The Base Race: An Introduction to Moon Colonization, 2004-2030

[omega4chimp]

Its goan get heated hoter then the cold war.

[omega4chimp]

Usa will be the first to go to the moon.

[MsAbbydo]

Yes, He3 will be a future resource for us and the rest of the world. But haven't you people considered Hydrogen fuel cell as a resource for our cars? This can be used even on the moon if people figure out how to re-use the waste thats been used to make the electricity to power the car. So we can mine not only He3 but O, H, and other gases.

[MegaSTARLIGHT19]

Its good that we're going back. Its about time we went we back to see the moon

[dyslexicdays]

As long as children believe death brings a heaven and there dead love ones back to life there will be no future. We must eradicate religion.

[omega4chimp]

Why not just make a rocket fuel pipeline that would shoot off into space?

[SailorBarsoom]

PROBLEMS:

||Helium 3, a resource plentiful on the Moon but rare on Earth||

Only "plentiful" compared to Earth. Helium 3 is thought to be about 0.03 ppm in Lunar surface regolith. That is to say, if you collected a hundred million tons of Lunar regolith, three tons of that would be helium 3.

||Helium 3 is used for fusion power||

No it isn't. Nothing is used for fusion power, because nobody has made fusion power work yet. Someday, but not yet.

[samysasy419]

@SailorBarsoom Yes we have, what do you think a hydrogen bomb is? That's a fusion bomb, we not yet be able to successfully be able to make reactors that can safely produce it, but scientists hope to have the first fusion reactor up and operational in as early as 2020, in France. Look up The Linnear Collider. Like it or not, helium-3 is our only way to successfully free ourselves of oil completely, we can't produce enough of other alternative energy sources like wind or solar energy.

[SailorBarsoom]

@samysasy419

Oh, all right; I have to grant the H-bomb. Can't really deny it, can I? But you can't power a city with it. Destroy one, sure, but not power it.

I do believe that some day, somebody will make fusion power work. By 2020? I don't know; we've been hearing "within twenty years" for forty years.

Helium 3 isn't the only possibility. Search on "satellite solar power stations," "powersat," or "space-based solar power." And unlike...

durned character limit

[SailorBarsoom]

And unlike fusion, all the technology needed has been demonstrated, just not at the scale needed. There was even a power beaming demonstration where power was beamed from one of the Hawaiian Islands to another.

And there's still the problem of He3 being present in amounts of 0.03 parts per million. Even if we had the fusion reactors NOW, it wouldn't be competitive with oil, coal, etc. to process tens of millions of tons of Lunar regolith for each ton of He3.

[samysasy419]

@SailorBarsoom Yes, we can't power a city with a H-Bomb, but if we can harness that power, than we can power the whole world with fusion reactors. The only way we can release that much energy is by exploding it, just like we did with A-Bombs, before we created nuclear reactors. Yes Helium-3 isn't the only possibility, but it's the fastest and most abundant way of creating fusion, our solar panels only collect a fraction of the sun's light, not nearly enough to power any city.

[SailorBarsoom]

@samysasy419

Well that depends on how many solar panels and how big they are. Ten square metres? No, that won't power a large house. A million square metres? Ten million? Now we're getting somewhere.

The sort of stuff I want to do requires a substantial human presence on the Moon, and the processing of a goodly amount of Lunar regolith. If we're going to be processing the stuff anyway, we might as well keep any He3 we find. Somebody will get fusion working, someday.

[samysasy419]

@SailorBarsoom Dude, ten million square meters? Do you know how expensive that would be? Plus, our solar panels arn't very efficient in collecting the suns rays, plus it wouldn't be all that efficient in places like Russia, Alaska, and northern countries where they don't get a lot of sunlight, and winters lasts for 6 months at a time. Mining helium-3 would work for everyone, and it could pay off for itself within ten years time. This is the future, the only future.

[SailorBarsoom]

@samysasy419

[blink]

You wouldn't put the panels in Russia or Alaska. You'd put them in a geosynchronus orbit above the equator, where you can collect eight times as much energy as on the Earth's surface.

And yes, even ten million square meters doesn't require processing thirty million tons of lunar regolith for each ton of He3. Five million tons would give you several satellites of that size, and there's your energy-abundant future.

Really, look it up here on YouTube.

[samysasy419]

@SailorBarsoom Yes, that's a great plan and all, but again, solar panels don't collect the sun's rays as efficiently as we would like it to be, and they are extremely expensive, and won't pay back all the resources spent in developing it, fast enough, unlike helium-3. Solar panels will work, but not as a replacement for oil, once we run out, we're going to need an alternative fuel which will make as much money and as fast as oil does, and solar panels simply won't do the trick.

[SailorBarsoom]

@samysasy419

How expensive is it going to be to sift through a million tons of Lunar regolith for three tons of He3? And according to this video, the United States alone needs THIRTY tons, EVERY YEAR. This requires, not sifting through a hundred million tons, but a BILLION TONS EVERY YEAR, just for the US.

