Things space-related that most of you will see in your lifetimes.

[rodsky]

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Okay that's great, man can't get enough of raping earth now we want to rape the moon. Nice, there's gonna be faster internet to cater connections to the moon and cheaper.

There's nothing to "rape" on the moon.

If you do strip mining on the earth, you will INDEED threaten the ecosystem because first, you have to remove the humus/topsoil, which is important for a complex web of life. And thus yes, with big companies doing a LOT of stripmining nowadays, "raping" of the earth (i.e. doing damage to the environment, thus endangering life as we know it) does occur, thus, the anthromorphication of the earth is fitting.

However, on the moon, if you stripmine the regolith, you DON'T AFFECT anything because:

a) There's no life on the moon
b) The moon has no humus/topsoil that would affect any life, but since a) is in effect, this is actually pointless

Look up lunar geology please, before you use adjectives that tend to anthropomorphise something which doesn't deserve to be anthropomorphised.

-RODION

[vern]

If Helium-3 is the answer to the world's "addiction" to fossil fuels (which is getting more and more scarce), I think this is enough "push" for at least lunar mining to happen.

-RODION

Have you looked at the energy policies and long term goals of many of the space powers? ... including China and the US? Helium-3 is hardly on the radar ... and for all intensive purposes, China hasn't heard of it. Dreaming is great and all ... but economic incentive and to make such alternative fuels economically sound ... trumps dreams.

Helium 3 technology is young and hardly an alternative at this point and not for decades. Solving the world's addiction to fossil fuels is not just stumbling on something else we can use but developing that technology, creating the infrastructure for that technology and creating a market for that technology.

Before people start calling me a pessimist, those same people first need to become realists. 2040 for the first permanent Mars colonies is a pipe dream. There is no pressing need for it. Unless it became a matter of national security to get to Mars within a timeframe, it will not happen. Then again, perhaps the American people will once again dare to dream. Where is the Soviet Union when you need an incentive to dream big? China doesn't count.

[rodsky]

Your call for being a realist is indeed sobering vern. I guess I was just reacting to Elon Musk's rather bold announcement during an interview, that his company (SpaceX) will have the ability to send a manned mission to Mars by 2020.

YouTube - SpaceX CEO Bets Manned Mission to Mars by 2020

I guess I was just carried away by his "sales talk" I mean, I was very pessimistic about his SpaceX company's ability for commercial LEO launches (Falcon1 failed 3 times), but he already achieved Step 1 (Falcon1 was finally able to launch a satellite into LEO, on September 28, 2008 ), and the road towards Falcon9, Dragon and beyond seems well-paved and ready.

-RODION

[handsoff241]

(X_x)Q=(>.<)Q

Just thinking of it... I wonder what kind of ships China will be sending in along with those space cruise crusade.

[rodsky]

Just thinking of it... I wonder what kind of ships China will be sending in along with those space cruise crusade.

You don't have to wonder. The ship designs are already in the links I provided.

-RODION

[Tarmac]

Mining the moon might change its mass and affect the tides.

Wow... Spaceship One was five years ago yesterday. Off the top of my head I wouldn't have thought it was that long ago.

.

[Hellblazer 2.1]

those are exciting plans, sir rodsky. i hope it will push through and i hope i get to live to see the day those plans yield positive results.

[rodsky]

Mining the moon might change its mass and affect the tides.

.

The mass reduction would be negligible, because we won't be mining lunar bedrock--we're just going to scrape off regolith (lunar soil). Lunar bedrock has no Helium-3--it's the regolith that has been bathed in the Sun for BILLIONS of years, that contains the H3. So I don't think there would be any danger re mass change of the moon, and thus affecting tides.

-RODION

[Tarmac]

The mass reduction would be negligible, because we won't be mining lunar bedrock--we're just going to scrape off regolith (lunar soil). Lunar bedrock has no Helium-3--it's the regolith that has been bathed in the Sun for BILLIONS of years, that contains the H3. So I don't think there would be any danger re mass change of the moon, and thus affecting tides.

-RODION

Just kidding there, of course. But hey, a few hundred years from now there may be the future's version of Al Gore giving lectures on gravitational changes brought about by overexploitation of the moon.

As an intellectual exercise, what effect would the moon's reduced mass have on women and PMS?

[rodsky]

Just kidding there, of course. But hey, a few hundred years from now there may be the future's version of Al Gore giving lectures on gravitational changes brought about by overexploitation of the moon.

That reminds me of a 2002 movie, a remake of the H. G. Well's classic "The Time Machine" wherein the protagonist goes into the future and sees an "over-colonized" moon breaking up high in the sky, and (somehow) affecting the earth (causing earthquakes etc.).

-RODION