreciable effect... especially when you're extracting... helium.

[Tierbook]

Had to google this but the internet says it's true.

There was even a movie about a moon colonization scenario not long ago.

[Shemsu Hov]

You know, tidal force? Do you know what would happen to our planet if the Moon suddenly wasn't there? Not a pretty sight. The Moon's tidal grasp not only affects the oceans, but the actual crust of the planet as well.

But, yeah... It's not like we'd make a huge dent on the mass of the Moon any time soon, so it's a bit of a non-issue.

I'm mostly thinking long term. Yes we couldn't make a huge dent in our life time but it just seems like poor foresight launch a launch a full scale mining operation. My concerns being the quantity of metals on the moon. I don't know much about mining so I couldn't say much more.

[Kaleredar]

I'm mostly thinking long term. Yes we couldn't make a huge dent in our life time but it just seems like poor foresight launch a launch a full scale mining operation. My concerns being the quantity of metals on the moon. I don't know much about mining so I couldn't say much more.

The moon is almost utterly devoid of any metals. It'd probably be more economically viable to recycle or reconstitute metals on earth than it would be to hunt for scant metal deposits on the moon.

And at any rate, mining operations would be launched to obtain helium3 from the lunar regolith. Not for "exotic moon metals."

[Paulosio]

I have concerns over mining the moon. For one, it doesn't seem like a good idea to reduce the mass of the moon while increasing the mass of the earth. So I don't think mining would be a good option. But maybe using it as a shipping base for metals, then shuttle them down as the moon passes close to the destination. Turn it into a space sport. I don't think there's any military reason to build a base on the moon for one country alone. It'd have to be a multi-country thing.

The moons gradually drifting away from us. Reducing the mass of the moon and increasing the mass of the earth could put a stop to that

Only joking. Even if we did mine the moon it would only be a miniscule fraction of the total mass and it's not going to cause the moon to slam into the earth or anything.

[Shemsu Hov]

The moons gradually drifting away from us. Reducing the mass of the moon and increasing the mass of the earth could put a stop to that

Only joking. Even if we did mine the moon it would only be a miniscule fraction of the total mass and it's not going to cause the moon to slam into the earth or anything.

I was just concerned about the tides mostly :P

But Helium3, I thought that was just shit from Iron Sky lol. I have a feeling I'm being trolled.

[Deleted]

I'm mostly thinking long term. Yes we couldn't make a huge dent in our life time but it just seems like poor foresight launch a launch a full scale mining operation. My concerns being the quantity of metals on the moon. I don't know much about mining so I couldn't say much more.

The mass of the moon is said to be 81 billion tons, ie 81 Million, Million Tons. it would take a Long, LONG, time before we made any noticible difference in the mass of the moon, so long in fact that the earth would probably be swallowed by the sun turning into a red giant before we made any difference. By that time we would have perfected and mass produced exotic materials needed for interstellar transport. Or turned into some sort of alien metal by giant robots.

[Mihalik]

We could, but we'd have to fight for it, as the Nazis already control the moon, this is why we haven't gone back.

[Tierbook]

I was just concerned about the tides mostly :P

But Helium3, I thought that was just shit from Iron Sky lol. I have a feeling I'm being trolled.

Nope Helium 3 is incredibly abundant on the moon, in fact the weight of the mining facilities on the moon would probably be greater than the Helium we would mine.

[Sunseeker]

For starters, the moon really doesn't have good soil for building in/on. Second, there's really nothing useful to be mined out of the moon. Colonies for living and dragging asteroids back from the asteroid belt would be much better.

[Endus]

A moon base sounds fancy, but there's not a lot attracting us there. It's also still at the bottom of a (smaller) gravity well. If we need cheap real estate, it's useful, but we aren't there yet.

More important, to me, is a near-Earth orbital station. I mean a massive, city-sized thing. It doesn't have to be a low orbit; pretty much anywhere stable between us and the Moon is fine. The Lagrangian points are ideal, since (in theory) they don't decay, and even if they do, chances are it doesn't head towards Earth. The idea is this station becomes the central origin point for orbital activity. Astronauts train there, ships are built there, resources are mined there, etc. The vast majority of our efforts in space travel involve getting TO orbit, and coming BACK from orbit. Eliminating those is a big deal.

As for where we're mining resources from; asteroids. Yes, they're way out. Fly a remote drone (or three) out, drill them into the rock, use the low-fuel thrusters to push the rock down towards the base. We don't need a lot of thrust; the first rock is gonna take years (decades), but it's an unmanned system. We lose nothing in waiting for it. If we keep sending more, then we can get new rocks incoming as fast as we can mine them, with some planning ahead. And once we're processing the resources in space, we don't need to ship them up the gravity well, meaning there's a lot fewer restrictions on construction. The ISS is cramped and tiny because we have to pay for every ounce that goes up. A ship, you need more thrust for every ounce you push. A station, though, can be as massive as you like, in theory.