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Democrats.com (a site not affiliated with the political party) fumed, "Bush simply acted as if the moon were his to give away. The TransOrbital venture could be disastrous for the globe—no scientist today could predict yet how adding mass to the moon via human infrastructure or removing mass, via mining, will impact the delicate gravitational interplay between Earth and its only satellite."

They got some real “rocket scientists” over there! LOL!

"I sure see a lot of conquistador mentality among what you might call the libertarian space buffs, who have a fantasy about 'getting NASA out of the way,' and then magically private enterprise will blossom with the investments needed to start space industry and a handful of people will get rich by developing space resources, and we'll all be happy," says astronomer Hartmann.

I must be a conquistador, I guess. The last thing I want to see is some Euro-consortium of internationalist knuckleheads, luddites, and assorted socialists managing the moon.

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pinging some "moonies"

[Mr. Bird]

They say it's in the Swiss constitution that while a farmer owns the land outside a town, the town also has rights about how that land may be bought, sold, or developed."

Doesn't sound like the farmer owns it at all, does it?

[RightWhale]

Trailblazer replaces the old NASA goals of scientific research and military advantage with a new one of profit-seeking and, over the long term, homesteading on lunar soil.

Being a tourist and taking photographs is okay according to the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty. Homesteading is not. Pass that spliff over here a minute, would you.

[Billthedrill]

A glance at history proves your case. Nobody ever did nuttin' in terms of colonization without the prospect of becoming filthy rich in the process. Well, there was that batch of religious nuts who rode the Mayflower, but that never came to much. They had to chain 'em to the deck to transport 'em to Oz, so that's out too. And there aren't any native peoples to oppress, either - no wonder we haven't gotten very far in populating the place!

OTOH, we haven't really finished strip-mining the Earth yet...

[The_Victor]

You can send a lock of your hair up on the ship, or a business card, for $2500. The launch vehicle has room for corporate logos on the side (think NASCAR, but faster) for $25,000 and up. TransOrbital will license high-definition footage of the moon and daily Earthrise to the movies. Baldly commercial and on a shoestring, Trailblazer replaces the old NASA goals of scientific research and military advantage with a new one of profit-seeking and, over the long term, homesteading on lunar soil.

So what is the craft that they are sending to the moon. I gather it is unmanned. From this it sounds like a trash can with a video camera. To even discuss homesteading from this venture is ludicrous.

[Cincinatus]

Moon bases could generate electricity on the cheap thanks to 24-7 solar access

I see that the scientific illiteracy isn't confined to Democrats.com -- most of the Moon has a 354 hour nightime, when the Sun don't shine. The only exceptions are possible areas of permanent sunlight near the poles, but those are rare and very small, hence, very valuable. Let's hope some capitalists get there before the "non-Conquistadors" take over.

[dark_lord]

Lets just put it this way. The first group to land some folks on the moon and actually establish a continuous presence will light a big ton of dynamite under space efforts. Reason is the first folks to establish continuous presence can claim they "own" stuff. And the governments of Earth will at that point suddenly become very, very interested. The bottom line is once there are colonists there, the claim that they "own" it becomes very strong.

[fone]

>>>Later, the 1979 United Nations Moon Treaty declared Earth's satellite part of the Common Heritage of Mankind, exploitable only for the mutual benefit of all nations<<<<

Well if the U.N. said it the universe had better listen eh?