jay@npois.UUCP (Anton Winteroak) (02/26/85)
Bob Mauritsen asked about the consequences of developing the
moon. This is a subject that I've done a fair amount of thinking about in
the past.
Amoung the things that come to mind are: 1.) The main complaint
about strip mining the Earth seems to be that it makes the mined area
look like the moon. This is not a problem on the moon. Also there is no
delicate ecology to screw up. Also there is no mechanism for disolving
and transporting toxic wastes.
2.) The largest problems that would result in terms of future research
opportunities being ruined would have to do with a surface layer of dust
and absorbed modern gases being created. This would not affect lower layers.
3.) It is my hope for the future that the cost of polluting the
Erth will become so high, and the cost of manufacturing in space so low,
that polluting industries will mostly move to the moon or elsewhere. This
could result in economic problems here for a while, but that would be
a small price to pay for a clean habitable planet.
Of course the moon has some valuable raw materials, but I think in
the long run we will find that it's cheaper to go get a metalic asteroid
and strip mine that. That would certainly be easier than mining Mars.