. CASE FOR MOON FIRST - 01 PREFACE
==
Preface = why go to the Moon first?
(skip to contents) (Links in the text in this preface take you to other sections of this book)
You may have heard advocates say we should ignore the Moon, and head straight for Mars, and they may even say that the Moon is as dull as a ball of concrete. But what about the other view, put forward by many enthusiasts for the Moon, that we should start there instead,as the first place to send humans after LEO? As you read this book, you may be surprised to learn that the Moon is resource rich, and fascinating, with many new discoveries since the time of Apollo, as well as many mysteries still to solve. It may have potential for exports of metals and volatiles. It's also far more promising for tourist hotels, and human research stations, because it is so much easier to get to than Mars, it's a great place for radio and infrared telescopes, and it's potentially valuable as a place to make computer chips and solar cells that require high vacuum, amongst other benefits. And it may surprise you a lot to learn that the Moon has many advantages over Mars as a place to create habitats for humans too.
Inside look at one of the ideas for the ESA moon village, using 3D printing on the Moon for the radiation shielding. Image credit Foster + Partners / ESA. Their new director, Professor Johann-Dietrich Woerner is keen on taking us back to the Moon first, and has an exciting vision for a lunar villageon the Moon as a multinational venture involving astronauts, Russian cosmonauts, maybe even Chinese taikonauts, and private space as well.
That's actually the plan of the ESA, India, Japan, China etc, they all want to send humans back to the Moon first. Many US astronauts and space enthusiasts think the same way, but their voice doesn't get heard so much in the States. Even Buzz Aldrin, a keen Mars colonization advocate, didn't entirely agree with the way Obama quoted his "Been there and done that" saying he meant it facetiously.
You need to look at the Moon with "Moon spectacles" and when you do, in one comparison after another, the Moon comes out top. It's also close enough to scout out with robots controlled in near to real time from Earth. Then once we decide on a site for our base, we can use them again to get our lunar village ready, with the habitats, utilities, landing beacon and landing pad all in place, before our first astronauts arrive.
The Apollo astronauts were like the early Antarctic explorers, who set their first footprints on an almost entirely unexplored territory, this time in space. Though none of them died in space or on the Moon, their missions were risky and new missions back to the Moon will be also.
Nevertheless, the Moon is a far safer destination than Mars. We know we can do it, and we can set off at any time, with lifeboats to get us back to Earth within three days in an emergency. A mission to Mars would be a multi-year journey with no lifeboats. An Apollo 13 type accident could not be survived, and a mistake which just leads to the crew abandoning their base on the Moon would kill everyone at the distance of Mars. This also makes the Moon a place where we can try much more adventurous ideas and experiments with methods of living there.
Shackleton's Endurance trapped in the ice in Antarctica before it sunk. Shackleton's part overwintered huddled beneath boats and hunting seals for food. Antarctica is far more habitable than Mars, and back then, before the Antarctic treaty, the whole continent was open for colonization, if anyone had been interested, but there were no efforts by any nation to colonize Antarctica. We don't colonize all the possible places where humans could survive.
The enthusiasts for Mars colonization present a rosy picture of a colonized Mars and they think that we will succeed in colonizing their favourite planet, so long as we start on it quickly. But there are many places on Earth that we don't colonize. Indeed, to date, we have only tried to colonize places where humans can survive with stone age technology. What's more, many colonization attempts even of those places have failed.
To go to space to colonize, right now, is like Shackleton saying "Great, we have overwintered on Antarctica, hunting seals and huddling under boats, we must be ready to colonize it!".
Let's go to space like the early Antarctic explorers instead, to find out what's there. Along the way we can discover if there is anywhere to set up home, and we don't know in advance that Mars is that place. For instance, perhaps we may find vast lunar caves, kilometers wide and over 100 kilometers in length, as the Grail data suggests, as vast as an O'Neil Cylinder. If so, these could be amongst the easiest and safest places to build habitats in space. Or perhaps habitats at the lunar poles are best, because of the volatiles we know are there, or as a more out there proposal, the idea of Venus cloud colonies may have more to recommend it than you think. Then there's the 1970s idea of living in large slowly spinning habitats built with materials from the Moon and the asteroids.
Another reason given to head off to Mars as quickly as possible is to "backup Earth". But what plausible near future disaster could end up with an Earth less habitable than Mars, with its perchlorate laced dust storms, solar storms of deadly radiation, half the sunlight of Earth, all fresh water frozen into ice like Antarctica, no oxygen to breathe, and the air so thin that the moisture lining your lungs would boil, without a full body pressurized spacesuit?
If we ever need to restore anywhere with a backup of seeds, technology, and knowledge, it's Earth that we'd restore, not Mars. That makes the Earth itself, or the Moon, the ideal places to keep these repositories.
And if we do send humans to Mars, why not study it telerobotically from its moons or from orbit first, in a shirt sleeves environment? Why rush to the surface as quickly as possible, and risk a human crash in the one place in the inner solar system most vulnerable to Earth microbes? I would be the worst possible anti-climax in the search for life in our solar system to get there only to discover life that we brought ourselves.
In this vision, human space exploration is open ended. We have the entire solar system to explore with our missions, from Mercury all the way out to Jupiter's moons and beyond. The Moon is our gateway and natural starting point for this exploration. And there's no rush; we can afford to keep our future options open as we explore and find out what the possibilities are.
