The Need for a Moon Shot

The history of mankind could easily be correlated with a history of man's ability to capture and harness energy. Tools of any kind, after all, are nothing but a way for humans to multiply the brute strength delivered by their muscles. Most periods of explosive growth in human culture and population correspond strongly with our ability to utilize animal power, fire, the plow, steam engines, and other force multipliers, each one more powerful than the previous iteration.

It is no surprise, then, that the explosion of everything modern during the last two centuries comes about largely because of our discovery of fossil fuels and the creation of machines to squeeze energy from them. Since the invention of the steam engine in the 18th Century, we have consumed this endowment from the earth at ever more frantic rates until now we are facing a crisis as we come face to face with depletion of fossil fuels.

Read the rest: http://theopinionator.com/energy/moonshot1.html

That moon.

and drop trou!

The geek in me would love to see us go back to the moon, but in his misbegotten bid to do so, Preznit asswipe has drained the majority of existing funding from NASA's SMD (Science Mission Directorate) (basically unmanned science and research missions) to do so - thus severely crippling our stance in the world with respect to science missions.

The added effect of cancelling these missions was to send many (widely spread across the nation) to search for other jobs. More than one cheaper investigative research mission (which pays larger dividends for the relatively small amount invested) has been cancelled over the past year or more. Doctoral candidates have to go looking elsewhere (outside of their field of expertise) for research.

Just go to Skypub.com (Sky and telescope) or even see articles in Popular Science/mechanics for articles about the dire state of such programs. Some of the large companies working these projects don't seem to care too much, as their bottom lines were offset by the contracts they recieved for home(vater)land security. Personally, I'd much rather work on a science mission than some new type of weapon.

Ditch ISS, and ditch the manned moon/mars initiatives - keep taking small steps until we're really ready - instead of wasting the dough on a boondogle.

Moon Shot is a metaphor for a major overhaul of the energy system, not for an actual journey to the moon.

Guess you can tell my sore spot.

Thanks and Welcome to DU (not setting a good example of paying attention, am I)

That's okay and thanks for the welcome. Your post did take me back a few years to the great "troubles" we faced in the Clinton years. I can remember being very frustrated at how our exploratory endeavors in outer space were falling by the wayside. These days my mental energy is expended trying to figure out if we're going to survive the century or not.

Hopefully the real Moon Shot was not a one time deal, someday to pass into semi-legend like the Great Wall or the Pyramids.

It was a bad day at work this year. ha ha

We don't have the manual dexterity or cranial capacity to accomplish such an endeavor.

Really. I don't think we can make it there again. Someone else will, but not us.