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View Full Version : When will there be a perminantly manned Lunar base?



Neil
03-Apr-2007, 10:22 AM
Arthur C Clarke got it wrong...

MinionZombie
03-Apr-2007, 10:31 AM
I voted for 2020-29, because my Mars answer was 2030-39 ... so again, just blurting out a number, give 10 years prior to make a 'stop off' on the Moon. :p

Like a service station ... but with better games and fancier toilets.

Neil
03-Apr-2007, 10:44 AM
I voted for 2020-29, because my Mars answer was 2030-39 ... so again, just blurting out a number, give 10 years prior to make a 'stop off' on the Moon. :p

Like a service station ... but with better games and fancier toilets.

Well, Japan of course has declared it wants to build a lunar base by 2030!

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn9658-japan-aims-for-moon-base-by-2030-.html

EvilNed
03-Apr-2007, 11:22 AM
Not to be racist or anything, but if it's anyone who build a lunar base I don't think it's going to be Japan. Russia or the US sounds more likely.

Neil
03-Apr-2007, 12:01 PM
Not to be racist or anything, but if it's anyone who build a lunar base I don't think it's going to be Japan. Russia or the US sounds more likely.

Russia? Surely out of their league (financially) at the moment?

Also, don't forget China are starting to throw a lot of effort in this direction...

MinionZombie
03-Apr-2007, 12:06 PM
Not to be racist or anything, but if it's anyone who build a lunar base I don't think it's going to be Japan. Russia or the US sounds more likely.
And they were the first there after all ... it's interesting, although it's a daft concept in itself, does any country have prior ownership over the moon? At least technically speaking ... or at least as the country that gets to be the representative of mankind...hmmm...

capncnut
03-Apr-2007, 12:07 PM
What is this science week? :rolleyes:

2050-2059. A base will be set up probably around the 2020's but a fully manned one ain't gonna be until much later. Oh and Arthur C. Clarke has been known for his iffy dates since the 1950's but he is still number one when it comes the accuracy of the technology involved, which is the main thing. That guy predicted the communications satellite in a story so well that when it was actually invented, it couldn't be patented.

Terran
03-Apr-2007, 12:11 PM
I dunno the Japanese to have a long history to devoting/throwing tons of money to seemingly un-useful scientific ventures.....and they could really use the space.....:)


I really wish a moon base was something that NASA and other space agencies focused on much more strongly....

Once the moon is conquered all other space ventures would become so much easier....a near self sustainable moon installation would be like mankind’s graduation exam into the bachelors degree of the space world....

Then private business could get involved….then youd see a real space exploration explosion


Im gonna say later 2040-2049 just because we are attacking space right now in a very unfocused method

MinionZombie
03-Apr-2007, 12:16 PM
China are going for it? Now ... not to sound like a dick, but just going on their reputation for insane amounts of secrecy, censorship and crushing of the poor under their sky-scraper feet, I wouldn't trust them with such an achievement...:shifty:

Isn't their (well, and Japan) strangle hold on the electronics industry enough?! :p

Tricky
03-Apr-2007, 12:23 PM
It would be cool to visit the moon,but imagine how constricted life would be if you were permanent staff/resident there?always having to wear a suit to go outside,no beaches or natural water,no trees or grass except in pots within the base.I'd enjoy spending a couple of months there,but i'd go stir crazy if it was permanent!

Terran
03-Apr-2007, 12:41 PM
imagine how constricted life would be if you were permanent staff/resident there?always having to wear a suit to go outside,no beaches or natural water,no trees or grass except in pots within the base. Sounds a lot like New York

Tricky
03-Apr-2007, 12:44 PM
Sounds a lot like New York

Im glad i live out in the country,city life isnt for me!i work in a city but commute :)

Terran
03-Apr-2007, 01:34 PM
I live only like 15 minutes outside of Washington DC....but the commute takes an hour or more during the mornings and evenings....... If I rode a bicycle Id get to DC quicker than driving when people are heading off for their 9-5

Eyebiter
03-Apr-2007, 01:50 PM
If there is another space race to the moon it will be between the US/EU and China/India. Russia will be on the sidelines selling technology and lift capacity to both programs.

Once fusion reactor technology is developed, there will be a reason to build a permanent moon base. Until then there are many steps that need to be created first - a single stage to orbit replacement for the Space Shuttle, a large boost rocket ala the Saturn V to send cargo shipments to the moon, and automated probes with the ability to refine ore and oxygen from moon rocks.

NASA just isn't a priority for the US right now, so I'd say at least forty years for a permanent moon base.

Danny
03-Apr-2007, 02:47 PM
y'know a while bakc in like my final year of high school my science class was talking to some dude who worked on the space program and i asked "why not just build a load of those eden project things on the moon, grow plants in em like giant green houses, keep building and expanding ,using glaciers from earth, so they can melt as water on there rather than raise the sea levels by melting down here and eventually let the moon gain its own atmosphere?".

he acutally paused and considered this, which while expensive and would take fookin' ages seems like a good idea to me.

EvilNed
03-Apr-2007, 03:55 PM
If there is another space race to the moon it will be between the US/EU and China/India. Russia will be on the sidelines selling technology and lift capacity to both programs.


Sounds reasonable.

coma
03-Apr-2007, 05:07 PM
China are going for it? Now ... not to sound like a dick, but just going on their reputation for insane amounts of secrecy, censorship and crushing of the poor under their sky-scraper feet, I wouldn't trust them with such an achievement...:shifty:

Isn't their (well, and Japan) strangle hold on the electronics industry enough?! :p
Not to mention having a minimal, to say the least, military budget. Japan building a moon base would be great for them and everyone else because they would share information and be very open. They woulodnt use it as a pro0paganda tool ecept maybe to prove they a still big stuff in the world

China would be the worst choice. That gov really sucks.:mad:

Indias national airline is still the most dangerous in the world so I find it erally unlikely, at least in the near(er) future.

MinionZombie
03-Apr-2007, 05:36 PM
Of course, living on the moon, you'd have all that time to look at the Earth from space, which must be an absolutely awe-inspiring sight that only a privileged few have ever seen ... must be quite something, even perspective changing.

And totally, the city is too constrictive and glum, the countryside is open and fresh (expect when some bastard farmer has spread the foulest sh*t on his fields - why can't something be invented that stops muck spread on fields being so absolutely foul smelling?!)

EvilNed
03-Apr-2007, 07:26 PM
Considering there hasn't been a manned operation to the moon in like 20 years? (maybe more) I sincerly doubt we'll see a BASE on there anytime soon. I think Japan is just boasting.