So, it hasn\u2019t snowed in a week and I\u2019ve got a good four or five days to relax.\u00a0 I guess, life is good.\u00a0 The news kind of bores me at the moment.\u00a0 The courts are going back and forth on the ICE arrests and the protest riots.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019ll take a while for that stuff to get sorted out.\u00a0 I\u2019ll let Trump get on with his work.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t need my applause to do his job (I hope!).<\/p>\n
So what else is going on?\u00a0 Well, we\u2019re sending a rocket around the Moon I hear.\u00a0 They\u2019re sending four astronauts and one of them is a girl.\u00a0 Well, what can you do?\u00a0 She can make sandwiches for the return trip, I guess.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad they\u2019re planning missions to land on the Moon again.\u00a0 I think the Moon is a better location for space missions than either the space station or Mars.\u00a0 Mars is currently too far for our current capabilities to be attempted safely and effectively.\u00a0 The space station doesn\u2019t seem to be very interesting or useful.\u00a0 A moonbase on the other hand has definite possibilities.\u00a0 I think they can start by using robot equipment to transport lots of equipment to the lunar surface and then have a few manned missions to set up a permanent base.\u00a0 Using unmanned flights to accumulate fuel before humans begin inhabiting a base would provide more of a safety factor.<\/p>\n
As for what purpose the base would fulfill, I\u2019d say it would be almost completely scientific experimentation.\u00a0 Personally, I have a theory that somewhere below the surface of the Moon we\u2019ll find bacterial life.\u00a0 Specifically, it will be terrestrial life that reached the Moon as spores.\u00a0 There is supposed to be frozen water on the Moon and below the surface there may be more moderate temperatures.\u00a0 Of course, there is no atmosphere but I\u2019ve got this feeling that somehow all the life on Earth must leak out into space over time.\u00a0 Of course, Mars is a better place to look for wandering terrestrial micro-organisms.\u00a0 But I want to put in my claim for Moon bugs early.\u00a0 Maybe they\u2019ll even name them after me; E. coli photogiensis.\u00a0 But I think the Moon would also make a great location for astronomical observatories.\u00a0 And in terms of the astronauts, having one sixth gravity on the Moon would be many times better for them than the micro-gravity of the space stations.<\/p>\n
Finally, they could call the base Luna City.\u00a0 Robert Heinlein based a number of his short stories and one of his best novels on the Moon (\u201cThe Moon is a Harsh Mistress\u201d) I think Luna City is an excellent name.\u00a0 Of course, when it gets big enough for a main street, that should be Neil Armstrong Boulevard.\u00a0 Of course, it may turn out that living on the Moon isn\u2019t healthy for humans.\u00a0 If that\u2019s the case we\u2019ll know soon enough.\u00a0 Then the Moon will be the domain of robots.\u00a0 And since it\u2019s so close that will someday happen.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very large rock that\u2019s very close to Earth and eventually we\u2019ll think of lots of things to do with it.\u00a0 But right now, it\u2019s shiny and new and waiting for us to walk on its surface again.\u00a0 Maybe even girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, it hasn\u2019t snowed in a week and I\u2019ve got a good four or five days to relax.\u00a0 I guess, life is good.\u00a0 The news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3545],"tags":[4931,121,3892],"class_list":["post-35946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-science","tag-moon","tag-space-program","tag-space-travel"],"yoast_head":"\n