The Moon

[epicguy10000]

Hockey Puck may visit moon in X Prize plan

only in Canada

 

and when I put my telescope on full power I can see the close up surface of the moon! it looks so cool!

[Stunningfire]

and when I put my telescope on full power I can see the close up surface of the moon! it looks so cool!

Totally, right? Different than what it is with the naked eye...

[hazeh]

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

Mars has a very thin atmosphere, and it's never going to get any better. Erosion from solar winds blew the atmosphere away when the center of Mars cooled down, thus virtually killing the planet- its magnetic fields no longer work, which allowed the winds to tear the atmosphere away. The only reason it has anything of an atmosphere is because of its gravity, but because its core is no longer molten, it will never gain an atmosphere dense enough to sustain life again.

At some point, Mars most likely did, when its core was molten and its still possessed a magnetic field that deflected winds and harmful substances from weathering at the planet.

 

 

...So pretty much, I just elaborated on your post

[CYDA LUVA83]

Is is sad that we know the Moon better than our own oceans?

[Cavedragon49990]

I don't think it's a good idea to inhabit the Moon.

Think about it. The Sun is eventually going to burn out, long after all of us have entered the afterlife. When it burns out there will be zero light and everywhere will be too cold. Earth's water would freeze up, which means no water. Crops would die, which means no food. Solar panels would be useless. Yes, you might be able to create artificial food, but not artificial water. Everyone would probably die of dehydration.

So really, there's no point in heading to the Moon. (And how would you sleep? There's zero gravity! )

 

~Cavey

[TPishek]

(And how would you sleep? There's zero gravity! )

False.

 

Moon gravity is approximately 1/6th Earth gravity.

[Kestra15]

Is is sad that we know the Moon better than our own oceans?

Not really. It's harder to explore the oceans than it is the moon.

[SmileyPerson]

I don't think it's a good idea to inhabit the Moon.

Think about it. The Sun is eventually going to burn out, long after all of us have entered the afterlife. When it burns out there will be zero light and everywhere will be too cold. Earth's water would freeze up, which means no water. Crops would die, which means no food. Solar panels would be useless. Yes, you might be able to create artificial food, but not artificial water. Everyone would probably die of dehydration.

So really, there's no point in heading to the Moon. (And how would you sleep? There's zero gravity! )

 

~Cavey

Everything would have died long before the Sun 'dies'. The world will be too hot to support life in about 400-900 million years due to the Sun's expansion as it ages. :/

 

[Anca]

This is definitely an interesting topic.

 

Since the Moon, like many other planets in our Solar system, isn't endowed with oxygen, and since creating an actual atmosphere would raise high difficulties (it is, after all, a massive object), the only solution left would be to build something along the lines of a giant greenhouse, that would enable us to breathe and live in proper conditions. Now the question is - what would happen if the walls of the structure were to break? I mean, it's made by man, and nothing made by man lives for an eternity. And if we also assume that the population residing on the Moon overcomes a million individuals, then I think it'd be pretty useless to even try and establish a settlement there.

 

Maybe in a couple hundreds of years, when we'll be more advanced, technologically speaking. But not now.

[Starsongz]

I completely disagree with the contempt of colonizing the moon. That's gonna result in a FAIL. No questions asked.

[Kestra15]

I completely disagree with the contempt of colonizing the moon. That's gonna result in a FAIL. No questions asked.

Why would it fail?

[Kazeko]

And how would you sleep? There's zero gravity.

 

Barring the question of why it's impossible to sleep in zero gravity, the moon does have gravity. Roughly 1/6 of the Earth's gravity, proportional to the comparative masses. Common fallacy, but yes.

[Ælex]

I can see the moon already covered in discarded chip packets and cigarette husks...

Oh, wait...

[diannethegeek]

Here's an interesting plan for the moon: +technology+news%29]Luna Ring: Solar Energy from the Moon

[lachrymation]

But... We'll eventually run out of oxygen, won't we? Technically we can't live in space suite forever...

[Crisis]

1. We really need to explore the moon more though. We really don't know too much about dear Luna. It has craters so deep that have no idea how far down they go, or whatcould be in them for instance.

 

2. The atmosphere... It has none. Debris coming at Earth usuallybruns up in our thermosphere, but colonies on the moon wouldn't have that defense. If you can come up with a realistic solution, please post it. No "I'll fire mah lazars at rox till they splodes !!!11!!!!1"

 

3. Gravity isn't an issue at all. Current models for space colonization as I've seen them so far (I haven't heard any talk of actually trying them. I think they were for hypothetical discussion) ar basically rings with a metal shaft through the middle to make them spin. The colony could regulate how fast it spins so that the artificial gravity caused by the centripital force is actually farily close to the force of Earth's gravitational pull.

Model 1

Model 2

Colony 3

 

4. People could take (Granted a LOT) of dirt and grow grass, trees, maybe algea and such for oxygen and food. Biggest problem I see would be water, and we've got plenty of that....

 

5. The first colonists could be criminals actually. Great Britian sent their criminals to Australia for colonization, so I don't really see a problem with sending criminals now. Send the worst ones first so that if anything goes wrong, it's the one's that blew their shot who face consequences first. After it's safer for others, send volunteers.

