Re:Why the Evidence of Water on the Moon is Bad News
by borism on Sunday September 27, 2009 @07:08PM
(#847381)
But that's why we shouldn't do manned missions first!
Re:Why the Evidence of Water on the Moon is Bad News
by rbanffy on Monday September 28, 2009 @09:17AM
(#848350)
You can't perfect the manned spaceflight protocols with unmanned probes. The Moon is a stepping stone towards Mars and, if we can mine lunar regolith for metals, water and propellant (LOX, LH2), we are golden: the lunar base can become the best spot for building and launching spacecraft.
I wonder if there is carbon and nitrogen there too. That would make colonization much simpler.
Er can't blame people: the ISS is as exciting as camping on your backyard. It may solve some problems and help develop some technologies important for future space travelers, but it's difficult to call it space exploration when you don't explore anything.
The state of science education also doesn't help either. Most people cannot appreciate how devilishly hard is to keep a presence in LEO.
As for keeping a presence on the Moon, it is important because we have to perfect a lot of protocols before we can pretend to be ready for a trip to Mars and, if anything goes wrong, rescue is a week away.
Even if you have to process a couple tons of rocks to get a liter of water, it would be cheaper than to send it from Earth and by landing a couple automated water factories before any humans venture there could also reduce the risks (and costs) further as they wouldn't have to carry a lot of water.