The Moon

[dragoon1234]

How would we live on it? We would have to bore into it and wouldn't that destroy it? I don't see how we could.

[diannethegeek]

How would we live on it? We would have to bore into it and wouldn't that destroy it? I don't see how we could.

Does boring a hole through an apple destroy the apple? Did boring holds for subways and other underground trains destroy the Earth?

 

There are a lot of different models for putting life on the moon, and yes digging habitable tunnels is one of them. How exactly is that going to destroy our moon?

[scratcher_cat]

The Moon doesn't have an atmosphere, so you can't really live on it. It doesn't have enough gravity to have one like the one on Earth. It also needs greenhouse gases, like CO2, H2O, CH4 to keep heat. we'd need to find a way around that. It's also a reason why Mars is uninhabitable.

 

 

On an off-topic note, the moon screws up the earth in the novel Life as We Knew It, and the others in that series.

[Sun Dragon Angel-A]

It is so wrong to inhabit the moon.  We'll kill that rock too and then Earth will die.

The moon was never really, alive. :/

Edited February 10, 2011 by Sun Dragon Angel-A

[Kazeko]

It is so wrong to inhabit the moon.  We'll kill that rock too and then Earth will die.

 

What? How can we kill the moon? There's nothing to kill. If it was totally destroyed (i.e. exploded) then tides would weaken which would play hell with the ecosystem and make shipping more difficult, not to mention all the moon debris making craters and tsunamis and whatnot--but I sincerely, and I mean sincerely don't believe that human habitation would make the moon explode.

[olympe]

If we belonged on the Moon, we would of evolved there in the first place. But really, does anyone else think that it's wrong? To inhabit the moon.? Come on people.

No, why would I?

 

My thoughts exactly. And if overpopulation is an issue, then we have to stop it, but if anything kills a human, we kill four of it's species. Now how does this work. Anyway...

 

It is so wrong to inhabit the moon. We'll kill that rock too and then Earth will die.

I really don't know what you're getting at. The moon is a dead rock, so how do you think it will be possible to kill it?

 

Also, the moon isn't properly built to sustain life. We would have to find a way to create an atmosphere, a way for water to properly circulate, a way for plants to grow, and animals to live, before we can even think about creating an actual living colony on the moon. We can't "kill" the moon if it was already barren and devoid to begin with.

There are some flaws in your logic. We cannot "build" an atmosphere on the moon because it lacks in mass. With the mass the moon has, it's unable to keep an atmosphere, even if you managed to "build" one there. The only way to do this would be to build houses (or whatever) which are literally air-tight and able to sustain large pressure for a very long time. (Keep the atmosphere you need inside, leave the outside as it is.) But this leaves us with another big problem: Since the moon does not have an atmosphere, each little piece of space debris - and be it only a grain of sand - will fall to the moon's ground unhindered. If this space debris reaches the size of a tennis ball, for example, it will do quite some damage to any piece of architecture around.

 

Right now, the only way to evade the bombardment from outer space would be to build everything underground. Which means that you'd have absolutely no natural light. And how would you create electricity on the moon? The only thing I can come up with would be solar energy (since there's neither fossil fuel, wind nor water to use) or maybe nuclear energy. Nuclear energy has its own risks, and any plant would have to be so far under the surface that even a major meteorite wouldn't be able to do any damage to it. And if you wanted to go with solar energy, you'd have to use material that can stand the incredible temperature differences (of up to 290 K at the equator).

 

We could float and such. But the air and temperature are problems. But they can be solved. So I would live in the moon happily. Again, we can go to the moon. Everywhere we can go, we can stay.

Where do you people come up with the idea that you can float on the moon? There's still gravity, although much less than on Earth. Plus, we cannot stay everywhere (for ever) where we can go. We cannot stay in space indefinitely, and even the deep sea regions or the tip of Mount Everest are uninhabitable right now.

 

My argument is, that if we end up destroying the Moon (which we probably will) the Earth in return will spiral out of our hands. First off, the tides and everything on the planet that needs the moon will get off balance and it will just keep getting worse. Also, the axis with Earth will go wacky. Africa could freeze and the Antarctic could dry up. Who knows, but the Earth would not be what we see it as.

Whoa there, you actually mean "blow up into tiny little pieces" instead of "rendering it uninhabitable (again)". To put your mind at ease, we're just as likely to blow the Earth to tiny little pieces as we are to do so to the moon. Also, how do you know what would happen to our planet if the moon was blasted to smithereens?

 

The tides and such will end up going that way someday, the moon is slowly but steadily drifting off into space, out of the Earth's orbit.

At a rate of what, 22 millimeters per year? It's around 385.000 km away (medium between perigee and apogee), so in 1 billion years, it'll be at 385.000 km + 0.022 m* 10^9 = 385.000 km + 22.000 km = 407.000 km. Big difference. (In about 2.1 billion years, life on Earth will be impossible anyway, and a distance of 431.000 km between moon and Earth won't have that much of an impact. By then, all oceans will be vaporized, so the effect on the tides is negligible.)

 

[Kazeko]

incredible temperature differences (of up to 290 K at the equator).

 

I don't quite see what you're getting at, since the light side of the moon is always light--there's no problem with temperature that I can see. Space debris would be more of a problem.

[Brite]

I see it stupid. Plus if something badly malfunctions then everyone on the moon is screwed.

[olympe]

I don't quite see what you're getting at, since the light side of the moon is always light--there's no problem with temperature that I can see. Space debris would be more of a problem.

Where did you get this kind of information? It's dead wrong. Although the moon always shows the same side to us, the sun shines all over the place. And that's why we see different moon phases - if the sun is shining from our side, we have a full moon. If the sun is (almost) behind the moon from our POV, we have a new moon, and the area that had sunlight two weeks earlier is in the dark now.

