Quote:
Originally Posted by goof2
We aren't going any deeper in to space anytime soon. That being the case, why take the risk and spend the money to set up the logistics required for something we have no plan of currently pursuing?
Maybe someday we will set up a base capable of building vehicles on the moon but I doubt I will see it in my lifetime. It is difficult enough on earth, in an oxygen environment, with hundreds to thousands of people working on it, to safely build an extremely complex spacecraft. Just supporting the number of people required on the moon for a project of this scale with oxygen, water, and food would require an exponential increase in the space program. Building and supporting a manufacturing facility would require investment of a scale never seen before.
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This discounts two things; automation and telepresence.
It should be an easy sell to the enviro-weenies. "We could move some industrial operations to the airless void, helping us to keep Earth clean."