It seems obvious that research on and from the Moon and developing lunar resources should clearly be our next goal, and yet NASA actively ignores it... The one plausible reason I'd heard was Goldin's opinion that we'd be "stuck" there (as if we're not "stuck" in low earth orbit right now!)
The outside-NASA reasoning against the Moon (and perhaps some internal NASA reasoning too) seems to come from the $400-500 billion price tag found under Bush-I for the "space exploration initiative" to return to the Moon and go on to Mars. Zubrin's "Mars Direct" is in answer to that price tag, by cutting the Moon out of the loop and taking what I'd consider a rather high risk approach to keep the costs down.
What we really want ASAP is sustainable infrastructure to do all the other things we want to do in space, and the Moon has to be a key part of solving that puzzle, as by far our nearest planetary-scale neighbor; Mars is just too far away to help us develop space anytime soon. But we should be going to Mars too, and Venus, Mercury, and the asteroids - the whole solar system should be our goal here, and the stars beyond!
Space/Science » in reply to OK vote. Mars or the Moon?...Mars!
Moon first, Mars and asteroids next
The whole thread (44 posts)
- OK vote. Mars or the Moon?...Mars!
- What the public wants: a lunar based NEO detection system
- How bout a Moon of Mars? (somewhere Fred Singer is smiling)
- Aim For Where We Can Stay, Return To The Moon On The Way
- Moon first.
- Moon first, Mars and asteroids next
- Mars or the Moon?
- Neither Moon nor Mars
- Re: OK vote. Mars or the Moon?neither-"CATS"
- Re: Moon...why?
- Moon/Mars/Orbit - Life boat stations frist
- Well...