NASA moon mess

[DemoniaFairy]

I've been so close to tears all day. Has anyone else heard about what NASA is doing to the moon today? Do you believe they have a right to experiment on the moon like that??? How do you think it will effect us if they really do build a base on it? Your opinions please!  

[Cranium Squirrel]

People do it to the earth all the time, I suppose it was a matter of time before we branched out and tried to drill on other planets/stellar bodies. The natural curiosity of man is staggering sometimes.

And regardless, they're a LOOOONG way from base building. Last I checked, they weren't even sure they had a source of water. No one seems to be talking yet, though NASA claims they got good data from this. If there's nothing there, there's no chance they can build the base - lacking an oxygen source and a water source locally would make it mighty difficult financially, so I wouldn't worry yet.  

[Bastemhet]

Why is this such a big deal?  

[CuAnnan]

The moon is a lump of the earth that got knocked off into space during the earth's formative stages.
They're drilling a small hole into the moon and blowing a small explosive up to spew the sub-surface rocks into space to see if there's water in usable format.
It's 99.999999999(etc)% safe. Ireland is more likely to be hit by a country killing meteor before I finish this post than anything going wrong.
Admittedly, the fact that I made this post succesfully doesn't reduce the statistic chances of something going wrong on the moon, but you get my drift.

So... what precisely is the ethical problem with experiments on the moon?

The moon is a feasible source of tritium. Tritium is in very short supply on earth and even harder to source. Tritium could solve the energy crisis we have.

Any space colonisation plans we could ever hope for rely on us finding a means of circumventing solar radiation. We can't reliably run experiments on earth, given that the magnetosphere deflects almost all of the solar radiation.

The fact of the matter is, I am not morally opposed to this.

The moon is exceptionally important to my tradition, more so than the sun or, arguably, the earth.  

[Cranium Squirrel]

Sophist

Why is this such a big deal?

From a science perspective, it's fairly neat. Drilling for signs of water on the moon is nifty. Especially if it lends itself to Evil Mastermind Moon Bases. MOONRAKER, here we come!  

[CuAnnan]

Byaggha

Last I checked, they weren't even sure they had a source of water.

They are now. [cite] It's just in rocks and needs to be extracted.  

[Cranium Squirrel]

CuAnnan

They are now. [cite] It's just in rocks and needs to be extracted.

Score!

I'll have my own functioning moon base with interGALACTIC missiles by 2025 at this rate!  

[CuAnnan]

Byaggha

Sophist

Why is this such a big deal?

From a science perspective, it's fairly neat. Drilling for signs of water on the moon is nifty. Especially if it lends itself to Evil Mastermind Moon Bases. MOONRAKER, here we come!

It's the Tritium that we're looking forward to.  

[Cranium Squirrel]

CuAnnan

It's the Tritium that we're looking forward to.

As well it should. The power there is awesome.  

[DemoniaFairy]

You all have a very good point. sweatdrop I guess I should try to get all the info. possible before I start raving like a lunatic rofl  

[CuAnnan]

DemoniaFairy

I should try to get all the info. possible

This.
The rest of it's no big.  

[Cranium Squirrel]

CuAnnan

DemoniaFairy

I should try to get all the info. possible

This.
The rest of it's no big.

Agreed! There's a lot of promise in this, really. It could pan out for us bigtime. Read up on it! It's very neat.  

[Bastemhet]

Byaggha

Sophist

Why is this such a big deal?

From a science perspective, it's fairly neat. Drilling for signs of water on the moon is nifty. Especially if it lends itself to Evil Mastermind Moon Bases. MOONRAKER, here we come!

For me, the idea of building human colonies on other planets is super awesome NEATO! I just don't understand why the OP thinks this is something to cry over.  

[CuAnnan]

Byaggha

Agreed! There's a lot of promise in this, really. It could pan out for us bigtime. Read up on it! It's very neat.

I'll be watching China.  

[Cranium Squirrel]

CuAnnan

I'll be watching China.

Aren't you already? They're the up and comings in just about everything. So it just makes sense! biggrin