[extropy-chat] Moon news

[Kevin Freels]

I think that a permanent presence would be extremely valuable for anything,
regardless of whether or not MNT comes along soon. To simply have a place
with  lots of people and industry that's not buried in a deep gravity well
like Earth would increase our abilities more than I can even guess.
If you could start small and bring asteroids to the moon for processing, it
could grow just as rapidly as the US did. It would be even more useful if we
came to learn that it is easier to manufacture MNT self-replicators in low
or zero g. (I don't know if this would make a difference, but with all the
materials research on the ISS I guess it could be possible).

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Lubkin" <extropy at unreasonable.com>
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Moon news


> I wrote:
>
>  > No one quotes Zubrin or other prominent figures from the Mars Society,
or
>  > even mentions that if you want to go to Mars, the answer might just
be --
>  > go to Mars.
>
> to which Damien retorted:
>
> >No one mentions that if you want to stay on Mars rather than going
briefly
> >and coming back, the answer might just be -- stay on Earth. For the next
> >decade or so (as is planned anyway). Put all that loot into
nanotechnology
> >and other bootstraps. Then build a skyhook or a diamonoid launch platform
or
> >something equally radical. Meanwhile, send probes if you really must.
>
> They could say that, too, but Zubrin recently testified before the
Commerce
> Committee of the US Senate. It would be reasonable to expect a minimally
> competent reporter who covers space to be aware of this and get a reaction
> quote. It's curious that none did, at least none that Google News is aware
of.
>
> Thinking of nanotech, though, is far beyond any competency I'd expect from
> journalism.
>
> Anyway. The Case for Mars plan is cheap, pay-for-results, and builds a
> permanent complex on Mars. It is not "going briefly and coming back."
>
> But, if I were in the position of allocating investment dollars, I'd put
my
> space effort into bringing back a nickel-iron asteroid. Set up shop for
> mining, manufacturing, and space construction somewhere convenient, like
> geosynch, L-4, or L-5. Bova et al outlined a reasonable scenario for doing
> this nearly off-the-shelf twenty years ago. I keep expecting to hear that
> Paul Allen has funded it.
>
> Hundreds of millions of tons of metal and organics in a useful Up location
> is a major bootstrap for anything else you want to do in space, and I
think
> would have a lot of synergy with nanotech.
>
>
> -- David Lubkin.
>
>
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