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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/sci/ - Science & Math

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2209855 No.2209855 [Reply] [Original]

Just popped in from /r9k/,
Why don't we have moon bases and habitats and shit like that?

>> No.2209857

>Just popped in from /r9k/

go back.

>> No.2209858

>>2209855
Republicans and conservatives.....DURRRR

>> No.2209867

Because moon bases and habitats and shit like that are too expensive. The government is too busy giving out money to niggas on the street that can't be bothered to get a job because the government is giving money out to them niggas so the niggas dont need to do shit anymore.

>> No.2209888

the mouth-breathing general population doesnt give a shit about moon bases. if somebody is going to make a base up there within the next 100 years, its going to be owned by a corp

>> No.2209898

>>2209888
That seems to be the way to go. I think spaceflight will become more affordable and efficient now that it's being privatized.

Hell, the only reason the US government went into space was to show off to the Soviet Union. If it wasn't for the Russians, we'd still be here staring up at the Moon, dreaming that one day we would be able to walk onto it.

>> No.2209911

Because tax breaks for billionaires.

>> No.2209913

>>2209898
Yeah, those Russians are a bunch of assholes. Making us do all that work.

>> No.2209921

Because U.S. debt is SO FUCKING MUCH. Trillions n' shit.

>> No.2209934

if you let the debt inflate enough, it will eventually be infinite, and then you can just get the mobius loop, draw a curved line from one bit to the other, and a cross section at the end of it, and all that will be owed will be glenn beck, or Bill o'reily.

>> No.2209945

>>2209934
or the US government could keep getting debt, and build up a super big army. Then they can default on their loans and hurr durr at the world which can't do anything because of their super big army.

The US could also turn fascist or communist for bonus points.

>> No.2209976

>>2209945
This is already the case

>> No.2210014

John Madden.

>> No.2210039

The only possible purpose for a moon base is a space craft assembly plant. But that would not make economical sense until we start making real big space craft.

People couldn't actually live there. Gravity's too small.

>> No.2210126
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2210126

>an ignorant nigger is the president of the most influential country in the world

>> No.2210131

There are lots of expensive resources on the Moon which are rare on Earth, but relatively common over there. So, it would be a good idea to set up some mining bases in the future.

As the poster before me said, this isn't economically feasible currently though. It's just way too expensive to launch spacecraft into space.

>> No.2210168

>>2210131
>It's just way too expensive to launch spacecraft into space.

Haven't you played Policenauts? As far as transporting minerals and stuff it'll be all "mass accelerators" with catchers n shit at the other end.

>> No.2210202

because we are busy spending all our money making everyone feel equal such as NASA's latest mission to the Middle East to tell them about their scientific achievements in the past or how we give niggers jobs and education they didnt earn

>> No.2210222

>>2210202

Yeah, the other visit to the Middle East where we blew a bunch of shit up doesn't put a dent into that.

Damn Nasa for spending our money.

>> No.2210246

>>2210222
70% of our budget is spent on entitlement programs aka social justice programs aka liberal equality fantasy legislation

>> No.2210264

>>2210014
aeiou aeiou aeiou aeiou aeiou aeiou

>> No.2210265

>>2210264
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

>> No.2210347
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2210347

>>2209855
because NASA got their funding taken away when they tried to build space colonies.

>> No.2210351

I'm gonna take my ship to the asteroid belt, enjoy being element poor moonfags.

>> No.2210381

>>2210351
Enjoy your lack of gravity, water, and other volatiles. Also enjoy uncertainty over what minerals are available until you get there.

>> No.2210389

>>2210351
poor in what elements?

>> No.2210394
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2210394

>>2210389

The Moon doesn't have Carbon or radioactives, Mars at least has shitloads of Carbon, an atmosphere, weather, and shitloads of ice.

>> No.2210408

>>2210381
>>2210381
>>2210381

>implying i'll need gravity as a mighty trans-human

And bitch doesn't know about my carbonaceous asteroids.

The moon is slag, good for a science base and not much else.

>> No.2210413
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2210413

>>2210408

This.