Sorry to shout, but that's a lot of regolith. The Stanford study suggests that four million tons a year would give you six powersats in three years, and a space city to boot!

[SailorBarsoom]

One thing, though: practical fusion will make space travel a lot easier and less expensive, and the powersat plan would make mining He3 more cost-effective than it would otherwise be. So no reason you can't do a bit of both.

[samysasy419]

@SailorBarsoom Glad you brought that up, fusion can also be used to power ships, not just cities, unlike solar sails. Fusion is the energy of the future, it can be used to even power interstellar spacecrefts if we can harness its full potential. Solar energy won't be able to replace oil in a short time frame, instead, it would drag on for at least 50 years, before becoming at all economical. Plus it can't provide an alternative fuel to chemical rockets, unlike fusion.

[SailorBarsoom]

@samysasy419

Solar: exists now

Fusion: might exist in 20 years

But fusion can replace oil faster than solar? Uh-uh. It can't even start to try in less than 20 years, and that's if everything goes right.

Fusion would be very useful, and I'd love to see it happen. And someday, I'm sure it will. But I reject the idea that we can't do anything until then.

[samysasy419]

@SailorBarsoom "Solar: exists now" Dude you just proved my point. Solar energy exists now, yet it has little to no effect on our economy, it costs more than it produces, which is why we are still dependent on oil, and which is why it will never replace oil. 25 tons of He3 can power the U.S. for an entire year, wanna guess how many solar panels it would take to power the U.S for an entire year? It would take 100s of sq. miles of it! And it won't even power our spacecrafts/stations.

[SailorBarsoom]

@samysasy419

OK, you made me google. I did google, and I ran some numbers. Here's what I came up with:

Meeting all US energy needs, including fossil fuel replacement, requires 25 tons of He3 every year. This requires processing over 833 million tons of Lunar regolith every year.

To meet the same needs with powersats requires processing less than 22 million tons of Lunar regolith every year.

I can post my numbers, but it'll take several posts (it's more than 500 characters).

[samysasy419]

@SailorBarsoom He3 may require more processing than solar energy, but He3 produces more enrgy, and and handelled right, it has little to no pollution when being converted to fusion energy. And you didn't address the issue, of He3 becoming an alternative fuel source for our space crafts, which I have posted in a couple of posts now. Solar energy simply can't produce as much energy as fossil fuel does, at least not in a conventional time frame.

[SailorBarsoom]

@samysasy419

No, that was for the same amount of energy, the same 15 Tw the US uses, the same 15 Tw that would be satisfied by 25 tons of He3 a year.

Nuclear power is useful in cases where you need a compact but powerful energy source. This is why military ships often use nuclear power. Fusion reactors, if they can be as compact as fission reactors, would be excellent for this sort of thing. No nuclear waste, nothing to build a dirty bomb out of.

And yeah, spaceships too.

[monokhem]

@photolitherland We probed the entire solar system landed multiple rovers and landers on Mars, and built a space station. If that isn't flashy enough for you at a fraction of the money we put into NASA in the 60's call your congressman because no one has done more, let alone with less.

[ghostalin]

Fuck gravity.

[TeamFocuss]

I like thi

[MIDNAq1LINK]

Well I hope the world governments can pull their head out of their war filled asses and realize we need to work together to get to the moon mining and create a better energy for the world. I don't care if it takes 50 fucking years maybe countries like the U.S. can contribute to this instead of putting all their money towards hating muslims.

[omega4chimp]

I think theirs going to be underground bases on the moon with like solar panel connected to them.

[happyrobot42]

boo nationalism, anyways part time scientists will make it so everyone can has moon

[Cartalucci]

Seeing how the US banking oligarchy scrapped the latest lunar program, looks like Russia, China, or even India will go to the moon before the next American so much as leaves orbit. Fact is - the US could have had a base on the moon 25 years ago - not 25 years from now! It's a result of lack of will/imagination/duty having allowed the US to be run by shifty/shady/cheating scumbag bankers - not real men of vision. We will pay the price for this mistake for CENTURIES to come, unless WE fix it...

[Winner8501]

Oh Gods...

Helium-3 is not "plentiful" on the Moon in any sense of that word. It is *present* in the lunar regolith in concentrations of PARTS PER MILLION. In other words, you'd have to process millions of tons of dirt to get just one ton of Helium-3.

Which, as you should know, we won't be able to fuse in order to produce power for at least 50 years. We're barely able to fuse Deuterium and Tritium, which have much lower "ignition" temperature.

Be realistic, people.

[CoupDeGrace888]

@Winner8501 Have you heard of the "printer" device or process that could be used in colonization processing? From what I heard it uses the regolith of the moons surface turning it into somekind of makeshift building or something. I wasn't really paying attention to details but is that what you were talking about?

