Governments 'too Inefficient' For Future Moon Landings

[Wilbert Hickmann]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20540172

One of the last men to set foot on the Moon has said that private enterprise will be the driving force for a return to the lunar surface.

Harrison Schmitt told the BBC that governments are "too inefficient" to send humans back to the Moon.

Mr Schmitt's comments come on the 40th anniversary of Nasa's last manned mission to the Moon, Apollo 17.

The veteran astronaut said that companies would soon embark on a new commercially driven space race.

 

Modern governments have lost the plot, spend spend spend...even if there's none left to spend with

[Bobbie Bobster]

The only underlying reasons for the Moon missions were geopolitical-the desire to beat the Russians, and personal-Kennedy's force of character and the legacy of his assassination. Without a compelling political reason to go back, it ain't gonna happen. I don't think government efficiency comes into it.

 

As regards the private enterprises, Golden Spike and I guess Almaz as well, I admire their efforts but I am skeptical that they will be successful.

 

ETA After reading the article, I'm glad to see I'm on message with Prof Logsdon

[Albert Tatlock]

If someone found a huge easily accessible gold deposit on the moon/mars, then private companies would make the effort.

 

Capitalism and religion have generally held back human exploration and science for thousands of years - unless of course it involves war, the exploitation of others or a large collection of natural resources. Capitalism and religion also undermine curiousity.

 

Nothing will happen as long as accountants are running the planet. For that I blame one man - Bill Gates who invented Excel and encouraged them to come out of the backrooms instead of being left writing in large dusty ledgers.

[alibaba]

If someone found a huge easily accessible gold deposit on the moon/mars, then private companies would make the effort.

 

 

Or Helium-3 once someone figures out how to use it properly.

[Lisenchuk]

Aticle on Helium 3 and Nuclear Fusion:

http://www.explainingthefuture.com/helium3.html

[Bobbie Bobster]

Fusion has not yet got closer then a 10-20 years in the future rolling time estimate, which kinda limits the worth of He3.

 

2 major underlying problems with space mining. How to get it back down to Earth safely and does your business case stack up with the significantly reduced price of whatever item you're mining, once you've flooded the market. Assuming you can solve the significant technical hurdles, of course.

[Albert Tatlock]

Fusion has not yet got closer then a 10-20 years in the future rolling time estimate, which kinda limits the worth of He3.

 

2 major underlying problems with space mining. How to get it back down to Earth safely and does your business case stack up with the significantly reduced price of whatever item you're mining, once you've flooded the market. Assuming you can solve the significant technical hurdles, of course.

You don't have to bring it all back. The human race could start to expand on other planets, and use the resources there to do so. IMO it is our ultimate evolution.

 

Earth is simply unsustainable for the rise in human population that is to come.

 

If private companies are the way forward, and if the island is in the top 5 for sending up astronauts, then maybe H&B can set up bars on the moon/mars, as they seem excellent at setting up businesses where there is no atmosphere.

 

 

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[hissingsid]

If Bendy bus's can be made to be successful a moon visit should be a doddle, Longtail could do it, he could go up there on a trial visit.

[quilp]

Anne Reynolds could organise the re-entry and splash down.

 

I can hear it now, ''Ronaldsway, we have a problem...''

[manxman1980]

The human race could start to expand on other planets, and use the resources there to do so. IMO it is our ultimate evolution.

 

 

It may well be the "ultmate evolution" but presently the evidence suggests that we are not equipped to survive without the protection that planet Earth offers us. Even with the technology we have now there are reports of Astronauts experiencing problems from being in Earth orbit - let alone living long term on the moon or anywhere else.

 

Space exploration is at present very costly and I would agree that the private sector would seem best placed to take on this challenge as long as they see a commercial benefit. The idea of strapping untrained people on top of a few rockets and a massive fuel tank to escape Earth's gravity just does not seem like a long term solution.

[Albert Tatlock]

The idea of strapping untrained people on top of a few rockets and a massive fuel tank to escape Earth's gravity just does not seem like a long term solution.

Might be if it were 12 MHKs?

[Bobbie Bobster]

Interesting article here which goes into more detail on their mission profile.

 

There's no doubt that a lunar landing and return mission can be done a lot more cheaply than either Apollo or SLS, but, as the first commentard says "GS is basically asking for its astronauts to dance barefoot atop a razor blade over the Pit... that's the margin you are talking about here." The lack of really big, Saturn-scale, heavy launch capability significantly constrains how much mass you can get there and back.

 

If they are successful, and they attract a number of national space agencies as clients, they might just be on the lookout for a neutral venue to headquarter their operation, say a small, northern hemisphere independent statelet with astral aspirations...?

[manxman1980]

.

 

If they are successful, and they attract a number of national space agencies as clients, they might just be on the lookout for a neutral venue to headquarter their operation, say a small, northern hemisphere independent statelet with astral aspirations...?

 

So what you are saying is that this small, northern hemisphere independent statelet's Government might have had a bright idea to encourage the space exploration companies to go there?

[Bobbie Bobster]

.

If they are successful, and they attract a number of national space agencies as clients, they might just be on the lookout for a neutral venue to headquarter their operation, say a small, northern hemisphere independent statelet with astral aspirations...?

So what you are saying is that this small, northern hemisphere independent statelet's Government might have had a bright idea to encourage the space exploration companies to go there?

I guess so, although with many of these situations, they arise mostly because of luck and fortuitous timing, rather than a grand plan. For example, there isn't a clear line of development between the ability to file for GEO slots with the ITU and, say, an attractive environment to domicile the Space Data Association.

 

It feels as if a new industry is in the very early stages of gestation - Space X, Mars One, Planetary Resources, Golden Spike, Virgin Galactic, et al. Notwithstanding that some of the companies might be mechanisms to relieve very rich people of a chunk of their money, some of them will survive and hopefully prosper.

 

New industries generate new opportunities and with the demise of the mass tourism market, and the observable trends in offshore finance, the IoM needs to make the most of its relatively unique selling points, which could boil down to the ability to create innovative legislation/regulatory structures and an element of semi-independence from the major powers.