Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu!v071pzp4 From: v071pzp4@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Craig L Cole) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: best of all worlds Message-ID: <40938@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> Date: 16 Oct 90 13:32:05 GMT References: <10265.2708917a@pbs.org> <1990Oct15.110556.2278@vaxa.strath.ac.uk> Sender: news@acsu.Buffalo.EDU Reply-To: v071pzp4@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu Organization: University at Buffalo Lines: 34 Nntp-Posting-Host: ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4.3 In article <1990Oct15.110556.2278@vaxa.strath.ac.uk>, cadp13@vaxa.strath.ac.uk (Theora Jones, In Person!) writes... >In article , Mike.McManus@FtCollins.NCR.com (Mike McManus) writes: > >(lots of stuff deleted, to save bandwidth :) > Can somebody give me a good (ie not "because it's there") reason why we should >be so desperate to go back to the moon ???? > I would think that the moon has very few advantages over the earth >scientifically, I mean that gravity isn't >that< much less :). > Surely our money wuld be better spent on an orbiting free-flyer like Freedom? >( or perhaps on some form of manufacturing plant, to make semi/super conductors >in a microgravity, 100% purity environment ?) For materials research, I imagine microgravity is definitely the way to go, but the Moon has a lot of other promising uses. One of the most interesting (I think) is a lunar radio telescope. on the Moon's far side. Since the Moon itself would shield such a telescope from Earth interference, a much larger radio spectrum could be scanned. Raw materials will from the Moon will eventually become very useful in space construction. Aluminum, Silica and a great many other ores can be used to build structures in space cheaply, since the gravity well of the Moon toEarth orbit is smaller than from Earth to Earth orbit! I definitely support Freedom (or some kind of space station) but I think the Moon has quite a bit to offer. >PS> anybody out there got any info on Columbus (the ESA module, due to be added >to Freedom sometime in 1995(HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) ) ^^^^ Sounds like pretty old info - since Freedom doesn't start flying till 1996! Craig Cole V071PZP4@UBVMS.BITNET V071PZP4@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU