
India is preparing to land on moon for the first time in the country's history - cynicaldevil
http://www.businessinsider.com/india-moon-landing-chandrayaan2-2017-12?r=US&IR=T
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SubiculumCode
Not that there are many here that believe that NASA faked the moon landings,
but if you are, I've got to say: I'd have thought that Bollywood would have
landed them on the moon at least a decade ago.

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whack
If space transportation costs were to fall dramatically, would there be any
commercial value in traveling to the Moon, or building a base on the moon? The
only one I can think of is Tourism. Are there any others, such as rare
minerals perhaps?

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w-ll
Andy Weir (author of The Martian) has a new book coming out that explores
tourism to the moon. He has done a ton of research on the topic, definitely
worth checking out.

He was recently on StarTalk Radio [1] give it a listen

1\. [https://www.startalkradio.net/tag/andy-
weir/](https://www.startalkradio.net/tag/andy-weir/)

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TrueGeek
It just came out and is a great read. He goes into the issues of tourism,
industry, and which countries will be driving efforts on the moon.

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baddox
In the book, is the tourism is driven primarily by the inherent novelty and
wonder of being on the moon, seeing Earth, experiencing the weaker gravity,
etc., or is the draw primarily based on facilities that have been built there,
like casinos, resorts, amusement parks, etc.?

My guess is that you would need to have a lot of the latter, because while the
former would be undoubtedly cool, I’m afraid the novelty would wear off
quickly if the living and entertainment facilities themselves were anything
less than spectacular.

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classicsnoot
This is a fascinating thoughtsploration. Tourism on the moon will be a real
version of the Jurassic Park narrative concept:

Enterprising, wealthy, and somewhat eccentric genius opens space theme park,
pushing the boundaries of the possible whilst simultaneously exposing your
crew and visitors to near infinite risks because it has never been done before
and is almost the definition of unnatural.

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amorphid
If resurrecting dinosaurs via ancient DNA could possibly be a thing (pretty
sure it can't), I wonder how big dinosaurs could get on the moon. I believe
gravity was the limiting factor in how big land based dinosaurs could get, so
how big could get in Lunar Jurassic Park in ~1/6th Earth gravity.

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baddox
The low gravity is probably what I would have the most fun with. I can imagine
all sorts of activities could get a lot more fun. I could learn to do a
standing backflip, or even manage to finally break 400lb on my deadlift. :)

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Roodgorf
Wouldn't trying to deadlift more than 400 pounds be the same amount of effort
on the moon? Granted, it would have to be that much more massive, so it would
certainly LOOK more impressive.

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mrb
No. 400 lb is 1779 newtons on Earth, but 294 newtons on the Moon. Newtons are
really what defines the effort needed to lift an object.

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Roodgorf
That's what I was commenting on though; I very well may be wrong, but my
understanding was that the weight of things like barbells is measured in
pounds-force, not pounds-mass, so if you were going to follow that on the moon
you'd need a much more massive set of weights.

Though, I suppose if you're saying "I'm taking these exact same weights to the
moon to lift" then you're right. I was being unnecessarily pedantic.

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mrb
I see :)

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known
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5137359/Boy-18-inv...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5137359/Boy-18-invents-
self-defence-SANDAL-ward-rapists.html) is more interesting from India today

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fellellor
That's pretty cool, but you should see a shrink. Something's wrong with you.

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lexxed
I thought Nasa suddenly stopped going to the moon since 1972 is because they
found an alien base on the far side of the moon. That or we are in a computer
simulation and there's not enough processing power to simulate another planet.

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sytelus
To be clear this is rover landing planned around March 2018. This is not
landing man on moon.

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yawaramin
I think that would be the first time in any country's history except the
US....

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ska
I think that reading the article before posting usually leads to more relevant
comments.

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martin_a
Maybe provide basic supply with fresh water for the whole country first. But
yeah, whatever.

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northwest66
Pssst, I heard the last country to land people there laughable still hasn't
even made it to the level of free health care for all! They still might, of
course, it's not like any of these goals are mutually exclusive.

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adventured
Free healthcare? That'd sure be amazing. Oh, you mean non-free healthcare
provided by taxes, paid for by anyone earning an income and only actually free
for anyone not earning an income.

Anyone not earning an income in the US gets 'free' healthcare and has for
decades. It's anything but free, it's very expensive.

Just ask any developed nation with socialized healthcare just how free
healthcare is, as they all universally struggle to afford it (which is why
Canada's wait times are so atrocious despite being held up as a good system).

One can make a great argument for socialized healthcare without pretending
it's free. Claiming it's free is just an absurdity, as it's extremely
expensive.

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jogjayr
> Anyone not earning an income in the US gets 'free' healthcare and has for
> decades. It's anything but free, it's very expensive.

My impression was that the only way it's "free" is if you walk into an
emergency room with no money. And the fact that uninsured people can only go
to emergency rooms (routine issues fester and become serious) is in part what
drives up the cost.

In places like Canada the wait times are atrocious due to triaging. If your
problem is serious you will get looked at immediately. If it's not, you have
to wait. And if you can afford it, you're still free to go to a private
clinic. But it does seem like overall health outcomes and costs are better
than the US.

So...yeah it's true calling it "free" healthcare is a bit of a misnomer but no
one actually thinks it costs $0 to provide. Think of free healthcare like
freeways: paid for by tax money for the public good, and occasionally you'll
have to pay a nominal toll (co-pay or whatever).

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classicsnoot
You make some very good points.

I think people use the term "free" in the same way that the term "free" tricks
people into spending more than they would have otherwise. Calling it "free"
let's you mentally sidestep the details.

