A moon colony may be a reality sooner than we think

Re:A moon colony may be a reality sooner than we think by kumarvvr on Friday May 25, 2018 @12:41AM (#17150667)

Pondering over the uses of such an endeavor.

- Tourism - Minerals - Building a space observatory - Launchpad for further manned planetary missions.

I did read somewhere that, just as easy it is to get off the moons surface, it's equally or more difficult to get onto it.

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Re:A moon colony may be a reality sooner than we think by avmich on Friday May 25, 2018 @01:00AM (#17150740)

In addition to selenology (which is a big deal because no celestial bodies other than Earth are so far extensively explored) and places for telescopes, Moon can be a source of some metals (Al, Ti, Fe), oxygen and some other elements, perhaps hydrogen. By mass metals and LOX/LH2 could be the majority of mass transported in Moon-Earth space in near future. Other important payloads are electronics - relatively light - and humans.

So Moon can supply vast majority of material needed for operations in Moon-Earth space. You can maybe launch the materials using a mass driver (some demos here - http://ssi.org/mass-driver-demonstration-tapes/), but even more conventional technology will give you results.

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Re:A moon colony may be a reality sooner than we think by minitoar on Friday May 25, 2018 @01:03AM (#17150755)

This is why a lunar base should basically just be a refinery, launching fuel into orbit to refuel ships destined for other planets.

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