As much as watching NASA, the ESA and other usual suspects flail about can be depressing, take heart!


http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/ ... 65477.aspx


This guy, and the companies he ends up working with, will make NASA, ESA, Russians, all of the government agencies eat his stardust. Government had it's chance, it's failed since Apollo, now the Jeff Bezos' of the world are going to take it on.

I could go on and on about my love for free markets, but I won't likely win any converts, but I'll just say the link is a good read, inspiring, and a vision as to how manned space flight in the 21st century will look.

This " regolith " thing is quiet interesting, really creative thinking

I wonder just how many people would be willing to move to a settlement on the moon... Yeah it would be wonderful seeing the Earth rise and set but how long would it take before that becomes just an ordinary thing while thoughts of all the fun things being back on Earth dominate your mind.

"Living on the moon" would probably include quite a lot of things that we currently do here. You might not be able to go catch a sports game in person... but I can't think of too much you wouldn't be able to do (besides driving to suchandsuch state/province/town/country/whatever.)

What do you do during your free time that you wouldn't be able to do in a community on the moon?

go outside, have a fresh breath of air? lol

anyway, I like to have my university, my job and my folks here. Unless someone terraforms the moon completely and makes it all like earth, I will never go there

People will do anything for Latinum, even Malvoisin will fly to Moon on wings of greed... university, folks- nope, gold press latinum-yes!! lol

wanna test that out? my bank account number is...

Even Donald Trump wants more money... more money is more power and power is good for vanity!

and for bashing your head if you keep categorizing humans as all greedy

We hit the spot... you show your true face...

I'd go!

But then, I take a wide view of things.

Once there, how many humans would've lived a fully independent life away from Earth? Who would be part of the first colony, laying foundations, traditions, rules and procedures for the next hundred years of lunar colonisation and commercial exploitation? Who would the seven (by then) billion people on Earth be looking at each night when they glance up and the Moon?

What essentials would I be missing in doing this? Well, I'm sure there would be food -- as long as it's safe food, I wouldn't be too picky. There would be water, and there be women around. Indeed, maybe in the style of Canada and other colonial provinces, families will be able to move as whole units once the base is enlarged to encourage permanent residence and development as well as increase morale.

Largest drawback would be, in the short term, to me, the INSANE lag when trying to game with my old terrestrial buddies. But eventually, you know that base will have only the finest optical networking setups and with a colony full of various types of geeks.. it'll ultimately be one big LAN anyway. So, not so much a problem in the long run.

Of course, there IS distance from friends and family.. but as I'm currently being wooed (with some degree of success) by Navy Officer Candidate School, that's not a big deal to me in the face of.. larger issues.

In other words, sign me up.

You wouldn't mind going to live on the moon? Enjoy your commute!

What commute? You don't take a job in California and decide to live in Massachusetts (unless you can telecommute).

There would be plenty to do on the moon. After all, a major project (if not THE major project) would be expanding moon operations for more space, research, and productivity.

I can't wait to see items that have a sticker on the bottom that says "Made on the Moon". China and Tiawan: it's only a matter of time....

I would safely assume that a permenant colony on the moon would have to have everything any other permenant settlement requires: food, water, work, recreation, and the ability to reproduce and grow. Otherwise, if the moon lacked any one of those, it's nothing more than a super-expensive hotel (and a bad one at that) as the "inhabitants" would be unable to actually, you know, live there.

As if to underscore NASA's continued loss of leadership, director Mike Griffin today (or was it yesterday?) formally announced what has been suspected; the failure of Congress to properly fund it, with a shortage of $545M this year versus what was promised, has pushed back the schedule for Orion from 2014 to 2015.

Rinse and repeat a few times, and next thing we know it'll be 2017 or 2018 with a just-finished Orion, an expanding Biggellow space station, and construction planning or actual assembly started of Biggellow's moon base in a Lagrange point. Meanwhile, NASA's just finally rejoining the Russians and Chinese in manned space flight after an absence of 7 or 8 years.

Again, not that I've lost faith in space travel, the banner is just being handed off from government to corporations chasing profit.