Monday, May 2, 2011

Colonizing the Moon



In just the past week, Congress has introduced a bill directing NASA to put a manned base on the moon by 2022, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said that he'll be sending humans to Mars in a little as 10 years. But can it happen, and do we even want it to?

The "Reasserting American Leadership in Space Act" would tell NASA to "develop a sustained human presence on the moon in order to promote exploration, commerce, science and United States preeminence in space as a stepping stone for the future exploration of Mars and other destinations," all by 2022. That sounds good in theory, but the bill basically just says, "Hey, go do this," without recognizing that it may be both a technologically and fiscally impossible task for NASA to accomplish within that time frame.

Private industry is rapidly catching up to NASA. In the next ten years especially, the space agency seems likely to get eclipsed after the impending retirement of the space shuttle. SpaceX might have the credentials to back up its space exploration plans, which would put humans on Mars in a decade if everything goes well. That's a big if, though, since SpaceX still has a lot of work to do to get its Falcon heavy-lift rocket operational by 2012.

31 comments:

The Suit said...

I like the idea of putting a base on the moon. It seems really cool and I'm sure it would have many scientific breakthroughs, but you raise a good point that it may not be fiscally responsible. We'll have to see what happens.

Michelangelo said...

Oh cool, there we go to space! :D

Anonymous said...

Blog worth following. :)
What about the need of gravity from Man?

choikesta said...

Let's get on that shit the moon ain't going to colonize itself unless aliens beat us to it...

Sherman said...

I just hope this can happen during our time

Unknown said...

About time really, we've expected this type of thing years ago.

Bob said...

I can't wait until there are moon bases and we can take trips there, just as we do cruise ships and such.

lasewun said...

Not really practical, Think about how much it would cost to get materials, food, yet alone people tot he moon.

Lunarchy said...

Ohhh I hope this goes through. We should already be living on the moon if you ask me!

Pony said...

I found this very interesting

Lt Nite said...

Man just the thought of a moon base gives me the chills, I hope to god I live to see a moon base!

Jblogger said...

if we were able to put a man on the moon in 10 years with 1960's technology, then surely we can do the same with mars with today's technology.

Eknan said...

A moon base would be purposeless at the moment, but once earth becomes overpopulated, these will be very useful to have at hand.

Ponderer said...

Great! Burning more money with NASA!

All missions should be private IMO.

João Rodrigues said...

Cant wait to make space a viable project, i would gladly be in the first colonizers!

Daniel said...

i've eard that the chinesse also wanted to do this.

Jared Vitone said...

Interesting read, im sure one day we'll be up there, and living! The illustration is actually pretty cool, too!

PrettyCoolGuy said...

Woah... This is fucking crazy. I now have hopes of playing a concert on the moon.

Hyperion said...

No hopes for earth at all eh?

Spartan094 said...

That's awesome, I was thinking the space program would die out.

Eknan said...

The moon would be great for tourism, methinks.

Who wouldn't pay whatever large sum to stay in a large bubble hotel on the moon?

Kamatacci said...

Nice blog. But don't forget about Venus. Their is a pretty strong theory that releasing algae into the Venus atmosphere for years on end would terraform it into livable conditions, and be much cheaper, faster, and easier than Mars.

obi said...

nice post following ;)

Anonymous said...

This would definitely be a step in the right direction.

Anonymous said...

So long as the colonies functioned as parts of the original nation, this could work.

kxxthanxx said...

great post!

Anonymous said...

If this does happen, and they want volunteers for colonising, if it happens - i'm there ;D

Eknan said...

Maybe we ought to start with Antarctica...

SeniorGato said...

It can happen ( the moon at least) but will it be worth it? What tangeable goods will come from colonization? The gov't can start the process, but to really keep the party going there has to be business buy in which means having to produce something unique and more importantly... profitable.

Nom de Plume said...

Full speed ahead!!! :D

Roxblog said...

Hello,
a good reason to colonize the Moon could be the Helium-3 extraction. You can find details and hint on:

Helium 3 as Clean Energy Source

the post is in Italian. I hope you could understand it with a good translator.

Cheers