I was a small child when we first landed on the moon. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that us poor Earthlings would give up on space and remain ground-bound for 30 years. Now that President Bush has expressed interest in going back to the moon, and then on to Mars, others are starting to investigate the possibility of a permanent lunar station. Following is an excerpt from a Nature column:

The perpetually sunlit spots proposed by Bussey's team could make perfect sites for building a manned lunar base. For one thing, they would benefit from bountiful solar energy.

What's more, climate calculations suggest that they would hover at a relatively balmy -50 ºC. This is far more hospitable for man and machine than the Moon's equatorial regions, in which temperatures swing wildly from -180 ºC to 100 ºC. "It's quite mild in space terms," Spudis says.

More can be found here.

Growing up, I dreamed that I or my children would get to visit, and spend time, at a permanent lunar base. Let's make that dream a reality, shall we?

Posted by: Physics Geek at 03:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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