[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"Well, that's one way. A better solution is to get off our duffs and command space superiority."

I've always believed that we need a space colony orbiting the earth. A small base on the moon could launch moon rocks to be caught by a net, which could break down the minerals into useful materials. A colony could be built much more cheaply than people might imagine. Of course, we are talking about the US government, so there's that. We'd need a real tight wad in charge of it.

Some people think we already have a space station. But you need one large enough that it can rotate and cause artificial gravity. Then we could have awsome solar collectors [no atmospheric interference] to bring cheap, clean energy down to earth. It would pay for itself.

Many medicines have to be manufactured in vacuums. Space is a natural vacuum. It might lead to lower cost medicine.

Certain alloys can only be combined in vacuums. Once again, space, the natural vacuum.

It wouldn't be too bad up there, either. They could have their own farms up there, internet access, their own computer network of course, etc.

Once a colony is built, not only would our energy problems be over, we could cheaply build a space ship to other planets. A ship that has to launch away from a planet's gravity once is bad enough. Launching from two planets is extemely expensive.

But this war is causing funding delays. It's necessary we fight it. But for now, nothing is for certain.

GW's father, however, instead of wanting to build a colony, wanted NASA to send men to Mars. That would set back the Space Program, unless a colony is built first.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A Moon base near the South Pole, where there is water (hydrogen and oxygen = rocket fuel and life support) and peaks in near constant sunlight (solar power) would be the ideal place to learn how to live and work off-planet. It would also be the best staging ground to service and protect our comsats and military hardware in space.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Next, Go Back to the Moon***We have a unique opportunity to accomplish important national goals. A return to the moon will aid our security by giving the United States access to valuable lunar resources (our first off-world "El Dorado") and will augment our economic infrastructure by increasing access to Earth orbit. A program to return to the moon ties NASA to important national priorities and makes it a player in the emerging solar system economy. The moon gives NASA an exciting, vigorous mission and paves the way to the planets beyond.***