Well there's lots of this Anorthite stuff, I wonder how quickly it could be turned into solar panel arrays for the Moon based microwave power transmission method of energy harnessing? psst for invite.....

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Quote: Original post by Buttacup
psst for invite!

Quote: Original post by Buttacup
psst for invite.....

To the moon? Are you saying you live on the moon?

Quote: Original post by Trapper Zoid

Quote: Original post by owl
I think it's not about the minerals, but about being able to build and launch things from there, even to our own orbit. It'd be orders of magnitude easier and cheaper. It'll be also outstandingly useful to re-fuel space-ships.

Unless the moon has useful minerals, wouldn't it be easier or cheaper to either build it on Earth or have an orbital space station? If your lunar base is getting its resources from Earth, you've still got to pay the fuel cost to ship the stuff to the moon in the first place; you're better off just building it here rather than involving a second gravity well. And if you need zero/low gravity for construction or refueling, you might as well use a space station and save on launch and re-entry costs.

Quote: It is the first necesary step in order to start the conquest of our solar-system.

I could see this as a reason, but only because the Moon is the closest rock to colonise first. But I doubt there's going to be a strong push to colonise the solar system any time soon. It's just way too expensive to set up and maintain.

Obviously this is the perfect application for a GIANT SPACE PIPE! Then we could just pour the water down to Earth! It's genius!

We had better hurry with the mining and moon base. The Moon gets further away from the Earth every year and in a few hundred million years it will be completely out of Earth's gravity and gone.

Speaking of moon bases, the rocket was actually supposed to be a resupply effort for the base thats on the dark side of the moon. If you believe that kind of stuff.

>>Ok, it's official. According to my local newspaper The NASA found 600 millon tons of water on the moon.

being pedantic, but it was an indian spaceship that discovered the water.

With the cutbacks in nasa, we're looking at the future.
India and china leading the forefront of space exploration

Indian spaceship, NASA experiment on board which collected the data, sent it back to NASA and they worked on it.

Quote: Original post by AndrewBC

Quote: Original post by Buttacup
psst for invite!

Quote: Original post by Buttacup
psst for invite.....

To the moon? Are you saying you live on the moon?

Which one specifically are you inquiring about? NDA!

Meh, I was going for solar driven enzyme factories anyway..... I hear solid phase + assisted folding are going to be all the rage, it's the next gold rush. I guess it could be put on the moon..... psst for invite :P

Quote: Original post by Twilight
Just wait till they find oil or some other valuable fuel over there... Then they will build the bases... :D

Water on the moon is a valuable fuel. Methane has been found on Mars (Martian Methane Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet, Feature: Lecture - Professor Ian Morison's Life on Mars talk at the Museum of London - Feb 18th). And on Pluto (Pluto's dynamic surface revealed by Hubble images). Looks like natural gas isn't lucrative enough to justify continued public expenditures on manned space flight (U.S. no longer a space-faring nation). No Bucks. -- No Buck Rogers.

Quote: Original post by LessBread
Water on the moon is a valuable fuel.

Call me uneducated but fuel for what exactly? I can see water being used for processing, but for cooling or for it's compositions under electrolysis. I can't see the water being separated into hydrogen and oxygen on the moon for later consumption as fuel and this would be more so water as a facilitator of storage. I know I'm going to get kicked in the ass for this one but it's pretty customary anyway and I'm used to it, so I thought I would ask as I am unclear.

I really liked an idear I read about using the moons atmosphere for use in thin film deposition... this could require water... enzyme factories could also require water.. but not as fuel..

Rocket fuel. A moon base would use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen which becomes rocket fuel. Google it if you need more convincing.