The last time a human stepped on the moon was 1972. Why?

reply to post by AthlonSavage


Can't believe they forgot how to, when they have actively been in space for the last 50 years. improving technology. I think its more they choose not too, got to be a reason with all the He3 up thier?

eManym
Maybe it was because the Military Industrial Complex found no military value in sending people to the moon and funded something else. Surveillance satellites and the space shuttle program were much more suitable to their needs.

I wander just how easy it would be for the shuttle to take a trip to the moon, a burn to go, a burn to slow, and a burn to come back. Nice big cargo bay for payloads. It makes more sense to go to Mars from a moonbase than earth.

reply to post by anonentity

I wander just how easy it would be for the shuttle to take a trip to the moon, a burn to go, a burn to slow, and a burn to come back.

Besides the fact that there are no shuttles, not possible. For starters, it used all its fuel for the main engines (and the SRBs) just getting to Earth orbit.

All these energy idea's are great but the cost to build it kills the idea. You can drop 30k on a moderate solar panel array, and battery bank system for your home. If you stay on the grid and conserve energy and keep your bill at say 100 bucks a month. Over 20 years you're only paying $24k. A product that takes 20 years on a return is a crappy investment. On the grid power you don't have to pay to upkeep. Wind comes along smashes your solar panels to bits and guess what you're back to square one again and now your in the hole.

reply to post by sean



Good investment opportunity: a company that leases solar panels.

The ex in laws have been living off grid for ten years now. In another ten they will actually save money. Haha

Why would we need to go back when we can observe it from Earth?

Also we've presumably learned all we needed to during the initial landings and Orbital imagery analysis post.

There's no scientific necessity at this point, which is why we've turned our collective attention towards Mars where the Curiosity rover is making it's pre-manned mission intel gathering.

reply to post by JayinAR


Yeah, but isn't leasing or renting a solar panel counter productive? lol The idea is to get a whole lot for nothing. This nano technology however sounds promising if it ever comes to fruition. The government will probably swoop in and put a lid on that too.

reply to post by myss427

Can't believe they forgot how to, when they have actively been in space for the last 50 years. improving technology. I think its more they choose not too, got to be a reason with all the He3 up thier?

they? the people in Nasa who took man to moon in 1969 are not the same guys as in Nasa today. funny thing about engineers and project people is theyre arnt interested in how it was done in 1960s mainly and especially because a lot of it wasn't written down it was in peoples heads. The people in Nasa today know that to get to the moon again they would need to come up with their own solution and frankly they have proven for decades they are not the right stuff to make this happen

Maverick7

Bornin66
reply to post by OrionHunterX

 

I believe your on the right track. Hey is a bean counter world. If there is not profit in it then it doesn't happen. I believe we've come to a point in the USA that we no longer need to have a manned Nasa run space program because our covert space program is so advanced in comparison that it's just deemed unnecessary. Most believe what is seen are aliens and are ridiculed and ignored for saying they saw something unknown. I believe we are seeing our own technology and those ships are cruising our solar system with impunity. It's the covert part that angers me. Just take a look at the SR-71 Blackhawk. In testing in the late 60s and fully operation in 71. Seeing it today still blows my mind. But nothing since then ??? What have we been doing ??? I think it's more likely that technology has progressed and we have not been told. Why waste billions on a PR campaign like NASA did in the 60/70 when you can blame little grey aliens who look harmless. Don't want to scare people too much and make the pop culture think they were blood thirsty 12 foot tall lizard beings. It's all a show folks. We are told and shown what they want us to know and think. The Alien cover story is more effective and profitable then a NASA manned space program. Simple economics. And Hollywood does it's part as well.

There is no such vessel as an SR-71 Blackhawk (there is an SR-71 BlackBird). The SR-71 was in operation in 1964 or a bit earlier (The precursor was flown in 1962). I'm not sure where you're getting your information.

Blackhawk, blackbird. Opps, sorry about that and the dates as well. However the likelihood of my statement remains. I think the ex director of the skunk works was Buddy Rich. When he retired he was interviewed and said on video that we presently have the ability to take ET home. I think he may have been being honest. Who knows.

reply to post by Bornin66

I think the ex director of the skunk works was Buddy Rich.

No. This is Buddy Rich.

Perhaps you are thinking of Ben Rich. There is no evidence that he ever said that.

reply to post by Phage


I'm not doing to well with names. Yes, Ben Rich. Several other threads on ATS about the statement. All the same I still think we have a secret space program with capabilities to travel our solar system. As for other star systems I think that is less likely although why would we be spending billions on earth and space based telescopes with their primary goal being to find planets orbiting other stars ? Just to know they're there.

reply to post by Phage


I used to watch those shuttles take off when I lived near kennedy space center, I often wondered why they didn't use some of those missions to stage fuel and supply stores in orbit to go further out into space since there would be very little consumption of fuel once they escaped earths gravity.

Who is to say they didn't do that, there really isn't any way any of us here would know, and anyone who did would probably have to observe a rather blanketing non-disclosure agreement.

Maybe I just think too much, maybe not enough.

