moon base station

[ayresy81]

why havent anyone started building bases on the moon yet its been 40 years or so since we walk on it.surely we are capable of building on it then storing fuel and going to next planet and so on

[Buenchico]

Using the moon as a staging point for onward space travel doesn't make much sense. For example, it's roughly 200 times as far from the Earth to Mars as it is from Earth to the Moon.

As an analogy, let's assume that you wanted to travel from Oxford Street in central London to Manchester (approx 200 miles) by a vehicle which would need refuelling along the way. Putting your fuelling point in Regent's Park (one mile away from your starting point) wouldn't help much!

Chris

[dotty.]

aquire a copy of Grand Designs by Stephen Hawking and read it closely.

Plus, are you a space 1999 devotee?

[ChuckFickens]

The main use of fuel for any interstellar travel at the moment is breaking free of earth's gravity, it would make more sense to make any intermediate fuelling stage in a low earth orbit rather than the moon.

[dotty.]

oh you;ve read the book then Chuck, well done,

[Buenchico]

'Interstellar' travel, Chuck? I don't think that we're ready for travel between stars quite yet!
;-)

[NazNomad]

"Plus, are you a space 1999 devotee?"

Dave Lee Travis owned Ed Straker's car from UFO ... can I join?

[ChuckFickens]

Dot, no I've not read that...

I did spend some time in some astrophysics lectures at university though, I had no reason to be there, but they interested me.

[factor-fiction]

I've heard FIFA are considering holding the 2032 world cup there.

[kendra20]

We should get travelling round Britain in the snow sorted first, we cant even manage getting from one town to another never mind the moon, mind you that might be easier at the moment lol,

[dotty.]

The hairy monster wouldn;t fit in that car!!!

[Andyvon]

What's the point? Then there's the cost. Whose going to pay for it? We can't even look after our economies and basic social services here on Earth at the moment, never mind trump up for a moon base.

There are also the logistics. Are we really going to allow humans to foul up a pristine environment like the moon with our trash which will be generated in vast quantities. A good example would be the Antarctic bases. At least refuse is collected and flown out of Antarctica for disposal on another continent. The moon has no easily available resources and every drop of water and gramme of supplies would have to be transported in with every gramme of refuse being returned back to Earth. The fuel, costs and logistics would be horrendous - and all for no real reason!

[NazNomad]

@ Dotty ... not in, but close http://farm3.static.f...196374_23f136a8b3.jpg

[sambro]

if you believe some people,weve never set foot on the moon.

[TTG]

I've just had an email from Commander Koenig. He says they are all coming home as it's very dull...there is just no atmosphere.

:-)

[jake-the-peg]

There is one reason why we might want to go to the moon again.

Nuclear fusion as an energy generation is a lot easier if you have a ready supply of Helium 3.

There's very little of it on Earth however there is much more on the moon. Still very very rare, you'd have to process a lot of moon dust to get a usable amount but it is there.

Peronally I think the difficulties are greater that the difficulties around making it fresh in a reactor but if you want a reason to go to the moon I'd say that's the best one

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19296/

[ayresy81]

i just think we should be trying to get off this planet as its not going to last forever.it makes me feel like this planets a big prison which we cant get off