Carbonaceous asteroids are best astronomical objects. Too bad it takes retarded amounts of energy to move them to another orbit.

But once we go posthuman, LEAVE THE REORBITING TO ME.

>> No.2210420

>>2210413
Like we even need to move them, build some fucking heighliners then leave forever.

>> No.2210428
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2210428

>>2210394
>>The Moon doesn't have Carbon or radioactives
Carbon was detected in the LCROSS mission in the form of methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by radioactives, but do you mean thorium? Cause the Moon has a fuck ton of that in KREEP deposits.
>>an atmosphere, weather,
Why would you want weather? Also, the vacuum can be exploited for various manufacturing processes. Like making high grade microchips or giant solar concentrators(vacuum coat anything for nothing!).

>> No.2210430

Obongo cancelled NASA OP.

We will never go to the moon again.

>> No.2210434

>>2210428

>Carbon was detected in the LCROSS mission in the form of methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by radioactives, but do you mean thorium? Cause the Moon has a fuck ton of that in KREEP deposits.

But Mars has it in greater quantities and it's all easier to get.

>Why would you want weather? Also, the vacuum can be exploited for various manufacturing processes. Like making high grade microchips or giant solar concentrators(vacuum coat anything for nothing!).

Lunar dust will damage everything. It's not a perfect vacuum, and the atmosphere protects against cosmic radiations that will ionize your precious high-grade chips.

>> No.2210438
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2210438

>>2210430

>ignorant fuck Fox News watcher who thinks Obama cancelled NASA because his log cabin friends told him so

>> No.2210439

>>2210408
>>2210413
So we're just going to wait for the singularity to happen and do nothing in the mean time? Just wait for the singularity to solve all our problems!

Well guess what? The singularity might not happen after all. And becoming transhuman certainly won't be a quick process.

Also why would you even want to move a carbonaceous asteroid? (Also, solar powered mass driver)

>> No.2210441

>>2210439
You don't need the singularity to become a trans-human. by some definitions we already are. Trans-humanism does not equal singularity or even post-humanism.

>> No.2210445

>>2210439

>So we're just going to wait for the singularity to happen and do nothing in the mean time? Just wait for the singularity to solve all our problems!

Posthumanity != The Singularity

Human genetic engineering and cyborging is a very real possibility. The Singularity-fairy coming over and whisking us all away to nerdtopia is not.

>Well guess what? The singularity might not happen after all. And becoming transhuman certainly won't be a quick process.

This, I know, I was just suggesting bro :3 a little bit of speculation is not that bad.

>Also why would you even want to move a carbonaceous asteroid? (Also, solar powered mass driver)

Because they have billions of tonnes of valuable resources, Carbon, Platinium, Gold, not-so-valuable ones like Nickel and Iron, and have very, very little gravity and a high vacuum.

>> No.2210446

>>2210438

>Pro-Obongo furry

>> No.2210452
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2210452

>>2210446

>> No.2210450

>>2210446
...mmm.... no.

>> No.2210483

>>2210434
>>But Mars has it in greater quantities and it's all easier to get.
So how is thorium easier to obtain on Mars? Also why do you even need nuclear power when you have the sun? Oh that's right you're going to Mars where you have an atmosphere.

>>It's not a perfect vacuum
Of course it's not, but it's damn near close. At 1 nPa, you can do some pretty crazy stuff. In addition, at such pressures, it's simple work to get to even higher vacuum.
>>Ionize high grade chips
not you make silicon on sapphire or any of the other radiation tolerant chip designs. Or heck just use illmentite as the semiconductor in your chips. Illmentite happens to be found in great quantities on the Moon and is resistant to radiation damage.

>> No.2210498

>>2210445
>>Because they have billions of tonnes of valuable resources, Carbon, Platinium, Gold, not-so-valuable ones like Nickel and Iron, and have very, very little gravity and a high vacuum.
So why does that merit moving an asteroid? Why not just refine the resources you need on the asteroid, then ship them somewhere else?

>> No.2210511

>>2210498

Because the asteroid would be halfway across the solar system most of the time.

