[ExI] Colonizing Space was Perception of time

[Eugen Leitl]

On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 06:24:00PM -0800, The Avantguardian wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Ben Zaiboc <bbenzai at yahoo.com>
> > As a member of a species that seems to find it infeasible to even colonise a 
> > single moon 1/4 of a million miles away, I'd like to see that paper!

Machines can be people, too. Canned monkeys will never amount
to much in space.

> It is most certainly feasible. You just need to build a logistical 

The Moon is not Antarctica.

> supply chain one small step at a time. You guys are really good at 
> this. Think about it terms of warfare. You guys can get supplies to 
> your troops on the other side of this planet. That is pi*earth's 
> radius away. The moon is 60 earth radii away. The supply chain to 

Distance is not relevant, potential energy is
http://xkcd.com/681_large/ 

> the Afghanistan war is over 5% the distance to the moon. Now 
> leverage your existing assetts. You have a space station in low earth 
> orbit. Use it as a base camp to build a station in earth-moon 
> L1 Langrange point. Now you have conquered what amounts to a hill 

Absolutely not, because there are no resources there. 
An orbit is an absence of material resources, so you 
can't even utilize the abundant radiant energy.

> between the gravity wells of the earth and the moon. I suggest 
> this be an international venture because the Earth-Moon L1 is of 
> inestimable strategic value with regards to both the earth and 

Strategic value? Which? Other than a passing point for 
your lunar elevator or an observatory, maybe.

> the moon allowing easy access to both. In any case, conquer lunar L1 and the moon is yours.

As soon as you're out of Earth gravity well and don't have to
get down another one or build up delta v everything is easy.
 
> Maybe we should lobby congress into declaring war on space 
> in retaliation for the death of brave astronauts from Apollo 1 to Challenger. 

Even if the Moon was pure platinum, mining it would be barely
cost-effective. The most utility of it is where it is, in situ.