 

6. I could see this really helping with over-population.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Crisis

[caramba2654]

If you ever go to the moon, here's an interesting thing you can do: Drink soda. You'll get a very special surprise...

[Shadowed-spirit-101]

It's a strange idea, I personally wouldn't want to live on a rock that gets constantly pounded by other rocks as they fly past, at least try to live on a planet with a decent atmosphere....At least on the moon, the view would be fantastic and unobstructed by light pollution as most places are here on Earth.

[Sparx1996]

Yes and no. Yes it's a good idea because the Earth is (lets face it) overpopulated. No because the cost alone to get passengers there is astronomical, let alone the cost to colonize it.

[libby2999]

Our bodys would slowly deterate (spelling) cuz of the lessened gravity. our muscles and bones would become soft then after a few genirations on the moon they couldn't even come back to earth were theres more gravity.

 

by the way: that over populated is wrong. its just not as evely spread out. If you look at a city say new york it will seam like that but then some areas have verturaly no people with hunders of miles of no humans. if you look at a certain area it will seam over populated but if looked at as a whole its not.

Edited May 31, 2011 by libby2999

[diannethegeek]

Our bodys would slowly deterate (spelling) cuz of the lessened gravity. our muscles and bones would become soft then after a few genirations on the moon they couldn't even come back to earth were theres more gravity.

 

by the way: that over populated is wrong. its just not as evely spread out. If you look at a city say new york it will seam like that but then some areas have verturaly no people with hunders of miles of no humans. if you look at a certain area it will seam over populated but if looked at as a whole its not.

Overpopulation is about more than just living space. We need all that empty room to grow enough food for everyone, which many places around the world already have a hard time doing.

[OrbiterSpore]

I see nothing wrong at Moon colonization. The risks are high, but think of how much research could be done, plus the population the colony could hold. Also, the Russians are preparing to go to Mars. A trip to the Moon would take +-3 days, while mars is 6 months.

 

You can't choose food in space, specially when talking about meat. In the starting days, you will probably have a supply of meat, but on the rest of the trip you need to be strictly a vegetarian. Since you would need to take plants, a nice idea is to take plants that produce fruits or other edible vegetables. And space for such plants? Have you just compared the size of a average house to the ISS or Mir? Space isn't really the problem, but IMHO, you couldn't send a lonely astronaut to Mars or Moon. The

astronaut would go insane in a comm blackout. And there's another social question:If someone starts to have conflicts with another person, this will not just compromise the mission, but would also compromise the probability of going home alive. And a creepy rumor is running around O-F (Orbiter Forum-Spaceflight and Orbiter discussion forum) about cyber-terrorism. If someone plugged an infected pen drive on the main computer, the life support, motion and comm systems would all be compromised. I recommend to every astronaut have a separate laptop for entertainment.

 

Back to the Moon colonization subject, you could very easily use solar power for everything, and recent research suggest that there are water reserves underground. Use of those resources would be what would make the colony self-sustainable.

 

One more thing;Even a engineer today can go for a trip on space as corporations as Virgin Galactic are becoming popular. Space is very attractive, plus, newer and cheaper propulsion methods are making space even closer to you.

 

About the risks, a meteor impact would be worst-case. Solar stations, comm towers and such would all be destroyed, but they aren't researching repair robots for nothing, right?

 

If anything is wrong, please correct me.

[spark3210]

I'm kind of on the fence about it myself. On one hand, Earth's already overpopulated. On the other hand, it's going to take a lot (money, fuel, water, air, etc.) to make the Moon inhabitable. Plus it would just be kinda weird and hard to get used to.

Of course, future generations won't know how different.

[alicephantomile]

Well I think, if future generations ever make it to the moon - kudos to them! I mean, forgetting for just a minute whether we can or cannot 'kill the moon' (ridiculous notion, btw) - how freaking insanely awesome would it be to say you live on the moon.

 

Overpopulation is a real threat. Unless we start making serious changes to consumerism, and try to somehow fend off climate change, or just, yanno - start culling off large parts of the human population (and I don't think anyone would be cool with that, I feel dirty just mentioning it) - at some point we're going to have to find somewhere new to live. It doesn't mean we're forsaking Earth entirely, we're just finding somewhere to go that isn't so crowded. I imagine it'd be the same kind of scenario for people from India or China moving to places less crowded, like New Zealand (which is where I'm from) (and I apologise in advance if the above generalisation offends anyone, you're welcome to correct me) - it's not something that everyone would necessarily try, and it wouldn't mean that you'd be denying your homeland entirely if you did, you're just seeing what's out there, and perhaps if it might be a better environment for you to raise your kids in.

 

But I think I'm getting off-topic. Seriously - the MOON. If we could introduce an artificial atmosphere and bring in some vegetation, ohhh.... *drools* Imagine the view you'd have in the morning!!

[Fortune86]

I have no good arguement about why we shouldn't colonize the moon, other than the idea makes me feel kinda sad.

 

For years the moon has been this great mysterious object that pretty much everyone is fascinated with. Throughout history it has been depicted in stories and works of art and in some cultures worshipped as a deity.

 

The idea of humans landing on it and messing it up like we do everything else saddens me.