
America Needs a New Moon Mission - JumpCrisscross
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-25/america-needs-a-new-moon-mission
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drjesusphd
What it needs is something of that scale to galvanize the population around an
idea of progress. Doesn't have to be a new moon mission (which might have the
opposite effect).

An intense dedicated national effort toward the goal of a fusion power plant
is one possibility.

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sperling75
Agree completely that our space program needs a new significant mission to
stay relevant. However, I don't think going to space matters as much as it did
last century. During JFK's reign catching up in space with the soviets was
more than about going to space, it was about being able to defend the country.
Today I think our new Moon Mission should be about solving climate change.
That's an issue the country and world need to come together on to solve.

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madaxe_again
You're going to need to look beyond NASA for earth sciences for the time being
- there's about to be a certain change in the US that has already said earth
science research is to be scrapped.

The new moon mission will likely literally be a moon mission, as the incoming
change has alluded to.

Honestly, not sure what the future is for NASA, other than perhaps the past,
and a return to primarily propaganda rather than scientific activities.

Can downvoters please explain which of these facts they disagree with?

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StevePerkins
I doubt that the downvotes come from people disagreeing with you. Rather, I
suspect that the "certain change" references are simply off-putting.

Trump. The guy's name is Trump. _Alluding_ to it, vaguely-yet-obviously, makes
it seem like you're trying too hard to sound clever.

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madaxe_again
No, I was just trying to avoid the downvotes for a potentially viewed as anti-
or pro- trump comment - I'm expressing no opinion on him, just an outcome
according to his purported policies. I'm not prepared to say whether I think
this is a good or bad outcome, just an outcome. Up to others to decide their
own view.

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LinuxFreedom
America needs more schools and better basic education, not a moon mission.

So much absurd brainwash simply works because people are basically very
uneducated, mostly on a level you might expect in Africa or in the middle age.

The results are obvious.

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AlexeyBrin
America needs and can afford to do both - better education and a space
program.

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popobobo
you can only pick one. that is how economy works. no matter how exceptional
you think you are.

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gedy
America needs simple, cheap, and routine access to space more than a moon
shot, then the Moon and beyond will natural goals. Similar to what is
occurring with our interplanetary probes now: cheaper, frequent, and reliable.
These hideously expensive single shot missions were great in the 1960s to kick
start things, but it's time to move beyond that.

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edblarney
"routine access to space more than a moon shot"

Agreed, but it's possible a moon mission may provide the basis for this.

Most NASA engineers in the 1960's were young, and led by hardcore dudes who
lived through WW2 - they were the SpaceX of back then.

I worked in space science in the late 1990's and since then - there is a lot
of grey hairs protecting their incomes, making sure they can afford to send
their kids to Yale.

A more 'entrepreneurial' moon-shot, may be the shot in the arm the industry
needs.

I understand that the technology may differ from 'cheap access' somewhat ...
but it would also be a good staging type mission for a Mars mission.

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perseusprime11
Instead of putting Men and Women on Moon or Mars or Jupiter's Moon, how about
the new mission be "create environment for 100 spaceX like companies to
thrive" I reject the premise that government should be creating these missions
or setting these big audacious goals

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maxst
The government is leading the way because they have NASA budget to spend on
completely unprofitable, but scientifically interesting projects.

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michaelsbradley
How about a mission on the same scale but a little closer to home. Let's take
nuclear fusion technology to the point where it's ready for commercial and
residential power production!

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edblarney
I don't know why you are down-voted.

A 'national program' to back Fusion on the same scale that the US backed the
'moon mission' might yield much more for humanity.

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greglindahl
Some of the justifications in the article are running against modern rocketry:
Who really thinks we can mine water on the moon more cheaply than launching it
from Earth on a reusable rocket? Remember that it's not just SpaceX aiming at
much lower launch costs, it's also Blue Origin.

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nine_k
There are significant chunks of water ice on Moon. Evaporating and re-
condensation of that water on Moon surface can be a cheaper and a _more
dependable_ source than shipping from Earth.

Ideally, a Moon base should be able to produce key things, like energy, water,
bulk building materials from local sources, and only depend on Earth for
lighter-weight, high-tech supplies and machines.

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greglindahl
Less ideally, a Moon base could be an uneconomic way of doing all of these
things, eating all of NASA's human spaceflight budget. So after getting
ourselves stuck with the cost of the Shuttle and the cost of ISS, now we'll
get ourselves stuck in the cost of a Moon base that's less reliable and more
expensive than reusable launchers.

The reusable launch thing will be proven out in 5-10 years, long before we
could set up production on the moon.

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nine_k
I don't see a contradiction here. Reusable launchers bring stuff in from
Earth. They are just relieved from doing water tanker missions. But, if
there's need, they can definitely bring in some water, too.

A partly self-replenishing Moon base is going to be cheaper to run than the
ISS that depends on constant resupply from Earth.

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paulsutter
Space mining and manufacturing could be a great focus for a "moon mission"
scale project.

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jankotek
Yet another obsession to 'put man somewhere'. Why this moon village could not
be fully automated without human presence? I think this megalomaniac plans are
choking real progress.

Human presence was needed in 1960ties, not in 2020.

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rimantas
And the requirement for humant to be present brought amazing amount of real
progress.

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maverick_iceman
Why repeat something from 50 years ago? We should be ambitious. Our goal
should be to visit and colonise the entire solar system. And we'll need
nuclear propulsion to do this at any reasonable timeframe.

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zeroer
Alright, buddy, you pay for it.

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novalis78
It doesn't need a moon mission it needs a Mars mission. 'A Case for Mars' by
aerospace engineer Dr Robert Zubrin makes clear why Mars is the only
destination that makes sense.

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gravypod
The amount of money that could be saved by performing lithography in the
vacume provided by space would be enormious. Too bad the cost of geting up
there is also... well... enormious.

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madengr
I'd think space would be, relatively, filthy for lithography. Maybe depends
where.

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eliasbagley
More filthy than earth, though?

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madengr
Maybe, compared to a semiconductor fab vacuum chamber, especially as extreme
UV is ramping up. Charged particles to deal with in space too.

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gvd
A mission to Mars is nothing but a distraction from the real issue(s).

