It now seems likely that NASA will delay the Moon base it had been directed to construct by the Bush administration:
NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid.
As a believer in the value of space exploration, I find this announcement a little sad. However, it also has the potential to be a positive, since it could help re-order our priorities away from exploration for its own sake and toward improving our space-based infrastructure. We do eventually need a Moon base, but we need that base to be useful rather than just reprising our exploratory glory days.
Vast space to continually, and slowly, expand the plants, as per our needs, over years and decades.
The ability to collect solar energy every hour of every day, as long two power plant centers are placed on opposite sides of the Moon.
With a proper satellite component, the system as a whole would have the ability to send this energy back to anywhere on Earth, anytime of day.
In other words, once such a series of power plants was in place, they could provide the entire Earth with cheap, 100% renewable, carbon neutral electricity, no matter the weather or time of day, for the entire existence of our species.
Not bad. Also, unfortunately, not tomorrow, given the expense and technological problems. However, there are steps we can be taking to build the space infrastructure that would make such an incredibly useful Moon base feasible in as little time as twenty years. Instead of a Moon-base, or a series of manned missions to Mars or Ceres, there are three key aspects of space infrastructure that should be receiving our most far-reaching space funding.
Here is what we should be building before a Moon base:
Developing space-based solar power: Given that both Japan and PG&E are already both investing in it, space-based solar power is on the verge of turning into a new, practical, profitable low-orbit industry. There are still technical issues, so we should provide public funding to make sure that it turns into a realty sooner rather than later.
Cleaning up space debris: If we are going to start producing huge amounts of space and Moon-based solar power, much less maintain the vital space infrastructure already in place, then we have to start cleaning up the space debris that is collecting in low-Earth orbit. Any vision for future space travel and / or infrastructure is threatened by the rising amount of space debris, so cleaning it up is absolutely necessary. There are some ideas on how to do this, but much more work is needed.
Building a space elevator: The final piece of the puzzle for a massive Moon-based power plant will be the construction of a space elevator that would reduce the costs of leaving Earth's atmosphere by more than 10,000%. Such a reduction in costs would make all space-based projects, whether exploratory or infrastructure based, 100 times less expensive. As far off as a space elevator may seem to some, Japan has actually started the early stages of planning one, and some experts believe it could be constructed in less than 15 years.
These three pieces of space infrastructure form a positive feedback loop with one another. Space-based solar power could operate the elevator from start to finish. By dramatically lowering launch costs, a space elevator would make existing ideas for cleaning up space debris feasible. Finally, cleaning up space debris would make both a space elevator and space-based solar power plants much safer over the long-term.
This would, of course, be expensive and technologically challenging. However, it probably be no more expensive or difficult than a manned mission to Mars or Ceres. Better yet, it would leave us (that is, humanity) with a sturdy infrastructure that would make all future space-based projects very cheap, including both the nearly infinite expansion of renewable power production, and also manned expeditions to Mars or Ceres.
Now, it doesn't surprise me that no politician is really pushing the idea, given both that it probably sounds a bit crackpot, and also because it lacks the pizzazz of manned exploration. Still, such an expansion of our space-based infrastructure really does hold the potential for yet another giant step for all of humanity. Let's start thinking about space in terms of improving our infrastructure, rather than just as exploration for its own sake.
STATE BLOGS
