Lets just stay off the moon?
It’s in everybody’s backyard and they want to build shit on it.
You can’t see any of mankind’s influence on Earth from the moon. Why would the obverse be true?
Can you imagine possibilities forward in time? That’s what I mean.
It’s completely barren. Who cares.
Me.
Out of curiosity, why?
I kind of view it kind of like Antarctica, where it’s a little interesting as a park or preserve and there’s research to be done that justifies sending some robots and people, then at some point a handful of tourists will visit it. It doesn’t seem like it’s worth trying to protect from resource prospectors who want to try make a claim, though. I’m on board with protecting moons like Io and Europa until we can do more research, though.
It’s just an amazing piece of art in our sky. I would not want to see it get destroyed by human greed.
I dunno, I think the moon with city lights would be awesome
No thanks.
I’ve always argued against this and always make light of it by pointing out that we’re doing a terrible job of maintaining the living environment, ecology and atmosphere of the planet we are inhabiting here now.
If we are going to take billions of dollars worth of effort to try to colonize space, we should first apply our knowledge, expertise, time, energy and money maintaining the only livable habitat we know of in our tiny corner of the galaxy. I say that because we are degrading the one we have. We argue that we have to figure out how to leave the planet because we are degrading our own environment. A more logical solution to the problem would be change to our behaviour and make our home planet much more sustainable and livable for all its inhabitants. If we don’t, then we will just be transplanting our problems here to any new colony we start somewhere else at great expense.
Once we figure out how to make our living environment manageable, stable and balanced, then maybe we can start venturing out safely into the cosmos.
This argument assumes that space travel and colonization as well as developing sustainable livelihood on Earth are mutually exclusive, but it could be argued that they are symbiotic. Living in space pushes our abilities to be completely sustainable, from energy conservation to complete resources recycling. Not only does being in space require us to better utilize our resources, but it also allows for easier access to resources that are burried deep within our planet. On Earth, we cause great environmental disturbances to acquire rare earth metals while many asteroids have them at or very near the surface. There’s also a developing industry of zero-g (micro G) manufacturing that is much more efficient for composite materials and medicines. There’s also the Overview Effect on a majority of people that go into space that mentally changes their view on both the planet and humanity.
Your argument would make a lot more sense if we were talking about colonizing a planet that already has an ecosystem.
deleted by creator
I think the problem I had was in stating my opinion on a subject that is highly valued by a group of people. Me making this opinion here is like stepping into a Texan roadside bar and stating my opinions about supporting gay rights.
I was just making an opinion in what I thought was an open forum but didn’t realize it was only being watched by a small group of people who want space flight and exploration not matter what happens or is taking place on this planet.
not to disparage your opinion but i think one of the problems is that people in this community have heard this opinion at least a thousand times
fucking defund the military and put it into humanitarian shit then, they get 35x the budget of NASA
in a world controlled by capitalism such an ideal thing will not happen anyway, sooner or later we’ll find some inherent incentive for mars/moon colonialism and when that happens we’ll go there and explore with the cheapest possible equipment, contaminate the land with earth based life and ruin future scientific outcomes.
so even if your proposal is ideal it’s in my opinion better to colonize while we still can with science money, not corporate or military money
I don’t know what response you were expecting in a spaceflight community, but:
Space travel and research develops new technologies that get used on Earth. One recent/ongoing example of this is Astroforge’s forge possibly getting used in terrestrial mines. Spaceflight also offers intangible benefits through inspiration and motivation. This also isn’t a zero-sum game, because investment in NASA returns multiples in economic impact.
I disagree. I think becoming a multi planet species is the only way to stop problems here.
I disagree and believe that the only way we can become a multi planet species is by first proving that we can sustainably survive long term on our home world first.
