Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jan 14, 2006 1:18:11 GMT -6
To the Moon and Beyond With Unity
Many of us feel that the universe is our destiny; it seems to be calling to us. It's time for us to join forces and work together. We need to create a coalition of space organizations to work together for a common goal. Working together is the only way to get people and businesses into space.
We have so many problems here on Earth, and some may ask why we focus on space at all. It is because we can see beyond the terrorists and the environmental problems. We can see that our future is in space. The Moon is just a first step. We all know that our ultimate goal is to travel to planets in other star systems, and beyond.
A lot of people that I've talked with feel that the Moon is an ideal place from which we can relay solar power to the Earth via microwaves. A Moon base providing electric power could get us off oil forever.
The Moon could export enough power to enable everyone on Earth to live at the level the average American does today. Probably better. One way to start this project is to use lunar resources to build a circle of solar arrays around the lunar South Pole.
The thousands of people who will build this first lunar base will probably live under the surface to protect them from radiation. These people will create our first Moon cities and communities. As the infrastructure grows we can add rail gun and other technologies to send probes to anywhere in the solar system at little cost.
The next time we go to the moon we should take with us the tools to build permanent structures. Not just self-contained landers for more "flags & footprints" images. Once we can build structures economically on the Moon, the space era will truly begin.
NASA needs to redefine its mission, but we don't need to wait until it does. We can work together and build a future in space founded on private enterprise.
Full story here: www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-01g.html
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I remember as a kid, reading about mining the moon, and launching the raw materials via magnetic catapult to the Earth.
I wonder when we will be doing this?...