>>2210483

So what are you suggesting? Colonize the Moon for solar power and microchips? You don't need people for that, just send robots to Von Neumann all the silicon, build an Asimov Array, and beam the power to the Earth. Manufacturing and nanomanufacturing works much better, not just in the easy-to-obtain vacuum, but in the weightlessness conditions the Moon can't provide. Say hello to the asteroids, 1.6e13 kilograms of resources and only a few kilometers long.

>> No.2210538

>>2210511
>>Because the asteroid would be halfway across the solar system most of the time.
and why is that an issue?

>>You don't need people for that
Exactly

>>Manufacturing and nanomanufacturing works much better, not just in the easy-to-obtain vacuum, but in the weightlessness conditions the Moon can't provide

Why is manufacturing easier in microgravity conditions(ain't no such thing as weightlessness)? Could you give me an example of a manufacturing process that's easier to do in microgravity?

>>Nanomanufacturing works better in weightlessness
Laughing_girls.jpg Nanomanufacturing doesn't care about gravity. Not one bit. Neither does it work. And bootstrapping nanotechnology is going to take time.

>> No.2210553

>>2210538

>and why is that an issue?

Shipments are more likely to get destroyed, deviated, or just plain lost because they would be Platinium piles with thrusters attached.

And a picture of Robert Zubrin airbrushed on it.

>Why is manufacturing easier in microgravity conditions(ain't no such thing as weightlessness)? Could you give me an example of a manufacturing process that's easier to do in microgravity?

Well, there's steel foam, I think it's called that, you could make it in microgravity because there would be no "down" for the bubbles to go.

>And bootstrapping nanotechnology is going to take time.

Not as long as you think.

But long enough.

>> No.2210603

>>2210553
>>Well, there's steel foam, I think it's called that, you could make it in microgravity because there would be no "down" for the bubbles to go.
Except that metallic foams are currently made in Earth gravity conditions.
Also Manufacturing Routes for Metallic Foams say that some of the challenges with metals foams are:
"Difficulties in finding applications for metallic foams. Beside some niche-market applications there is no real industrial application of metallic foams at the moment."

>>Not as long as you think.
Well first diamonoid mechanosynthesis needs to be experimentally proven, as in proven in lab experiments and not just computational chemistry. This is complicated by the fact that the tooltips required to do so are difficult to make, have a limited lifetime, and the fact that mechanosynthesis work isn't that well funded. It's going to time for mechanosynthesis to be accepted.

>> No.2210623

>>2210603

>"Difficulties in finding applications for metallic foams. Beside some niche-market applications there is no real industrial application of metallic foams at the moment."

Consider lasers. They were a solution looking for a problem, when they were invented, and they eventually became used in everything from lasers to fusors.

>Well first diamonoid mechanosynthesis needs to be experimentally proven, as in proven in lab experiments and not just computational chemistry. This is complicated by the fact that the tooltips required to do so are difficult to make, have a limited lifetime, and the fact that mechanosynthesis work isn't that well funded. It's going to time for mechanosynthesis to be accepted.

Didn't Drexler just say diamond mechanosyntheses is not the first step?

>> No.2210653

>>2210623
>>Didn't Drexler just say diamond mechanosyntheses is not the first step?
Well if you want a nanofactory that can make 'anything' then you need diamonoid mechanosynthesis.

>> No.2210666
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2210666

>>2210653

Well gee I know. It would be nice if people would get over the gray goo nonsense.

>> No.2210676

>>2210666
Grey goo nonsense doesn't matter, it's the overall skepticism of diamonoid mechanosynthesis that's slowing things down. Of course, diamonoid mechanosynthesis might end up being impossible.

>> No.2210928

>>2210676

@;_;@

>> No.2211038
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2211038

>>2209858
Really? I though it's all because of all the sane people.
Want a base on the moon because of you childish SPACE ADVENTURE fairy tales? Chip in with the other idiots and build that shit.
Just don't fucking tax me - I don't get that much money trying to cure cancer, you know.

I'd also recommend reading what Charles Stross, a guy who writes sci-fi for living thinks about space colonization:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the_high_frontier_redux.html

Not feasible in our lifetime