Apollo Moon Landings - explain the Technology

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Getting off the planet so that we can access the huge quantity of resources out there and move many power hungry & polluting industries off the rock is very important.

Guess that depends on whether you subscribe to "growth is good regardless". The vast majority of power and resource hungry industries are centred on non-essential consumption.

I'll leave aside the madness of proposing placing heavy industry 256,000 miles from the market...

OT I know, but it is thought provoking.
 
I'll leave aside the madness of proposing placing heavy industry 256,000 miles from the market...

Madness? It is fortunately all down hill. A little creativity and it will be cheaper to ship from space than across the country. Actually it could store energy on the way down and have a negative cost of shipping.

Creativity is what is going to save mankind from extinction or being beaten back to cavemen.

dave
 
you can't beat the physics. Somewhere in the thread another much smarter poster gave the formula for the energy required to escape gravity. Sobering.

Add to that the distinctly patchy history of bringing even negligible payloads back alive and I see that this as a VERY long term if ever thing regardless of any economic or ecological benefit.
 
you can't beat the physics. Somewhere in the thread another much smarter poster gave the formula for the energy required to escape gravity. Sobering.

Yes indeed. But once established we aren't pushing stuff out of the gravity well, we'll be using that energy to bring stuff back. Imagine if we could store it instead of throwing it away when we "ship" industrial products down to earth?

dave
 
I see that this as a VERY long term if ever thing regardless of any economic or ecological benefit.

It is long term, how long depends on how motivated we get. No question. It some ways spending so much on getting to the moon, set us back a whack in terms of actually getting out into space.

With Obama passing space travel into the hands of private industry i wouldn't be surprised at all if the rate of progress jumps dramatically

dave
 
In July of last year, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (yes the Americans HAVE been back, just not with people) photographed the Apollo landers, still sitting there abandoned after 40 years.

NASA - LRO Sees Apollo Landing Sites

Also, Apollo 11, 14 and 15 astronauts left retroreflectors on the surface. They are still there, and to this day you (well not you personally) can bounce a laser beam off them, and measure the distance.
 
In July of last year, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (yes the Americans HAVE been back, just not with people) photographed the Apollo landers, still sitting there abandoned after 40 years.

NASA - LRO Sees Apollo Landing Sites

Also, Apollo 11, 14 and 15 astronauts left retroreflectors on the surface. They are still there, and to this day you (well not you personally) can bounce a laser beam off them, and measure the distance.

Interesting comments about the low resolution! 😀
 
A week.

dave

What happened ? what is he in for ?

It is long term, how long depends on how motivated we get. No question. It some ways spending so much on getting to the moon, set us back a whack in terms of actually getting out into space.

With Obama passing space travel into the hands of private industry i wouldn't be surprised at all if the rate of progress jumps dramatically

dave


Tell me more dis is news to me .......... 😕
 
What happened ? what is he in for ?

Disrespect of another member.

Tell me more dis is news to me .......... 😕

Part of the latest budget. Dramatic cuts to NASA, and encouragement of private enterprise to provide transport. Currently the Russians have the lead, but are using big, complex and aging exSoviet tech.

It will be very interesting to watch once the entrepreners let loose.

dave
 
What happens when space exploration goes into private hands with regard to the massive US Government cover up on " Alien craft and alien beings " which even astronauts have been talking about ? Is this change of hands just notional. I guess the 'people responsible of the cover up .....behind the scene' earlier on will still remain in control of what is revealed and what is not ! So it really will not make any difference to what the pubilc 'can know' . Is it a way of side stepping the public pressure that the government is facing with regard to ' total disclosure' ? 😕
 
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