Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to The Moon as a test bed.

The Earth & LEO As Test Bed.
Mark Eby — (archived)

"The Moon is a natural first step," explains Philip Metzger, a physicist at NASA Kennedy Space Center. "It's nearby. We can practice living, working and doing science there before taking longer and riskier trips to Mars."

We can do the same on Earth and in LEO. We have LEO capable of simulating the long term effects of 0g on a trip to Mars, but not on the Moon. The Moon's gravity is also as much less than Mars as Mars is than Earth so a combination of Earth and LEO would seem to cover Mars' needs better on gravity related issues not to mention LEO based centrifuges. Mars' gravity is 38% of Earth's not 1/3.

The Moon has no atmosphere - neither does LEO and an Earthly vacuum chamber can simulate Mars atmosphere far closer than either.

"The Moon can get very cold, as low as -240o C in shadows; Mars varies between -20o and -100o C." On Earth we can simulate the temperature profile exactly.

The comments about the regolith ignore very different geologic histories. Recent data indicate Mars has been geologically active throughout its history and while puny it's atmosphere prevents the micrometeorite pummeling the Moon takes. It's more active geology means far more recent volcanic rock and and totally alien to the Moon sedimentary rock. The soils are not likely to be so similar we can't do as good a simulation on Earth and the testing and redisigning cycle would cost far less.

The three days away point is STUPID given that all our fatalities have occured before leaving the Earth's atmosphere or upon return. I have never in 6 years of debating these issues heard a moon firster address this issue head on.

People who make these claims for the Moon without bothering to even discuss the cheaper alternatives come across as policy cronies to me rather than rational analysts.

Regards,
Mark

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