Forums → WEPR → Going BACK to the moon.

What benefit would it be to go there? We collected hundreds of pounds of rocks, analyzed them, went back, rinse and repeat. Honestly, there is not anything else on the moon to be discovered. It's a wasteland of rock and craters.

Colonization would be impossible because there is no atmosphere. With no atmosphere, millions of tiny asteroid pieces hit the moon every second (most are the size of a grain of sand). But getting hit by one of those would blow off someone's head.

There is absolutely no reason to go back to the moon. All the rocks look the same. There is no life. And there is no way to colonize it. It would just be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Bran, are you talking about colonizing the moon, or just going there for another visit?

By the way, Listman, scientists believe it is possible to colonize the moon and many other planets and their moons, for example: Mars, Europa, Venus, Mercury (I know!) And many more...

I don't doubt that we will colonize other planets in the future. The atmosphere breaks up all the particles that try to enter and can burn up sizable asteroids before they hit. But colonizing a moon is a whole different story. With no atmosphere, a piece of an asteroid the size of a pebble would put a massive hole in any building, and anything a foot or larger on impact could take out a block. Objects in space move at speeds over 30,000 MPH/48,000KPH. With no atmosphere to stop these objects, everything would be destroyed very quickly.

Thelistman, The moon already has an atmosphere, only it is very thin. A stable atmosphere may only take a few centuries to form.

There are many methods to produce a lunar atmosphere. We could destroy the crust, which would create earthquakes and volcanoes, some of the gases would be released, and in turn would form a lunar atmosphere. After that, we could use nuclear bombs to produce an atmosphere with a low density. We can also introduce organisms that would produce atmospheric gases. Although this would be an artificial atmosphere, with only a few millimeters pressure, and it would not last for long, it would greatly aid in establishing a lunar base.

Thickening the lunar atmosphere is not too difficult. During the Apollo landing, the exhaust gases thickened the lunar atmosphere by 10%, temporarily. A few months later, the extra lunar atmosphere was worn out due to solar wind.

We need to keep in mind that the gravitational force of the moon is too weak to hold on to light atoms such as helium and hydrogen, but it can hold on to the heavier ones such as oxygen and carbon.

One of the problems scientists face is water on the moon. We have establishedw that we can have a lunar oxygen atmosphere that would last us many centuries, but in the presence of water, that would pose a large threat to Earth's atmosphere! The water on the moon would react with the oxygen rich atmosphere, which would form iron. The amount of iron would absorb all of the oxygen on our atmosphere here on Earth.

According to scientists, terraforming the moon would take thousands of years, it might also be a danger as it might result in extremely violent moonquakes (heh heh). The environment would be very unstable due to aggressive chemical reactions, throughout this time.

Earth nows everthing they need to know about the moon.At the moment there are no Apollo missions planned.I odnt think we will ever go back instead focus our missions on going to mars.

The recent release of the details of NASA's proposed plans for human return to the moon in response to President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration" last year has drawn much comment -- some positive, some negative and some simply perplexed.

Although the reasons for undertaking the program were clearly articulated in the president's speech, it is important to reexamine why the moon is its cornerstone and what we hope to achieve by returning there.


The moon is important for three reasons: science, inspiration and resources. All three are directly served by the new lunar return architecture. This program has the potential to make significant contributions to our national economy and welfare.

The moon is a scientific laboratory of extraordinary facility, richness and benefit. The history of our corner of the solar system for the past 4 billion years is preserved and readable in the ancient dust of the lunar surface. This record is lost on the dynamic and ever-changing surface of Earth. Other planets do not record the same events affecting Earth and the moon, including impacts, space particles and the detailed history of our sun. The recovery of this record will let us better understand the impact hazard in the Earth-moon system as well as unravel the processes and evolution of our sun, the major driver of climate and life on Earth.

The moon is a stable platform to observe the universe. Its far side is the only known place in the solar system permanently shielded from Earth's radio noise. That allows observation of the sky at radio wavelengths never before seen. Every time we open a new spectral window on the universe, we find unexpected and astounding phenomena; there is no reason to expect anything different from the opening of new windows on the universe from the surface of the moon.

The moon is close in space (only three days away) yet a separate world filled with mysteries, landscapes and treasures. By embracing the inspiring and difficult task of living and working there, we can learn how to explore a planetary surface and how the combined efforts of both humans and machines can enable new levels of productive exploration.

In 21st-century America, our existence depends on an educated, technically literate workforce, motivated and schooled in complex scientific disciplines. Tackling the challenges of creating a functioning society off-planet will require not only the best technical knowledge we can muster but also the best imaginations. One cannot develop a creative imagination, the renewable resource of a vibrant society, without confronting and surmounting unknowns and challenges on new frontiers.

Although of fairly ordinary composition, the moon contains the resources of material and energy that we need to survive and operate in space. With its resources and proximity to Earth, the moon is a natural logistics and supply base, an offshore island of useful commodities for use there, in space and ultimately back on Earth.

Water is an extremely valuable commodity in space -- in its liquid form, it supports human life, and it can be broken down into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen. These elements make the highest-energy chemical rocket propellant known. Water exists in the dark and cold regions near the poles of the moon. Scientists estimate that each pole contains more than 10 billion tons of water, enough to launch a fully fueled space shuttle once a day, every day, for over 39 years. The ability to make fuel on the moon will allow routine access to Earth-moon space, the zone in which all of our space assets reside.

The moon's slow rotation, unclouded skies and abundant local materials make it possible to build installations specifically designed to harvest solar energy there. Solar power, collected on the moon and beamed to Earth and throughout the space between the two, can provide a clean and reliable energy source not only for space-based applications but ultimately for users on Earth as well. Lunar solar power solves the apparent "showstopper" of other space-based solar power systems -- the high cost of getting the solar arrays into space. Instead of launching arrays from the deep gravity well of Earth, we would use the local soil and make hundreds of tons of solar panels on the moon.

Living on the moon will expand the sphere of human and robotic activity in space beyond low-Earth orbit. To become a multiplanet species, we must master the skills of extracting local resources, build our capability to journey and explore in hostile regions, and create new reservoirs of human culture and experience. That long journey begins on the moon -- the staging ground, supply station and classroom for our voyage into the universe.

If you need more info, get it at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600648.html

**That is were I got the info for ^^ my other post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600648.html

Sorry about that, this is a better one.

If you need more info, get it at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co â¦
* *That is were I got the info for ^^ my other post

I'm sorry, Wittman, if you wanted us to look at a certain article, please just link the site which has it.

Clearly we need to get our "feet wet" again before attempting a Mars landing. While landing on the Moon and on Mars are two very different animals, it would be nice to have someone on the Mars mission who has at least put a lander down on an alien surface at least once.
We are also developing technology to aid what will be an incredibly long flight through space, so a lot of pieces need to go together, but landing on the moon again will definitely be one of those key pieces.

Well,i personally guess theres no point in going back to the moon,as someone said before me,what does the earth gain?
Photos?
I personally think they should go to Mars (as they are doing now)as we dont know much about Mars.

I just thought of something fairly possible. If we end up colonizing the moon, which we probably will anywhere from a decade to two centuries, we could start out by putting small organisms on the moon before humans. After all, there are some species that theoretically could survive on the moon if we found a way to get water over there.

Unless there are more experimaents we can do there now with more modern technology i dont really see the point. I mean why do u consider it embarrasing its been x number of years since your country has gone to the moon. Most countries have never gone.

What do u mean "back"?