Phage
reply to post by anonentity

 

I wander just how easy it would be for the shuttle to take a trip to the moon, a burn to go, a burn to slow, and a burn to come back.

Besides the fact that there are no shuttles, not possible. For starters, it used all its fuel for the main engines (and the SRBs) just getting to Earth orbit.

edit on 10/9/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

So couldn't it refuel or strap on a rocket. Yes strange there are no shuttles?

reply to post by anonentity

So couldn't it refuel or strap on a rocket.

Not really, the fuel tank was jettisoned when the shuttle reached orbit. So, why not just keep it on and refuel it? Well, refueling in orbit wouldn't be a trivial exercise but lets say we're going to try it. You still have to lift the fuel to orbit. Your going to need a big rocket (or a bunch of small ones) to do that. You are rapidly running out of any advantage by using the shuttle. You might as well go with a purpose built ship.

Yes strange there are no shuttles?

Kind of sad, yes, but not strange. They were horribly inefficient and served their purpose.

"The last time a human stepped on the moon was 1972. Why?"

And humanoids here is the answer: MONEY, MONEY, MONEY and MONEY!

Communism is essentially dead. The US is no longer competing to prove the superiority of its economic system and almost all of the world is driven by a profit motive. China might be an exception as technically it is still a Communist system but notice most things that you buy are now manufactured in China. I'm sure they will make money on their space program in the long run - they have already out done most of the rest of the Capitalist world. [reminds me of an old cliche: 'clever these Chinese']. But don't give up on the US yet there are several US corporations who are planning to colonize space and make money doing it. Which company is already selling reservations for 'SPACE TOURISM' ? You'll be able to buy a trip into space for about $25,000, cheap if you have the money.

Maybe 65 years ago an American gambler/mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Segal took a trip to Nevada and saw a desert town with some small bars and gambling halls and had a vision - a vision that turned into a multi-billion, if not trillion, dollar mecca for people to spend money and feed the capitalist manifesto - profit rules. The visionaries now who are beginning to sell trips into space know that the future is out there - the potential for profit is there. One day another eccentric billionaire will see a tourist mecca on the moon and it will happen [say a domed city with artificial gravity]. The tourists will go, expensive at first, the price will come down. They came to that dusty desert town called Las Vegas and the'll go to the moon. For the tourist market you'll need some slogans say: 'ON YOUR NEXT VACATION COME TO MOONBASE CASINO WITH AN OUT OF THE WORLD VIEW'. Or for the type who goes to Nevada for the cat houses they can come up with an expression like: "COME TO LUCY LUNAR S' MOON BASE CAT HOUSE", sex at zero gravity an out of this world experience!" And while showing the add you can play "Fly Me to the Moon" for background music.
-AlienView

reply to post by OrionHunterX


Excellent reply my friend. Isn't it nice how logic always trumps speculation. I think that soon, the implementation of H3, will become a commonplace replacement for fossil fuels. Kinda like how oil overtook coal as the primary money-driver.

I can't believe that there hasn't been a private mining expedition though. There could be vast quantities of helium-3, KREEP, Titanium, water ice, and I think LCROSS proved that there is at least small amounts of silver, mercury and gold there, but I guess the cost is still to prohibitive. Any mining operation would have to be subsidized by governments have a large investment group and other sources of income besides just the mining.

reply to post by amazing

There could be vast quantities

Could be. Of course, He3 is pretty useless unless you have a fusion reactor and that seems to be a ways in the future.

It isn't easy to get to the Moon. "There could be" isn't a real big incentive when it comes to the size of the investment necessary. Sure, it "could" pay off but...

In any case, the Space-X prize is a sure thing.
space.xprize.org...

reply to post by Phage

ABOUT THE GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE
The $30 million prize purse is segmented into a $20 million Grand Prize, a $5 million Second Prize and $5 million in bonus prizes. To win the Grand Prize, a team must successfully soft land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon, rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters, and transmit a specific set of video, images and data back to the Earth. The Grand Prize is $20 million until December 31st 2012; thereafter it will drop to $15 million until December 31st 2014 at which point the competition will be terminated unless extended by Google and the X PRIZE Foundation. For more information about the Google Lunar X PRIZE, please visit www.googlelunarxprize.org.

When you consider the cost that really isn't that much and this was offered back in 2008. There are a few billionaires in the space business now [Branson] and they might have their own agendas such as that 'space tourism' for $25,000 a trip that one of the private companies is set to offer soon. I would think that a more interesting, but more difficult proposition would be to offer say one billion dollars to the first company that establishes a base on the moon. Any purpose for this? Exploration and possible mining of resources is possible. But as someone once said about why mountain climbers climb mountains - because they are there! The real challenge of space exploration and colonization is because it is there and it is for an advancing species rather to expand its domain and travel further out. To sit back on Earth and continue to maintain the status quo will lead to human decline and that is the AlienView opinion.

reply to post by AlienView

The real challenge of space exploration and colonization is because it is there and it is for an advancing species rather to expand its domain and travel further out.

Thus, the purpose of the lunar X-prize. An incentive for private enterprise to help extend our grasp.