LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Far from being a post-Apollo "been there, done that" world, the Moon, Earth's celestial neighbor is now attracting entrepreneurs, architects, scientists and lawyers, along with tourism planners - all resolute in returning …but this time to stay.
| Reaching for Club Luna |
It is estimated that a lunar colony first mission or a human mission to Mars would require 1 million pounds of material to be transported into Earth orbit.
At today's prices of $10,000 a pound, that results in a cost of $10 billion just for space transportation. |
To cut costs, it's time to build a "Bridge to Space", said Walter Faulconer, a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) expert at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado.
One way to reduce payload launch costs well below today's conventional launch
systems uses a space elevator concept. A Bridge to Space could drop that price to just $300 million, or the price of one space shuttle flight, Faulconer said. |
[WATCH VIDEO] |
As the rocket flies, the Moon is just a scant three days away. Harsh, barren and crater-pocked as it is, self-styled "lunatics" believe the Moon's landscape can be transformed into a continent for creativity. Right now it's only the partially used stomping grounds of a dozen come-and-gone astronauts.
Between July 19-21 these pioneers met in Las Vegas to strategize, plot and plan how best to spur into being government-commercial facilities on the Moon. The conference -- Return to the Moon III -- was sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation, a space activist group.
Club Med for the Moon
"We have the beginning of a very workable plan to return to the Moon," said Rick Tumlinson, Foundation President. Spotlighted at the meeting was the goal of planting a 50-person habitat on the Moon by the year 2020.
The facility would be a government-commercial venture, said James Busby, Lunar Programs Director for the Foundation. "It would provide for scientific research and exploration in such fields as Helium 3 mining and farside radio and optical astronomy, and whatever the Earth might wish to purchase," Busby said.
"Over the next few years, we will develop the plan further and move it toward reality. It is humanity's birthright and we plan to see it through to its reality," Tumlinson said. "The Moon is one of the threads in the tapestry of the future that we're trying to weave," he said.
Building momentum
There is no lack of ideas about utilizing the Moon, 21st century style.
Use it as a power plug in the sky to help satisfy Earth's energy needs, a haven for scientific research, perhaps a Club Med tourist stopover, or a lookout and warning post for incoming comets and asteroids - the Moon offers it all.
"For the next grand stage of space exploration and development, the combination of advantages of the Moon places it far ahead of all other sites," said David Shrunk, a physician, writer and lunar advocate in San Diego, California. "My impression is that momentum is slowly building for bringing the Moon into focus as the logical follow-on to the International Space Station," he said.
Tagged as one of the "dusty dozen" of Apollo moonwalkers, former astronaut John Young said there's a lot of exploration left to do on the Moon. He is presently NASA Associate Director (Technical) at Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas.
"The Moon is a very big place. There's 14,500,000 square miles of territory. You've got a lot of looking to do to see it all," Young explained. His reaction now when looking at the Moon is puzzlement why America doesn't have a base there.
Next page: Balance of life
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