On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 1:30 PM, Constance Warner <cawar...@his.com> wrote:
> You might also remind your senators and your congressman that China > and--surprisingly--India both have space programs and, among other goals, > are aiming for the moon. I don't necessarily want the U.S. to do a land > grab and claim the entire moon, but I don't want China to do it either. Legally, we cannot do this. Neither can China. Neither can about 97 other nations who are parties to the Outer Space Treaty. > (Among other things, the moon could be a dandy gun platform, if an > unfriendly government got hold of it. Not really. Although there have been scifi stories with this theme, they assume that you have a colony there already that has a mass driver already built. It is also in violation of the Outer Space Treaty, as an aside. But I'm willing to assume that someone who wants to use it as a weapon is willing to ignore that fact. But the problem is that you still have to deal with orbital mechanics and distance and that pesky lunar gravity. Not to mention that we'd have a pretty good idea if somebody tried to build a gun there and have a reasonable amount of time to do something about it. > And, of course, the moon is the gateway to the rest of the solar system.) Well... um... no. Not in the way I think you mean, anyway. The moon is a good "small step" when it comes to a space program... but its a lousy gateway. Nobody would put a station there with the purpose of launching missions to the rest of the galaxy from it. It does not seem like a good environment for any industry whatsoever, so any launches would have to import both fuel and launch vehicle... and why bother with lunar gravity (even if it is smaller than Earth gravity) at all in that case? The gateway to the rest of the solar system is an orbiting space station and manufacturing facility. Yes, you still have to deal with the gravity well of getting parts and fuel up there, but you don't have the limitations of fitting an entire trip inside a single launch vehicle. > $3 billion, which is a lot of money but pocket change when you look at the > stimulus program, would put NASA's moon program [as well as other programs] > back on track--it's dead in the water right now, for lack of funds. > Huh? I thought NASA's moon program is, unfortunately, still alive and sorta on schedule. We're abandoning our plans for a space station after our commitments are done and putting all our eggs into Ares/Orion. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
