Twizter68

As an experiment for the eventual move of Man to other planets/solar systems?

aviatordave

Would I still have to pay taxes on another plant? if not then count me in!

firemanbill

I bet you could get some awesome flight times in 1/6 gravity! crashes wouldn't be nearly as hard either!

And another advantage our lekkies would have over the slimers!

Twizter68

"lec flyers would work, but you'd have to have an atmosphere: that would only go on the worlds that have been terraformed!

Seriously though, Humanity has been in a population boom since the late 1800's, early 1900's; we are living longer, reproducing at an accelerated rate, with less arable land to support the expanding population. We have defeated, through modern medicine, the diseases that kept our population growth in check for thousands of years. Some estimate that in 100-300 years, Earth will not be able to support the population; others claim it will be sooner than that. We abandoned the moon in the early 1970's; had we not, a functional Lunar Colony could have been established years ago, and Mars, and other worlds, would be that much closer. Man must expand into the Solar System to survive; our world will eventually sustain another massive impact such as the one that changed the face of the planet and exterminated the dinosaurs, as well as 85% of all other life.

When will we step out again?

firemanbill

oh you were serious! sorry...

I agree, we are running out of room, if nothing else. Not mention natural resources. I think the moon would have to be the first step. A proving ground of sorts to test out the ideas and concepts before moving forward.

Twizter68

What...you thought I was joking....well...with my history...guess that's an easy mistake to make!

WaldoXerxes

I suppose we'd have to move of the planet eventually, but the only model flying that you can do on the moon that I can think of would be rockets... with canned oxygen on board. Perhaps I'm against the move then

Grasshopper

I think my planes would still pull real hard towards Earth. They seem to be doing that lately.

firemanbill

lol... Keep your chin up Tom. It'll get better.

simibill

How many in favor of Lunar Colonization?

It's a little like the national debt. I think I'll let my grand kids, kids worry about it.

MountainFlyer

But if you're on the moon and they pull towards Earth you'll have allot more time to react since its a quarter of a million miles away .. way less crashes!!

Grasshopper

I think I'm gonna need a better transmitter and receiver

Crash Test Dummy

Personally, I'm against it. Can you imagine how long mail order RC stuff would take, and the shipping costs would be more than your order!!!

CTD

Airhead

I think there is medicine for that now.

Tinman

I wouldn't mind taking a vacation on the moon... but to live there? humm I think i'll pass.

TLyttle

Hey, we did such a great job of screwing up this planet, why not share our inimitable talents? Next, Mars!!!

TeslaWinger

Better check the forecast for Solar Storms before venturing out past the radiation shielding! The future is underground, young Martian Morlock.

In The Matrix movie, Agent Smith said something about the human race being a VIRUS! That is why we have a Pole Shift every 12,000 yrs to wipe the planet clean for awhile for future hunter gatherers to marvel at the Pyramids once again... Nature's Revenge! Sorry, Mars won't escape it either! Best to remain in orbit for a year or so till things settle down, like the Anunaki did...

Martian Colonization? WE'RE DEMANDING MARTIAN INDEPENDENCE! :O

Give me Liberty - or give me OXYGEN!!!!

max-nix

I nominate Al Gore to be the first colonist!

Crash Test Dummy

I'll second that!! Can I get an Amen?
CTD

Airhead

So the mother ship will have a pilot after all.

Tinman

That is one great trilogy!

TeslaWinger

Twizter68;132779 Some estimate that in 100-300 years, Earth will not be able to support the population; others claim it will be sooner than that.

An opinion written before the drastic climatic upheaval we've experienced lately, I'm sure. Factor in wildly erratic and damaging weather and the ability to grow huge harvests is diminished severely. Worse still is the Genetically Modified foods with their terminator gene for guaranteed corporate seed sales next year- with unknown effects on humans and all of nature's plants. The stage is being set for a famine that will kill off billions.

We abandoned the moon in the early 1970's; had we not, a functional Lunar Colony could have been established years ago, and Mars, and other worlds, would be that much closer. Man must expand into the Solar System to survive; our world will eventually sustain another massive impact such as the one that changed the face of the planet and exterminated the dinosaurs, as well as 85% of all other life.

In the 70s they didn't have the technology or experience to sustain and supply a moon base- even if they could have designed, built and delivered one. What they didn't know then about Solar radiation flares would have ended it badly long ago. The science wasn't ready- and digital technology had not yet apeared. The hardware was experimental to say the least.

Today's space effort won't be saving anyone if another Extinction Event takes place and finishes us. If the poles of the sun- and all the planets reverseon December 21st 2012 all that science and civilization will just be washed away, once again, like we were never here... only the Pyramids will remain to again warn future inhabitants of Earth about the recurring worldwide tsunami and the fire in the sky.

When will we step out again?

Our DNA shows we were down to 30 mating pairs or so after one critical Near Extinction Event, the "bottleneck" in our chromosomes that shows how close we came that time.
Maybe in the next 12,000 year cycle they will also crawl out of the caves and become a worthy civilization and maybe even bypass a few mistakes we made along the way- like keeping all our human eggs in one Terran basket!

Twizter68

Yes, but had we continued the Lunar effort, the technology could have developed at a more rapid rate. Technological advances are more often than not, driven by need. From 1901 until the 1930's, open cockpit biplanes were the most prevalent aircraft around; once WWII kicked off, the need existed for faster, more maneuverable aircraft on both sides. Nazi Germany led the way, and aircraft development exploded, with thoousands of technological advances in aviation coming in a few short years. Same with shipbuilding, computers, cryptography, radar, radio, etc. etc. The Space race took us from unmanned, poorly guided rockets in 1945 to men on the moon in 1969. Space tech stalled at that point until the late '70's with the advent of the shuttle, then stalled again. The limiting factor in both stalls was the disintrest of the administrations and the populace to push the program. The drive to the moon, for all intents and purpes, only started in 1961, and in 8 years we were there.

TLyttle

I didn't realise that they had established a date for the polar flip routine; seems to me that the last time it happened was ~11,000 years ago, and the victims pointed to are the Mastodons, frozen solid with fresh grass in their stomachs. That, gentlemen is flash freezing at an unbelievable scale, possible only by exposure to outer space... Even the meat is edible.

Also, a book sometime ago (Ages of Gaia?) mentioned that mankind was an infection, and the Earth (a living, complete, organism) has to shake off the infection when it becomes dangerous to its health.

Makes ya wonder about the worth of your pension funds, doesn't it?

Twizter68

And some theories as to why the reversion happened include a massive comet or asteroid impact. Would explain a few things; continental drift, boulders in places no boulder has a right to be, might even explain the beginnings of the legend of Atlantis. Quite a few religions point to a major natural catastrophy (ie, the Great Flood of Noah). Clive Cussler even wrote a rather good novel about an advanced civilization wiped out by such an event, but based a lot of the fictional story on historical and geological events.