Brodie System

Returning to the moon is also an important goal from a national defense standpoint. After thirty + years of no manned missions to the Moon, why the sudden race for governments to return there? Even in the midst of a major war in the Middle East, governments are making a decision to return to the Moon as soon as possible. Japan, China, India, Russia, and the US have all made steps towards a manned return. The answer is simple. It is the new strategic "high ground". A nation could use the moon as a platform from which to launch weapons/project power at the earth and to control near-earth space. The weaponization of space, while frowned upon publicly, has been happening steadily since the 60's behind closed doors.
 
Totally awesome thread creep! What'd we last, three posts?

Without getting into a socio-historical discussion on why the great empires need great external projects to keep them growing (rather than our current trend towards narcissism - see Rome...), I see a lot of benefits to going back to, and colonizing the moon. First, and foremost, all we did the first time was go, leave a flag and a mirror, and bring back some rocks.* If we set up an exploration base, we could explore vast tracts of the surface, drill down and see what we find, etc. Second, the way I understand it, compared to the vast amount of energy needed to achieve earth orbit, the amount of energy need to go back and forth to the moon, and ascend to/descend from luner orbit is miniscule. (Disclaimer: I am NOT a rocket scientist.)
To list off some other (IMO) benefits:
1). I assume that experimentation on other forms of propulsion would be easier to do on the moon
2). It would be easier to assemble a ship for Mars on the moon's surface.
3). Theoretically, enough fuel could be shuttled up there and stored to make the time problem of getting to Mars much smaller
4). It would be freaking exciting!
5). Going back to my first sentence, kids these days need something to get excited about other than the latest antics of Miley and Snooki
6). It would be totally awesome!


*Yes, I know, vast understatement.
 
Back
Top