tghuverd
tghuverd t1_jaykcac wrote
Reply to comment by FlingingGoronGonads in Canadian rover to help in global search for frozen water on dark side of the moon, in a future planned mission by thawingSumTendies
I loved The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and I expect a focus on recycling for any Moon base, but people are talking about making rocket fuel out of it, and that's definitely a one-shot use. Honestly, you can't make this stuff up 🤦♂️
tghuverd t1_jay8y9k wrote
Reply to Canadian rover to help in global search for frozen water on dark side of the moon, in a future planned mission by thawingSumTendies
There does seem to be ice water on the Moon...and knowing us, we'll suck it all up and then bemoan the fact that it's all gone a century from now. Which will cause an existential crisis for Moon bases that were relying on it.
Is there any chatter about protecting this probably non-renewable resource from rapacious consumption?
tghuverd t1_jbgeryn wrote
Reply to comment by FlingingGoronGonads in Canadian rover to help in global search for frozen water on dark side of the moon, in a future planned mission by thawingSumTendies
>we can't entirely bootstrap the exploration of the solar system with such a limited resource
I doubt we can even bootstrap a Moon base, to be honest. Unless a method to extract necessary resources from solar power and cracking rocks is baked into the initial build, we'll burn through the ice and then flap our arms about in alarm when it starts to run out...then spend a fortune in a rush job to implement the resource extraction at the last minute 🤦♂️