January 4, 2006

Good afternoon (here in CA, USA)

Why do you want to see a return to the Moon?

Remembering how soon the Apollo missions dropped off the press screen, and
how it picked up smartly with the problems of Apollo 13, I wonder if going
back to the Moon is going to be looked at something like the Indy 500 races
where you watch and wonder if some car is going to hit the side wall. Will
we be watching the flights just to hear if there is an emergency.

No, we wouldn't do that, --- would we? We ARE looking for something to
excite us aren't we?

Then there is the return to the Moon to pick up on the scientific quest for
knowledge and to use the Moon as a base for scientific operations like
setting up telescopes or radio telescopes on the far side of the Moon out of
the range of our Earth radio noises. Will that be enough to get the support
for the bucks that are needed to launch the equipment? Would we need to send
humans?

Do you want to return to the Moon to work it for some commercial reason?
Send your couples to get married on the Moon. Send your loved ones cremates
(ashes) to the Moon for internment. Open up refueling ports for spaceship
where getting hydrogen and oxygen from the lunar soil or dark repositories
might be cheaper than sending up water from Earth. Or mine Helium-3 as
Jack Schmitt has proposed to supply Earth with an alternate energy source.

How about just sending humans to form a new Lunar Colony to provide for a
repository of our seed in case a large meteor hits Earth and wipes out life
as we know it? Do we want to spread our form of intelligence across the
Solar System. Don't wait for some alien life to beat us to it. (even if it
is slim in a refrigerator).

Who do you want to pay for these adventures or experiments?

With those thoughts, the question of where do you want to land for a mission
comes up. Jack Schmitt is interested in establishing a viable commercial
enterprise that will provide an energy fuel source to be used here on Earth
and as such would have the required geological surveys done to determine the
best place to set up camp. Landing near by would be good.

On earlier posts over the years I have presented the ideas contained in the
book, "THE MOON - Resources, Future Development and Colonization" by David
Schrunk, Burton Sharpe, Bonnie Cooper and Madhu Thangavelu. In those pages
the site selection of choice was at the poles of the Moon and probably the
South Pole where there is a mountain that is in eternal light not far from
the eternal darkness that may have water or hydrogen in some quantity.

Ron Wells commented on the Marshall Space Flight Center thought, of sending
some rover only into a dark crater, was not the best idea and that equatorial
sites would be better for setting up Helium-3 production. Ron also pointed
out that in the snip of Anthony Young's review I posted, his statement that
Jack wants to import lunar soil is not what Jack states in his book. Jack
wants to bring Helium-3 itself back to Earth for fusion fuel. So place a
check mark for an equitorial landing spot.

When the President first proposed going back to the Moon and on to Mars,
there were those that talked against the idea. Since then there has been
press that talks to the idea that NASA hasn't figured out what it really
wants to do.

About now I am probably not making you feel very assured that we will return
to the Moon if we can't figure out what the whole plan is. Well life isn't
easy and if you are a lobbyist you may come under investigation.

The question that is hiding in the wings is, do we really want to advance
humans to a new level by learning how to live off planet? If you think that
moving out is a neat idea, do you think those explorers should be indentured
servants of some corporate empire or free spirits that will be allowed to
develop their own survival means?

So where do the ships land? The Moon has an area of what, about the size of
Africa. What I am wondering is if there might be a number of ports of
interest depending on what the charter is for that particular mission.

What is going to be important to start with is that the large picture is
available and that there are some paths plotted that will ensure continued
expeditions are sent until it will be common place to think of us as humans
that have the ability to live off world.

Now quickly, get your high school kids into a college curriculum and get
them interested in history and economics, and math, and engineering and
......, because all of that is going to be needed if we really want to
return to the Moon.

Doesn't the thought excite you? All of those problems to be discussed and
worked on, and solved, one after another.

Shall we continue looking up at the Moon and asking what it will look like
with us up there? (you already have concerns about how we will trash it as
we seem to do a good job of trashing Mother Earth)

Food for thought and the books I have listed below can add to that thought
process.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg
Web Site http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
Blog Spot http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
News ltr https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
The Study of the Pioneer Anomaly: New Data and Objectives for New
Investigation - http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0512121
Authors: Slava G. Turyshev, Viktor T. Toth, Larry R. Kellogg, Eunice. L.
Lau, Kyong J. Lee
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Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human
Settlement of Space (Hardcover)
by Harrison H. Schmitt
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0387242856/104-8050845-2801568
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The Moon : Resources, Future Development and Colonization (Wiley-Praxis
Series in Space Science and Technology) (Hardcover)
by David Schrunk, Burton Sharpe, Bonnie Cooper, Madhu Thangavelu, Madhu
Thangavelu "People have speculated about the origin of the Moon for
centuries..." (more)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471976350/104-8050845-2801568
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Exploring the Moon : The Apollo Expeditions (Springer Praxis Books / Space
Exploration) (Paperback)
by David M. Harland
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1852330996/104-8050845-2801568
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The Lunar Base Handbook (Space Technology Series) (Paperback)
by Peter Eckart
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0072401710/104-8050845-2801568
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Human Spaceflight: Mission Analysis and Design (Space Technology Series)
(Space Technology Series) (Paperback)
by Wiley J. Larson, Linda K. Pranke
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/007236811X/104-8050845-2801568
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Space Mission Analysis and Design, 3rd edition (Space Technology Library)
(Space Technology Library) -- by Wiley J. Larson (Editor), James R. Wetrz
(Editor); Paperback (Rated)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1881883108/104-8050845-2801568
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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