The moon

[Spectric]

Anyone any idea why the Americans want to waste so much money going to the moon, it all seems such a pointless exercise visiting a lump of barren rock with no atmosphere or ability to support human life and it would be much cheaper just visiting a local quarry.

 

[Tris]

I read something a few years back that they were looking to extract precious metals and so on and were preparing to declare it US property. Not sure what the rest of the world will make of that. Unfortunately I don't recall the source so feel free to make of it what you will

 

[Stigmorgan]

I read something a few years back that they were looking to extract precious metals and so on and were preparing to declare it US property. Not sure what the rest of the world will make of that. Unfortunately I don't recall the source so feel free to make of it what you will

And I bet they put zero thought into what reducing the moons mass will do to the moon/earth relationship.

 

[Sandyn]

Anyone any idea why the Americans want to waste so much money going to the moon

Its a stepping stone to go to Mars and beyond. To boldly go where no man/woman (other genders are available) has gone before. They will also be able to explore other areas of the moon. Possibly commercialise what they find. Watch out for the price of cheese to plummet!!
Did you see how fast that rocket lifted off the launchpad!!! wow!!
I think it's really exciting. A new era of space exploration.

 

[D_W]

And I bet they put zero thought into what reducing the moons mass will do to the moon/earth relationship.

look up the mass of the moon and get an idea of how massive it is. It's not like it can be stuffed in a few shuttles and sprinkled on earth's surface.

 

[artie]

Just another way to siphon dollars from the great American public. I don't recall the annual budget for NASA but it's an awful lot for producing fake videos.

 

[sawtooth-9]

I guess if you want to see "what's out there", you have to start somewhere.
However, until we can learn to travel faster than the speed of light it is going to be a slow and costly journey.
Suspect we will have to "discover" a new physics to remove the shackles of our concept of time and our perception of "reality"
But why not have some ( albeit ) expensive fun exploring in the meantime.
Of course, if you didn't spend the money on space research, you could squander it on the odd war here and there !

 

[Fitzroy]

Economics has a place in society but it also gets in the way of advancement. If you look at times when economics has been disregarded the technological progress we make is hugely accelerated. Unfortunately abandoning economics is oft done due to bad situations, war, disaster etc The space race, formula 1, slightly odd billionaires equally enable this kind of advancement with less human suffering so I say get on with it.

 

[TRITON]

The Chinese are up there, and on the dark side, which must have the US military paranoid.

The US formed a Space Force, so they could police space.(And yes, everyone else too, even your Auntie Mary)

For some unknown reason they designed a camouflaged uniform. Ideal for all those forests or jungles we have in space.

 

[Sandyn]

The Chinese are up there, and on the dark side

There is no dark side
of the moon really.
Matter of fact
it's all dark

I'll have to go and listen to it now...

 

[TRITON]

I'll refer to it as 'The far side of the moon' from now on.

 

[MikeJhn]

Watch the film "Moonfall" then start to worry.

 

[rafezetter]

Anyone any idea why the Americans want to waste so much money going to the moon, it all seems such a pointless exercise visiting a lump of barren rock with no atmosphere or ability to support human life and it would be much cheaper just visiting a local quarry.

Sorry but if you have to ask that question, then clearly you have not read enough about the subject to make a judgement.

Trust me when I say in a few hundred years the geopolitical situations being played out in the series "The Expanse", or in a sooner timeframe, "For all Mankind" will be a reality.

The amount of minerals and wealth just floating around out there is worth more than the combined value of every single item on earth; you take the value of literally every single man made object for the entirety of history and add that up, and it's insignificant to the wealth just sitting there waiting to be exploited. The english language doesn't even have numbers large enough to explain it.

If the USA doesn't do it, another nation will, and if not another nation, a corporation - it's guarenteed, and if it's a corporation, they will be so wealthy that they would be able to buy ANY nation on Earth and be more powerful than any law ever created.

The race for that wealth and attainment of it will change the basic nature of humanity forever, and be the source of many wars between nations and corporations.

 

[KeenToLearn]

Anyone any idea why the Americans want to waste so much money going to the moon, it all seems such a pointless exercise visiting a lump of barren rock with no atmosphere or ability to support human life and it would be much cheaper just visiting a local quarry.

Cos they have never been there before lol?

 

[Scruples]

There is no dark side
of the moon really.
Matter of fact
it's all dark

I'll have to go and listen to it now...

By 'dark side', it is meant to indicate the side we never see. The same part of Moon is always facing the Earth. The Moon has its day and night too.

 

[Stuart Moffat]

I’ve had that Pink Floyd tune playing in the background of my head for the last half hour. Looks like it’s going to be there all day, unless I can pass it onto someone else on the dark side of the moon with this post!

 

[AlanY]

It was a Cold War thing. An exercise in p*ssing the Russians off. In the history of this planet, only 12 men have left their footprints on the surface of the moon. I do not know how many of these heroes remain, but I suspect they will be long gone before another footprint is made in the dust.

 

[sawtooth-9]

Have all the conspiracy theories you like.
Just maybe you are wrong.

The ONE thing that holds back our understanding, is the thing we called science.
Why - because the tools that have served us so well in the past, are limiting.
Our maths is an evolutionary tool - problem is that we cannot get beyond our basic axioms, so it is not evolving.

We have real number systems and complex number systems - but I suspect we have one simple problem in maths. That is the concept of zero.
Imagine a number system where zero did not exist.

No more problems of infinity.
No more problems of time
No more problems related to time travel

So yes, lets spend some money on space exploration.
BUT we should spend lots more on "discovering" a new system of maths.

And yes, I do think we will continue to waste money on "petty" wars. It seems to be a human trait.

 

[--Tom--]

Why do anything other than eeek out an existence….
Ever wonder how much of the modern world relies on satellites?

 

[Sandyn]

By 'dark side', it is meant to indicate the side we never see. The same part of Moon is always facing the Earth. The Moon has its day and night too

lol, do you not listen to Pink Floyd?