Re:Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-the...
by politician on Thursday February 17, 2022 @12:09PM
(#30375611)
The Moon is the ultimate high ground in the Earth-Moon system. A mass driver that can fling rocks at the Earth is an extremely potent and easily maintained weapon. Much simpler than nukes. Could be remotely operated.
This just isn't true. To quote Isaac Arthur, "there is no such thing as an unarmed spaceship". Kinetic energy is all the weapon you need.
Any colony on the Moon or Mars would need to be essentially self-sufficient from day one because the cost of getting payloads to eitehr are so vast to be uneconomical.