With China going into space, it looked as if there might be a conflict over ownership of the moon. However, now it’s been discovered that it will be impossible to use the moon as a base for space travel or for mining the valuable elements there, because it has almost no water. This is tragic, since the moon contains an element that could solve our oil shortage and greenhouse gas problems.
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Those of us who love the thrill of space exploration are disappointed that so much recent NASA activity has centered on military and commercial projects. But now it looks like we may finally be returning to the Moon?so we can get there before China does.
Yang Liwei, China’s first astronaut, recently returned to Earth after orbiting the Earth 14 times. Chinese officials say this is only the beginning?that they plan to send astronauts to the Moon next. Now a NASA report suggests that during the celebrations at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina on December 17, President Bush may announce that we’re returning to the Moon.
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“Commercial power from the Moon could have avoided the blackout ?,” says space researcher David Criswell. “Each receiver on Earth would be fed independently from the Moon. If you need more or less power you just adjust the beams.”
Robert Roy Britt writes in space.com that we could plant receivers on the moon that point towards the sun, then beam the microwaves down to Earth, where they would be converted to electricity.
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Gina Treadgold writes for abcnews.com that planting a flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission was a top secret project in 1969. NASA engineer Tom Moser says, “?It had to be done quietly, because putting a U.S. flag on the moon was politically sensitive.” Historian Anne Platoff says the UN had passed a treaty stating “outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies is not subject to national appropriation.” But the main problem was getting the flag to fly.
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