Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Thanks for the heads-up on Tom Matula

re: Thanks for the heads-up on Tom Matula
Chris Vancil — (archived)

Your welcome.

Some points:

Sandys, there only new to you. They have been around from day one of Lunar exploration. I personally believe much of the "commercial activities" suggested by Tom and others for the Moon are in fact snake oil, vapor ware, hand waving nonsense.

I suggest you spend sometime reading up on what they propose with a critical mind.

You could start by reading "Moonrush" by Dennis Wingo and reading posts at the SFF >a href="http://www.space-frontier.org/Boards/MoonBase/">Return to the Moon board.*

A paper you might read is:
Is Extraction of Methane, Hydrogen and Oxygen from the Lunar Regolith Economically Feasible?**

A list of papers can be found: here.

*"The only problem is that the bet on the hydrogen economy is at best a long shot. Recent reports from the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society conclude that researchers face huge challenges in finding ways to produce and store hydrogen, convert it to electricity, supply it to consumers and overcome safety concerns. The transition to a hydrogen economy, if it comes at all, will not happen soon. Almost everyone agrees that producing a hydrogen economy is a worthy long-term goal. When burned, or oxidised in a fuel cell, hydrogen emits no pollution, including no greenhouse gases. Gram for gram, it releases more energy than any other fuel. And as a constituent of water, hydrogen is all around us."
MSNBC

**This is how maybe someday with hundreds of millions of tax money spent it would be "economical" for companies to come in and take over if you reduce launch costs. Question is: who is buying this "economically" extracted oxygen?

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (56 posts)