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Newt promises a permanent moonbase by the end of his second term

Cleon said:
Not to mention the technical and practical hurdles of extraterrestrial industrial development.
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Right off the top of my head, I don't think there are any metals on the moon. The whole point is moot if there aren't. As ever, I could be woefully incorrect and the entire moon might bemade of iron.

If there are ever going to be men living anywhere other than earth, then the first off-world site to practice on has to be on the moon. It may have no value in and of itself beyond learning to live in a 0bar low gravity environment, but to go to where it might be useful (Mercury, Mars maybe, Jupiter's and Saturn's moons) thenI think we probably need to practice somewhere it takes a few days to get to rather than somewhere a few months away.
 
3point14 said:
Right off the top of my head, I don't think there are any metals on the moon. The whole point is moot if there aren't. As ever, I could be woefully incorrect and the entire moon might bemade of iron.

If there are ever going to be men living anywhere other than earth, then the first off-world site to practice on has to be on the moon. It may have no value in and of itself beyond learning to live in a 0bar low gravity environment, but to go to where it might be useful (Mercury, Mars maybe, Jupiter's and Saturn's moons) thenI think we probably need to practice somewhere it takes a few days to get to rather than somewhere a few months away.
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Isn't the moon's surface mostly aluminum and silica? Aluminum's a metal right. There's iron and magnesium on the surface too if I remember correctly.

I actually like the idea of a moon base if for no other reason to figure out how to overcome the technical and practical hurdles.

Great, I'm probably going to now spend an hour reading on the composition of the moon and fantasizing about moon farms.
 
There probably are metals there in the form of raw ore. You have to refine them into useful materials and that would be a big challenge.

It's not gone unnoticed that Newt made this promise in Florida. Somehow he didn't mention anything about a permanent moon base while campaigning in Iowa. I really hope Romney asks him about it in Michigan and Arizona. "Hey Newt, tell them about your moon base!"
 
Newt wants to go to the Moon in 8 years?

So, I guess that he has become a big-government make-work Liberal then.

Because I know for fact that MY fortunes will improve if we spend the $2-3 Trillion needed to do this. Every engineer who can get a security clearance will be made of GOLD. Boeing will have to open new plants. Washington lobbyists and defense contractors will all be in Fat City. Millions now unemployed will be in good Union jobs with benefits. Good times.

However; Where does he think the $2-3 Trillion will come from???
 
BenBurch said:
Newt wants to go to the Moon in 8 years?

So, I guess that he has become a big-government make-work Liberal then.

Because I know for fact that MY fortunes will improve if we spend the $2-3 Trillion needed to do this. Every engineer who can get a security clearance will be made of GOLD. Boeing will have to open new plants. Washington lobbyists and defense contractors will all be in Fat City. Millions now unemployed will be in good Union jobs with benefits. Good times.

However; Where does he think the $2-3 Trillion will come from???
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Hey now! Stop confusing Newt with facts and logic; you know how he gets.

Besides, all that he really wants is to have some place to impress his next ex-wife.

;)
 
3point14 said:
Right off the top of my head, I don't think there are any metals on the moon. The whole point is moot if there aren't. As ever, I could be woefully incorrect and the entire moon might bemade of iron.

If there are ever going to be men living anywhere other than earth, then the first off-world site to practice on has to be on the moon. It may have no value in and of itself beyond learning to live in a 0bar low gravity environment, but to go to where it might be useful (Mercury, Mars maybe, Jupiter's and Saturn's moons) thenI think we probably need to practice somewhere it takes a few days to get to rather than somewhere a few months away.
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I'm sure there's lots of metal on the moon.

However, even here on Earth, mining is a hugely complicated and involved process. Taking ore out of the ground, purifying it, and turning it into usable product requires huge machinery and facilities, not to mention the work of thousands of people. Mind you, we're just talking about the raw materials at this point. Manufacturing spaceships out of the metal mined there is a completely new set of issues.

That's on Earth--where you don't need to worry about the logistics of people breathing, eating, drinking, and pooping. I don't think these are insurmountable obstacles, but they also don't have easy solutions. Certainly not "from design to testing to implementation in eight years" easy.
 
I'd like to see a big research effort into a space elevator, but let's face it, in Newt's budget proposal, there's no room for existing government programs much less big new ones.
 
This is actually the first thing I've heard Newt Gingrich say that would make me want to vote for him. If he promises flying cars, I'll volunteer for his damn campaign.
 
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Cleon said:
That's on Earth--where you don't need to worry about the logistics of people breathing, eating, drinking, and pooping.
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You personally don't, but isn't that kind of the job description of a civil engineer?
 
Folk this is a politician - of course he can't deliver what he promises! I am sure if he was elected you would all be amazed by the end of the first term at how you never heard him make those promises although you are sure you did!

On a wider point - to me the good thing about his statement is that it does show a vision of a forward moving optimistic future for the USA, which has to be better that than the constant refrain about how the USA is a cesspit "these days" and "we need to go back to the good old days that made us great".

Since we know they will never deliver on their campaign promises I think it is better to encourage those that are looking towards the future rather than the past.


(Smilies for the above are :) ;) :rolleyes: - insert where you want.)
 
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I'm not against a Moon base. It's proven that the best exploration is always done with actual human eyes on the scene.

But how does Newt plan to fund this? Did he get approval from the billionaires he wants to give tax breaks to for this? Is he so delusional as to think private industry will take us to the Moon?

I don't know how research into the new Space Launch System is going currently but when it does comes online we will have a heavy rocket that makes the whole thing quite feasible if you are willing to lay out a budget for it.
 
cwalner said:
You personally don't, but isn't that kind of the job description of a civil engineer?
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To an extent, but only to an extent.

When building a factory on Earth, a CE might want to look at air circulation, filters, etc; s/he wouldn't have to worry about where the oxygen itself comes from.

A CE might have to hook up the plumbing to the city's water supply; in cases where the factory's in the middle of nowhere, perhaps some well-digging would be in order. A lunar engineer would have to figure out how to either manufacture water on-site, or ship it in from another planet.
 
Travis said:
It's proven that the best exploration is always done with actual human eyes on the scene.
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Where and how has this been proven? I thought all the unmanned interplanetary probes resulted in way more science and data collection [eta: that is, the "best exploration" of the solar system] than the manned programs (including Apollo, Skylab, and the ISS) at a fraction of the cost.

And if you're speaking of science in general, the limitation of human eyes is pretty obvious!

At any rate, Newt's proposal for this endeavor isn't at all credible given his budget/tax proposal: http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/12/news/economy/newt_gingrich_taxes/index.htm
 
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