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Re:China's Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made by hnbad on Monday April 29, 2024 @07:43AM (#40197098)
There's a big difference between simply shooting stuff at Earth (or even simply off the moon into space) and actually sending it back. Yes, SpaceX charges $300k for sending 50kg to SSO as a rideshare but that's with all the infrastructure and logistics already in place.

Landing on the moon is a very different endeavour than simply reaching Earth orbit from Earth. In order to refuel and reuse rockets on the moon, you'd need to build out all the infrastructure for doing so first, not to mention the resources necessary for continuous operation. Even getting running water on the moon would be a huge logistical and infrastructure challenge, let alone operating a launch pad.

Re:China's Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made by shepherdjerred on Monday April 29, 2024 @10:41AM (#40198934)
> Landing on the moon is a very different endeavour than simply reaching Earth orbit from Earth. In order to refuel and reuse rockets on the moon, you'd need to build out all the infrastructure for doing so first, not to mention the resources necessary for continuous operation. Even getting running water on the moon would be a huge logistical and infrastructure challenge, let alone operating a launch pad.

Anyone that wants to intuitively understand these challenges can simply play Factorio's Space Exploration mod (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/space-exploration).

Re:China's Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made by hnbad on Thursday May 02, 2024 @06:00AM (#40234443)
And then also remember that Factorio is a game and thus makes this fun and easy compared to how grueling and boring the real deal would be.