The news is full of it, excitement seems high, and I really don't get it. I'm not against space-related research, but why suddenly the moon? And why send people there? Can someone fill me in on what's to be gained or why one might be excited about it?
Allow me to use the linked article for my questions.
There have been three primary drivers of renewed interest in the Moon. The first was the discovery and confirmation in the 1990s and early 2000s that water ice is likely to exist at the lunar poles in permanently shadowed craters. The presence of abundant water, providing oxygen and hydrogen resources, has given space agencies a new reason to explore the poles.
Yea but so what? Hydrogen is literally the most common thing in the universe, no fucking way there is also some on the moon π€―. Then what's so spectacular about moon ice, water, or even oxygen? And why does it need people to explore it?
A second factor has been the rise of China's space program, which has sent a series of ambitious robotic missions to the Moon that have both landed on the far side and returned samples from the lunar surface. China has made no secret of its interest in sending astronauts to the Moon, leading to competing efforts between NASA's Artemis Program and China's lunar station goals.
Again why? Is this some repetition of the Cold War Soviet-US competition?
Finally, there has been some interest from private companies in the commercial development of the lunar surface, both to exploit resources there but also for other purposes. This has stimulated investment in private companies to provide transportation to the lunar surface, including ispace, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Firefly.
Exploiting resources has to be a joke, right? Do they want to sell us the newly found moon water? The only point I get is the tourism aspect. Because, of course, I always encourage billionaires to pursue dangerous hobbies π
Hydrogen is common, readily available high concentration deposits of hydrogen/oxygen sources are not. The craters being in perpetual darkness does not help robotic survey and exploration since solar panels aren't available and it's probably very cold (although i don't know if RTGs wouldn't fix that)
if you want to make space travel and exploration more common, a refueling/refining station or production capabilities on the moon would be awesome - most of the energy we need now for that is needed to escape earths gravity well. Being able to build a space vessel on the moon would be awesome! Also, being able to extract resources on the moon would remove the ecological impact of mining from earth. And like you i always encourage our elite to follow their dreams into whatever abyss they want π
It's just to preemptively have presence and if possible dominance on a new territory before everybody has established themselves. Just in case a new discovery of the usefullness of the things found in the moon is discovered in the near future and also for claim in the present known use of the things available on our moon.
it's jst like countries holding on ot small uninhabitable islands in the ocean. a "just in case" type of thing.
Edit: I forgot to add. MOON LASERS