Edited February 12, 2011 by olympe

[frostmourne]

Moving on to the next planet..and the next one..and the next one (supposing we aren't extinct by then). The question is how, when, where, and what if we find something that doesn't want us there? Maybe we should fix problems down here before we move on? Problems, problems, problems. Well if we actually find a way, why not?

[diannethegeek]

Why can't we do both? Fix problems here and make the jump into outer space? I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive and just think of all the neat things the space program has given us. Velcro and Tang and pens that write upside down. Oh, and an enormous understanding of the solar system around us which has in turn helped us to understand our own planet better.

[Kurenai]

I'm gonna get flamed for this, but oh well... i think it's just a fantasy.

 

Come on, we don't even have enough resources to feed or shelter everyone as it is ! And we never will. It's just not possible.

Instead of trying to escape our problems by wasting money on nice but mere dreams, we should really try to face and solve them. And learn to love our little Earth more.

 

And to those arguing that we'll have to move eventually... i believe that humans will be long extinct when the Earth dies. But who cares? It's not like it's going to happen during our lifetime anyway. We won't be there anymore. And that's nothing to be afraid of.

Edited February 21, 2011 by Kurenai

[Chess Tyrant]

In all seriousness, it'll probably happen eventually, and it would be awesome to visit the moon.

 

...And go pole vaulting.

[Kazeko]

It also needs greenhouse gases, like CO2, H2O, CH4 to keep heat. we'd need to find a way around that. It's also a reason why Mars is uninhabitable.

 

Actually, Mars has an atmosphere--it's got weather (wind -> sandstorms). It just doesn't have enough atmospheric pressure for humans to survive.

[Daeron]

Why stop there? Lets go all the way to the Moons of Jupiter so I can get a bounty Hunters Crew on a rundown spaceship!

[olympe]

Uh, the moons of Jupiter? Seriously? They're either extremely cold or have an incredibly high level of volcanic activity heating them up. Either way, they're not the best places to live by a far cry.

 

Come on, we don't even have enough resources to feed or shelter everyone as it is ! And we never will. It's just not possible.

Instead of trying to escape our problems by wasting money on nice but mere dreams, we should really try to face and solve them. And learn to love our little Earth more.

Well, some of these problems could be solved if a large part of the population lived off-planet - and did so without needing resources from Earth.

 

The question is how, when, where, and what if we find something that doesn't want us there?

You know, that's why sending radio signals is the stupidest thing ever. If there's no life out there, it's simply a waste of time and resources. If there is, it might either be a civilization that cannot make contact with us anyway - which would make this a waste of time and resources, as well - or it might tell an advanced civilization where we are. (Here we are, shoot us now - because that's what would happen if they were anything like us humans.) But that's another matter.

[Daeron]

Uh, the moons of Jupiter? Seriously? They're either extremely cold or have an incredibly high level of volcanic activity heating them up. Either way, they're not the best places to live by a far cry.

You obviously didn't get the reference.

[chickenhound]

I think we should clonzie the moon then dump all the stupid ppl there

[Dr. Paine]

I think we should clonzie the moon then dump all the stupid ppl there

What did the moon do to deserve that? D:

[Daeron]

What did the moon do to deserve that? D:

Mocking us.

 

But it all seriousness I don't think it is a fantasy. I believe it possible, though we prolly will never see it.

[KageSora]

What did the moon do to deserve that? D:

Yes, I'd rather like to know what the beautiful moon did to deserve that, too. :<

[zephyr_123]

I'm gonna get flamed for this, but oh well... i think it's just a fantasy.

 

Come on, we don't even have enough resources to feed or shelter everyone as it is ! And we never will. It's just not possible.

Instead of trying to escape our problems by wasting money on nice but mere dreams, we should really try to face and solve them. And learn to love our little Earth more.

 

And to those arguing that we'll have to move eventually... i believe that humans will be long extinct when the Earth dies. But who cares? It's not like it's going to happen during our lifetime anyway. We won't be there anymore. And that's nothing to be afraid of.

It's probably not possible as of yet, nor will it be for a long time, to inhabit the moon, but, actually, we have enough food to feed everyone on the planet thanks to high yield seeds. The reason why people go hungry is because food is not distributed evenly and to the people who need it. Those with more money easily buy food and squander it (think the United States, I think there was a news report about how people waste tons of food per week/month/year), while those who don't earn enough money can't even afford it. It's not the lack of food, it's where the food ends up.

 

Also, I gotta say, it'd be kind of fun to imagine ourselves moon-walking, and seeing space from a different perspective. Who says the Earth has to die for us to move? I think it's a given that if Earth blows up we'll all be too dead to move to the moon. I'd assume that people would move away ahead of time.

 

There's only so much the Earth can do to us and we can do to it, and there will probably be a point when something dramatic happens, but you're right, we'll definitely all be dead before that. Let our poor offspring deal with it, I guess. At least the Earth has been going strong for several billion years, let's hope it can keep it up.

[diannethegeek]

Hockey Puck may visit moon in X Prize plan

[Kazeko]

Moon colonization? Mars is a lot more feasible, isn't it? Not distance-wise, but it's more earthlike in that it's larger, has volcanic activity, an atmosphere, and water (albeit frozen water).

Edited March 7, 2011 by Kazeko

[Stunningfire]

Humans... on the moon... there's not really anything wrong but hey look at what we did to Earth! All the pollution and whatnot... I think I'd like the moon to be the far away, mysterious pretty sphere in the sky it is now, rather than somewhere my friend moved to.