>>>Again look at the costs the Apollo program cost about $24,000,000,000 in 1970 dollars. It returned 841 lbs of rocks, and if they could have brought back more they would have. That works out to $1,783,000 per OUNCE, Titanium iron and O2 are a lot cheaper right here. If we allow for inflation, then returning moon rocks today would cost about $4.5 million per ounce. There isn’t ANY raw material worth that much - in fact I’d have a hard time coming up with anything worth that much.
What’s the price of stifling human adventure. I’m sure it cost loads of money for both public entities to send people to the West in the 1800’s, but it was done because eventually it must be done. I’m sure the money that Lewis and Clark were paid with was “worth way too much,” but in a society where trillions are spend on subsidized health care, it might be better spend on the final frontier - space.
I don’t really think that and products are going to be returned to the Earth from a moon base - because the moonbase is itself an experiment. Because of the harsh conditions, humans need to work with living underground with only limited excursions and most work done by robotics (because of the constant solar and terrestrial wash of electrons, etc. and cosmic grays). Hell, we could live on Venus - you just have to drill deep enough and provide water, air, and food.
The biggest problem that I would see would be the children born on the moon. Would they be 8 ft tall and never able to return to earth’s oppressive gravitational field? It’s a possibility. I know everything boils down to economics in your theory, but is space travel really as much waste as the foreign aid that we pay out yearly and never returns benefit. I argue that space investment would return benefit.
I have a conservative idea: let's do neither.
If it's paid for by tax dollars, then $.01 is too much.
Lewis and Clark
It didn't cost in excess of a million dollars an ounce to send Lewis and Clark anywhere. They got on their horses and went. If anyone can get in his car and drive to the moon let them go. L&C cataloged economically feasible resources. The moon is NOT economically feasible as a source of anything.
but in a society where trillions are spend on subsidized health care, it might be better spend on the final frontier - space.
How about just NOT spending it on subsidized health care How about - and here's a novel idea - LETTING THE PEOPLE WHO EARNED IT KEEP IT AND SPEND IT ON WHAT THEY WANT?