The news is full of it, excitement seems high, and I really don’t get it. I’m not against space-related research, but why suddenly the moon? And why send people there? Can someone fill me in on what’s to be gained or why one might be excited about it?

Allow me to use the linked article for my questions.

There have been three primary drivers of renewed interest in the Moon. The first was the discovery and confirmation in the 1990s and early 2000s that water ice is likely to exist at the lunar poles in permanently shadowed craters. The presence of abundant water, providing oxygen and hydrogen resources, has given space agencies a new reason to explore the poles.

Yea but so what? Hydrogen is literally the most common thing in the universe, no fucking way there is also some on the moon 🤯. Then what’s so spectacular about moon ice, water, or even oxygen? And why does it need people to explore it?

A second factor has been the rise of China’s space program, which has sent a series of ambitious robotic missions to the Moon that have both landed on the far side and returned samples from the lunar surface. China has made no secret of its interest in sending astronauts to the Moon, leading to competing efforts between NASA’s Artemis Program and China’s lunar station goals.

Again why? Is this some repetition of the Cold War Soviet-US competition?

Finally, there has been some interest from private companies in the commercial development of the lunar surface, both to exploit resources there but also for other purposes. This has stimulated investment in private companies to provide transportation to the lunar surface, including ispace, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Firefly.

Exploiting resources has to be a joke, right? Do they want to sell us the newly found moon water? The only point I get is the tourism aspect. Because, of course, I always encourage billionaires to pursue dangerous hobbies 😊

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
      11 year ago

      Thank you, that comment must not have synced to my instance or something.

      That aside though, I don’t think you realize how incredibly difficult it would be to outlaw planned obsolescence, or to shift a large chunk of the population to riding bicycles. In the US, one would require changing laws that currently benefit both politicians and business owners, the other would require mass infrastructure rework the likes of which hasn’t been seen since FDR’s New Deal.

      What does any of that have to do with space exploration though?

      • @over_clox
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        11 year ago

        What’s any of this got to do with the price of weed in Colorado?

        Wasting resources on the wrong things. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against scientific exploration at all, but maybe sometimes people should look down at the grass once in a while…