The surface of the moon is not micro gravity! A colony “on” the moon is a misnomer , it would be a colony “in” the moon, tunnels, plenty of protection from radiation and cosmic rays, falling rocks. There is O2 everywhere on the moon, simple chemical processes to release it. With O2, if ice is not utilized, combine with Hydrogen and WALLA you have water.
And the green party can stuff it up their not so pristine back door.
Thanks for your comments.
Like you, I avidly support NASA and do not want their budget cut.
In fact, my step-brother is a senior director at the agency.
However, I believe we are long past the point of diminishing returns for manned space projects and manned exploration.
I support a modest budget for low Earth orbit projects like the Space Station and continued funding for things like manned space planes.
I believe the rest of NASA’s space budget should be spent on robotic exploration and space telescopes.
In my opinion, the Hubble Space Telescope by itself has revealed more about the universe then every manned space flight in history combined.
The ten year manned Apollo Lunar Program cost about $150 billion (2012 dollars).
Yes, there were some impressive technologies spun off that program, and a geologic treasure trove was returned to Earth.
However, if we had used that money for robotic lunar exploration instead, the electronics and software would have been at least one order of magnitude more sophisticated than Apollo.
I agree that knowledge of how man can live and work in space is sound basic research.
But it is research that will not be productively useful for thousands of years.
No amount of research and no amount of dreaming will guide man out of this Solar System before the next millennium.
And in this solar system, there are few places to go, and little to do - except stay alive - once you get there.
Extreme heat, extreme cold, radiation, and atmospheric pressure knock Mercury and Venus off the list.
Asteroids have zero gravity, making construction or mining impossible.
Jupiter's moons are bathed in lethal radiation.
That leaves Mars and the Moon.
Helium 3 may have potential, but it is found in parts per billion in Moon dust, and no one on Earth has ever built a commercially viable Helium 3 reactor, which makes it a true “Moon Shot,” as my generation used to say.
I have no doubt that privately funded space tourism will become a viable business in the coming decades.
I can't imagine a better way to study man's health and comfort in space.