 |
| Mineraleater - deviant art |
People who really think about mankind as eventually becoming a space-born civilization have realized the importance of the Moon for a long time. The Moon stabilizes the tilt and wobble of the Earth. The high tides it produces could have jump-started and accelerated the beginning of life and evolution. It’s probably absorbed its share of big rocks that would have otherwise hit the Earth. More importantly, for space travel, it represents an anchor and jumping off place for further exploration of our Solar System. We can put things in orbit around the Moon that we might be uncomfortable putting into a near Earth orbit - things like big chunks of asteroid or even a whole one. It can safely orbit the Moon while we mine the goodies from its innards, leaving a potential space habitat shell after it is mined out. It can provide gravity for industrial processes that simply can't be done in micro-gravity or or complete weightlessness.
Yet, after the Moon shots of the late 60s and through the 70s, the Moon seemed sort of ho-hum. America has been there, done that. It turns out we should have been much more interested in going back with the idea of establishing at least a semi-permanent basecamp. Luckily, there’s been enough interest in the Moon since then to discover that there is water and helium-3 on the surface of the Moon, perhaps a lot of both.
 |
| Moon habitat galley mockup - courtesy Wikimedia |
The water is very important to mankind’s quest to explore the rest of the Solar System. It represents rocket fuel (hydrogen & oxygen), radiation shielding for spacecraft, and you can drink it and grow stuff with it. Don’t forget ice sculptures. The main thing is that it is in a much shallower gravity well than Earth water, which makes it easier and cheaper to get into space where it will be used.
 |
| Moon Colony - courtesy Wikipedia |
The helium-3, it turns out, can make nuclear fusion a much more efficient process. How much is there? There is an estimated one million metric tons trapped in lunar soil worth about 3 billion dollars per ton. What!? Wars have been fought over less.
This is not to mention; okay, yes, I’m mentioning it; the millions of years the Moon’s surface has been bombarded by the very asteroids our nascent asteroid mining industry purports to want to go mine. That material has been laying there on the Moon’s surface undiminished all this time. Maybe this idea just occurred to a number of people all over the world at the same time. Why? Not sure, but ....
Now, lo and behold, not only the U.S. but China, Russia, India, Europe, and Israel are planning Moon missions. North and South Korea are thinking about it. Go figure. Is it really in the interest of science, or is it a game of finders keepers? The reality of nuclear fusion is always 30 years in the future according to the fusion energy mavens, but reality is catching up with everybody on everything. Artificial Intelligence is advancing quicker than nuclear fusion, and when it - a general AI, not some savant - happens, there will be advances in a lot of ideas that are on the cusp. Those that weren’t smart enough to realize the worth of the Moon for it’s natural gravity harbor properties are smart enough to realize the tremendous wealth, energy, and power now represented by the Moon.
Let us hope all that wealth and power does not attract those who simply want wealth and power for its own sake. Let us hope it attracts those with the vision to use that wealth and power for the betterment of all mankind rather than a privileged few. Let us also hope all parties involved can figure out a peaceful means of dividing up resources on the Moon. Fingers crossed.
Other articles you may enjoy:
No comments:
Post a Comment