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Say, what about that Moon of ours?
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| Our silent partner the Moon - Image provided by The Kopernik Astronomical Society |
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| Let us not forget that among our busy lives here on earth that behind it all we have though out our history had a very silent and patient partner awaiting in the background who to all accounts beckons us as a species to come and grow with. Here our moon has the land surface area larger than that of the Continent of Africa with a physical economic procurement capability starting in multiples of trillions of dollars in base metals and light refractory metals along with an endless supply of power from the sun to run any and all electro-smelting operations and we pay no attention to it at least here in the United States of America and what this means is that we the US are not putting the appropriate investment dollars and human capital into it. The US just recently has launched an ARES test flight but will see how far it goes though China and India, Japan and even Germany are now paying attention to the thing so when they set up their first factory refinery system on the moon in twenty years or so guess who rules the day.
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Here to the right in a historical NASA image the US Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt stands next to a lunar bolder on 12/13/1972 since that mission there has been no US or other human presence on the lunar surface to date. The US proved it could be done but like anything else if you don't show up for work long enough someone else is bound to get the job, welcome in China. This is not to say that China should or has no right to establish their own lunar presence which they have every right to do. What I am saying is after the US had established a foot hold on a new territory the US then abandoned that new vast field of opportunity for itself.
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| Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt with Lunar Rover 12/13/72 |
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So what about that Moon of ours? |
09/13/12
To the left is a Power Point Presentation pointing directly to the kinds of operations we could be engaged in right now on the Lunar surface given our present technology alone along with a clear example of one type of transgenerational career base we as a civilization can enjoy.
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07/06/07
From the perspective of Planetary Development here is the rather odd point being made by the above example about the moon. Anytime in history when we humans had stepped foot upon soil we managed somehow to claim a vested right upon that soil in terms of ownership or continued use thereof. One great example I can site is that of the South Pole Station. Here is a group of people from many different nations who willingly jump at the chance to winter over there in one of the most desolate places on earth. The same goes for the North Pole though there is no station but there are people that chase the magnetic pole of the earth over the ice all the time. A personal example I can site is when I was in the service back in the seventies I was on a ship that serviced logistics to nothing more than a rock sticking out of the water aptly called Race Rock Light Station. Here when we would pull up to the thing one would wonder if anyone would ever be willing to live there and yet out would come some bedraggle servicemen all happy as clams nestled as they were in their self made cozy labode.
So what am I saying here? What I am saying is that we us humans have our feet all over this world of ours in the most diverse places imaginable (Mount Everest comes to mind) taking risk with life and limb and willingly doing so again and again and yet when it comes to the moon there seems to be a break with this innate venturesome spirit of ours. Here is an analogy as to where we as humans are with the moon right now. We are at the point where after a heralding adventure Christopher Columbus is now back standing before the Monarchy with all the wonders of the new world to bestow before them and the tall tale of strange and exotic people and places to tell and the Monarchy with a seeming dispassionate view then they say to Christopher Columbus, thanks for the information but we don't think we need to go back and deal with that again. Can you imagine where our worlds development would be right now if the Western Hemisphere were never developed, in all likelihood we would still be running around with wooden ships and riding horse back and depending what your thinking is on this it could be a good thing or a bad thing, I say we do need to slow it down a bit on our world, catch our breath as it were. If we are to use the Western Hemisphere as a template than we know that if we were to engage in the full colonization and industrialization of the moon than the benefits that would result would be on a scale unknown to us presently just like those living back hundreds of years ago could not have envisioned our world after the development of the Western Hemisphere.
When it comes to the moon I keep wondering where our zeal for exploration and wondersome adventure has gone and as of yet we have not the realization of the benefits that such an action would have to the whole of our civilization.
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