Posted by
Bill Crawford on Sunday, November 15, 2009 2:14:27 PM
The biggest news of the year was the deliberate rocket crash last month into the southern pole of the Moon. It raised a pile of debris, including a significant amount of crystallized water.
The pole area was chosen because it had not seen direct sunlight in at least two billion years, and was at a constant -230 degrees Farenheit. This means that any surface water would not have long since been cooked off by the sun.
The presence of water is the single factor that makes a permanent lunar colony worthwhile. Water is the single most cumbersome life support material to ship there, and when it is broken down into it's components, there is a plentiful source of fuel available.
When a base is established, it provides the most constuctive platform available for launching to other places. The low lunar gravity is far better for launching than Earth, and any terrain base is better for long term projects than anything done in orbit.
So let's get the economy restarted and get on it. Oh, wait- that's at least two years off, and possibly longer. Oh, well.