We grab the moon because it is hard

[minestrone]

That won't stop anyone, we have people in Scotland for crying out loud!

Can you imagine a kilt in space?

[sal]

The Moon will be a very handy jumping off point for missions to Mars and asteroids.

For a start, it has sizeable deposits of ice, which can be broken down by solar energy to Hydrogen and Oxygen.

I could be wrong by AFAIK there are proven traces/small amounts of water, actual workable deposits are only speculations.

The biggest problem behind space expansion/explorations is the prohibitive cost of sending materials into space from Earth. IMHO the best mid term solution to this is development of a rail-gun like magnetic launch system and long term figuring out a suitable material to make a space elevator.

the other approach that gained some early support from eccentric billionaires was the development of mining drones that can first scout, then haul mineral rich asteroids in Earth orbit and eventually manufacture various bits in space.

[vetran]

Can you imagine a kilt in space?

stranger things have happened

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cy9HeM8QQc

[d000hg]

The Moon will be a very handy jumping off point for missions to Mars and asteroids.

For a start, it has sizeable deposits of ice, which can be broken down by solar energy to Hydrogen and Oxygen.

And as a staging post for missions to Mars it has less gravity than Earth, so less fuel is wasted (and needs to be carried) for getting to other asteroids/planets.

Everything you want to launch from the moon you have to transport to the moon first since mining prospects are minimal. So you still have to get everything to the moon from Earth which is the step we want to avoid... we have to launch stuff from Earth, land it on the moon, assemble it and launch it from the moon.

Or you can launch it from Earth ready-built on top of a large re-usable rocket like SpaceX are working on and cut the moon out of the equation entirely.

[original PM]

Everything you want to launch from the moon you have to transport to the moon first since mining prospects are minimal. So you still have to get everything to the moon from Earth which is the step we want to avoid... we have to launch stuff from Earth, land it on the moon, assemble it and launch it from the moon.

Or you can launch it from Earth ready-built on top of a large re-usable rocket like SpaceX are working on and cut the moon out of the equation entirely.

Thats why the asteroids are a better option.

Step 1 find a C type asteroid and land on that - it will contains all the volatiles you need (Oxygen and water being the 2 main ones)

Step 2 manœuvre asteroid in step 1 to a M type asteroid which should contain the building blocks you need to create whatever you need.

Rinse n repeat.

[VectraMan]

Everything you want to launch from the moon you have to transport to the moon first since mining prospects are minimal. So you still have to get everything to the moon from Earth which is the step we want to avoid... we have to launch stuff from Earth, land it on the moon, assemble it and launch it from the moon.

Or you can launch it from Earth ready-built on top of a large re-usable rocket like SpaceX are working on and cut the moon out of the equation entirely.

Or build it in orbit, which makes a lot more sense as the main part of the craft that goes to Mars doesn't also have to handle launch or landing on Earth.

[DietCokeMan]

The super moon last week so close you could eat it!

[MyUserName]

Can you imagine a kilt in space?

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase grabbing a moon

[meridian]

We grab the moon because it is hard

Everything you want to launch from the moon you have to transport to the moon first since mining prospects are minimal. So you still have to get everything to the moon from Earth which is the step we want to avoid... we have to launch stuff from Earth, land it on the moon, assemble it and launch it from the moon.

Or you can launch it from Earth ready-built on top of a large re-usable rocket like SpaceX are working on and cut the moon out of the equation entirely.

That's true. However, a large reusable rocket launched from Earth needs to consist of mostly fuel. Building a depot on the moon would provide at least two benefits:
- we can practise building facilities in a place where, if something goes wrong, it's only a couple of days/weeks until help arrives, instead of months
- when we do make the leap to Mars, the ship can carry more useful things (food, water, equipment) due to the reduced payload of fuel.

The reusable Space-X rocket would be ideal for the multiple missions to the moon that would be required. Perhaps less so for a long-term mission to Mars.

There's a long-term experiment just finished on Hawaii:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...tion-in-hawaii

[BlasterBates]

You can see where this is going can't you. There is going to be some "Trump" real estate on there.

I think it is an excellent move as it will divert everyone's attention whilst he backtracks on all his other promises.