Why are we not on the moon. exploiting it to give mankind a better future and to solve our energy needs?

Question

The moon is a natural resourse and needs exploiting

Answer 1

'Needs exploiting', eh?

Well, I don't know in detail, but I'd say that a lot of it would have to do with the difficulty of getting up there in the first place. If you can't bring back more energy than it takes to get up there, then there's no point in going.

Secondly, I'm not sure what precise resources you're talking about- but there were never forests on the moon, therefore, no fossil fuels. I heard they'd found an interesting variation of carbon that could be exploited, but even so, it's not traditional energy, and it'll probably take a while to work out just how to use it.

Still, in a way we are exploiting the power of the moon, in that it gives us tides and winds. Without old Luna swinging along up there, the sea would go stagnant and everything would get stinky ;)

Answer 2

How do you conclude that being on the moon would give mankind a better future and solve our energy needs? Bringing back anything from the moon would cost far more than the price we could obtain for it. How are we supposed to solve our energy needs from the moon? There's never been any life there so theres no oil or coal. All the surface materials are light, so there's no radioactives. No air so you can't have windmills, No water, so no hydroelectricity. Yes, there is sunlight, but you have that on earth. Why go a quarter of a million miles away to gather something you can get from your front lawn or your roof. Who, except for a few scientists could possibly want to live on the moon. Everything would have to be delivered from earth at ruinous cost. Food, fuel, air, spare parts, water, ... everything. And if you really need something really quick you are out of luck since it takes days to get there with the best of luck, and try to remember just how reliable our space program has been. At our level of technology the moon is NOT a natural resource. Exploiting it would be madness.

Answer 3

What possible clue gave you the idea that we could use the Moon for energy. Cost to go there and retrieve anything except maybe a small cup of rocks is absolutely out of sight. Nothing could be worth that much money.

As far as exploiting something to get energy...how about the wind right here on Earth - it is free. How about Solar energy? it is free. Not satisfied yet??? How about waves along the shore? They are there and moving all the time. Harness some of that energy and you can make mega bucks. Geothermal Energy is located about ten feet under your feet.

Answer 4

Apollo brought back about 400kg of rock and soil from the Moon. Apollo cost $24billion in 1970 dollars. Work that out. That's about $60million just to bring back one kilo of material from the Moon.

And what can we do with the stuff from the Moon? Not a lot. If we can invent a fusion reactor that uses helium-3 then we might be able to justify the cost and risk of going to the Moon for fuel. Until them, how exactly can it be exploited?

Answer 5

Well, cost is primary. Next would be *lack* of resources - the moon is made up of a lot of light metals; not much in the way of anything else. There's He3 found in the surface, which would make fusion easier to create here on Earth, but that's been "20 to 30 years off" for some time now.

But... I agree... we should've had a base on the moon for 20 years now.

Answer 6

What natural resources on the Moon would you exploit? There is no oil. And even if there was, how much good would it do if it cost a million dollars a barrel to transport back to Earth? Helium-3? What would you do with that? Use it in a fusion reactor? Fusion reactors have not been invented yet. Solar power? There is solar power available right here on Earth.

Answer 7

Perhaps, but the cost of exploiting that resource is more expensive then what the resource is worth, unless they can of course bring back some small mineral that can power a reactor for years from a mineral that is as small as a baseball, perhaps then it might be worth it.
But what are you going to do ? lets say they find oil on the moon, are you going to build huge space tankers to bring it home ? how will it re-enter earths atmosphere ? with a tanker that size ?

Answer 8

Its impossibly difficult and expensive to set up a regular mining operation and ferry all the stuff back and then get it back through the atmosphere.
Its taken years to build a space station 300 miles up. How long would it take to build a base on the moon?
Its not comercially worth it.

Answer 9

We will never solve our energy needs on the moon.

Answer 10

We have ruined and depleted the earth, therefore we have to ruin and deplete the moon and anywhere else we can reach, is that what you mean. Well, seems human beings are hell bent on ruination at all costs...sad species we have become.