You can hear me talk about this book and answer questions about it as guest for David Livingston's TheSpaceShow in his Broadcast 2710: Robert Walker
This book is also available on kindle
Contents
Preface (above)
Skepticism about a viable colony in a cold desert with a near vacuum for an "atmosphere"
What if The Moon had blue skies? One small change to Apollo photos
But wouldn't it be the most wonderful thing to introduce Earth life to Mars?
Why do microbes on human occupied spacecraft get a "special pass" for Mars?
(highlighted some especially interesting entries in bold, to help your eye find its place)
Example lunar cave skylights - Lacus Mortis, Marius pit and the King-y natural bridge
Thorium and KREEP (Potassium, phosphorus and rare earth elements), and some uranium
Earth length day on Mars versus advantages of close to 24/7 solar power at the lunar poles
Plants capable of good yields when kept in darkness for the lunar night
Mars or Moon spectacles and the old woman young woman illusion
What about gravity - isn't that a big advantage for Mars over the Moon?
Trash on the Moon - testing ground for planetary protection measures for a human base
Buzz Aldrin's "been there and done that" - meant facetiously - as a joke
Moon firsters - ESA, Russia, Many astronauts, former US Vision for Space Exploration etc
Alternative positive vision for exploration of our solar system - main points
One example of what we might find on Mars is some early form of life made extinct on Earth by DNA based life
Most successful colonization has been of places already occupied by humans
So, I think that space settlement in the early stages at least would be like an Antarctic base
Yes we might get future tech that lets us build self sufficient habitats on Mars. But before then...
Other places in space may be better for exploiting in situ resources than Mars
Yes, we can build human settlements using resources from space
As for self created problems, again we can't escape from them in space
Space settlement is neutral just like settlement anywhere - it could be good or bad
It's not likely to be a "new form of society" in space in the near future
As a young technological society, our priority should be to protect and sustain the Earth
It is tricky to explore habitable places without introducing Earth life
Most habitable Gaia for Mars would have a methane atmosphere or some stronger greenhouse gas
Paraterraforming - covering the planet and developing a habitable environment within that covering
We can do a lot more in situ exploration of Mars from Earth with more bandwidth
Broadband communication would need to be set up to send humans to Mars
Humans don't have special advantages for Mars surface missions
Further into the future, what about habitable planets around other stars?
Why robots are far safer for the first stages of galactic exploration
Generally, sending humans into space is something new, that humans have never done before.
Will our civilization become an ineradicable dangerous weed or a beautiful flower in the galaxy?
How an international lunar village saves money, and is safer than separate bases spread out over the Moon, through use of communal resources
Could some co-operation be possible between the US and an ESA village that incorporates China?
Space assets and strategic, economic and military significance of space
Robotic scouting phase - need to go back and find out what's there first
Robotic missions to the Moon, already planned, or near future, from 2017 onwards
How our ideas might change as a result of a longer period of robotic exploration
Meanwhile time to rediscover the adventure in human spaceflight in LEO
Joe Carroll's tether experiments in artificial gravity - which we could do right now
Small centrifuge based artificial gravity experiments in LEO
Searching for a non confrontational way ahead
"Over protection of Mars" - the idea that we no longer need planetary protection - rebutted
Natural contamination standard - works for comets and asteroids - but not for Mars
Why quarantine won't work - protecting Earth, and humans sent to Mars, from Mars life (if it exists)
Current requirements for samples returned to Earth and legal situation
How many years are needed to do a biological survey of Mars?
What if there seems to be no alternative? We must have Mars!
This approach doesn't mean that humans can never land on Mars ever
Safe ways to get humans to Mars orbit or its moons to avoid any risk of crashes on the surface
Telerobotics as a fast way for humans to explore Mars from orbit
Telerobotics with humans in orbit compared to robots controlled from earth
Need for new comparison studies of the various ways of exploring Mars
Sending humans to Mars for flyby or orbital missions - comparison of biologically closed systems with ISS type mechanical recycling (also relevant to long duration lunar missions)
Conclusions and implications of these calculations - an ISS style mission to Mars seems possible
Mass requirements for humans to Mars (flyby or orbit) - and shakedown cruise suggestion
Idea that Mars will have its own internal economy like Earth - which doesn’t need exports
Would a space colony survive with only exports of intellectual property to pay for imports?
Venus cloud colonies - a surprising low maintenance solution
Mars as an asteroid mining hub in the distant future - or should it be Venus?
Backup on the Moon - seed banks, libraries, and a small colony
Questions about the vision in "Case for Moon" on the spaceshow
2016: 16th May, 7th May, 18th May, 19th May, 20th May, 21st May, 22nd May, 23rd May, 24th May, 25th May, 26th May, 27th May, 2nd June,3rd June, 5th June, 14th June, 15th June, 19th June, 22nd June, 23rd June, 25th June, 27th June, 2nd July, 3rd July, 4th July, 6th July, 7th July, 8th July, 10th July, 12th July, 22nd July, 21st September, 24th September, 26th September, 8th October, 10th October, 11th October, 14th October,16th October, 24th October, 31st October, 1st November, 6th November,
2017: 23rd March, 24th April
==
and for more information please view the following web pages
( please using the right click of your mouse, and Open Link in Next Private Window, )