[caddyrolla123]

@photolitherland antartica. suposedly using anti grav technology. HAHA, if you are seriously on here asking "why would the govnt. wanna keep that a secret?", then you need to go do some research. thats about the most basic of the basic questions. but its cool tho, do your research, look at ALL the evidence, and draw your own conclusion!

[daFattylover]

Sadly all this about nations working together, won't happen. Nations like China and Russia are willing to admit that and take the initiative to look out for their own. The United States thinks it's some kind of perfect world, where everybody really wants to be everybody elses friend, then the others laugh and take advantage. I think we should colonize, claim and mine the land on the moon for resources; then make the Arabs buy fuel from us for a change. Because no other nation would share with us

[moonus111]

Colonize the moon it would not be the first time that a “New World” has been colonized, only this time there's no Indians...

[jag9998]

@moonus111 Are you telling me you've never heard of Space Indians?

[gorgeousjen123]

I wish more people would support lunar colony projects with good funding. why is the whole human race so closed minded about space colonization when it is not only so cool, but also the next step in our survival?

[davisgreen2020]

Sadly while China, India and Russia see the need for travel and colonization of the Moon !! The USA will wake up to the need to go back to the Moon too late ! The cancellation of Constellation was and is a mistake !!!

[caddyrolla123]

We are already on the moon, with mining operations, have been for a LONG time, they just dont tell anybody about it, lol trust and believe, they are up there, as you read this! search mineral rights, people have already bought "rights" to minerals on other planets, THE WORLD YOU LIVE IN IS A LIE! i cant stress that enough! the true incredible technology in this world is kept hidden, it sux but its true

[dogsbd]

@caddyrolla123

Please, tell me you can't reproduce.

[HeatherMeadow]

You don't believe we landed on the moon? Why don't you tell Alan Armstrong to his face!

[dogsbd]

@HeatherMeadow

Who is "Alan" Armstrong?

[MultiIPwnage]

I am.

[seanotube85]

By 2030 we'll be able to capture enough solar energy from outer space using space panels to power the entire world until the sun burns out (which is more than a million years away btw). And since these massive solar panels would be in outer space, there would be no night time during which the energy source disappears. 1st step: genetically engineer algae/bacteria to produce bio-diesel to transport solar technology into space.2nd step: build space solar panels.last: use energy to colonize space!

[Halo4Lyf]

@seanotube85 Or we could just use fission power for all of that, considering it's mature technology that actually works.

[eacao]

wouldn't say that H3 is plentiful on the moon, its 20 parts per billion. And if you wanted to fill a space shuttle with it (28 tonnes) you'd need to mine 1.4 billion tonnes of regolith to get it.

[Max0Inq]

I don't understand people who say "we pretend moon (or any other celestial body) is ours... bla bla bla climate warming vegetasianism mother earth jesus loves you". At this moment, we are the only sentient race in this part of space so why not to take it? Mining exterrestial resources is the only way to survive. If we had continue to get resources from Earth they would complain we rape our homeplanet or something. Some people just need to cry whatever the cause is.

[velveetaslingshot]

Excellent video. I truly hope that nations cooperate and build an international moon base.

[highlander2107]

@velveetaslingshot bad idea. we need to give the money to private industry so that capitalism can work its magic.

[velveetaslingshot]

@highlander2107 If you give it to private industry they will do what they always do and try to create a monopoly. Then we'd have WWIII trying to fight for dominance of the moon.

[laalalolspop]

@velveetaslingshot If you do there will be probably another Independence War on there. Then a Civil War. Then moar colonization (Mars maybe.). Then moar independence wars.

[Jman999000]

Doesnt America own the moon so all other countries and nations need the US permission to land on it or orbit anything around it too.

[n1bigdaddy]

@Jman999000

they don't own it...

[SierraM363]

We don't own the moon but we are the only ones with the knowledge to land and explore it. I think this is a good thing because I want the US to reap all the benefits of any lunar colonization.

[jackospade1]

I hate china so much

[yasuynnuf1947]

you realize you are part of humanity?

[WARRIOR1125]

Not surprised that humanity's gonna milk other planets and moons of their materials...Not like they're using it anyway...

[jayoung472]

looking back on all human history...know this! i will be glad to witness the begining of another larger step into the "space age".

[MeOwningNoobs]

hey the coldest places in the solar sytems on the moon

[micheals1992]

the only reason its so cold is because it has no atmosphere so it can only heat one side. the max temp is 117 *c (390k) and the min temp is -203 *c (70k)

[lcrosbyclan]

every thing is not a conspiracy maybe people want to explore thats how we are

[a4zk42]

what's the song called?

[danjoe79]

So the next big thing is fighting of the moon????? Humans haven't even explored or mapped the ocean floor of earth and that is a much bigger national security issue then the moon. Thanks for the laugh :)

[wolfang111]

Gravityless war vs Underwater war...

nuff said...

[ecsancho]

No laughing matter, it's actually real. There are far more plentiful resources that are more ethical, powerful, safe on the moon than fuels found here on earth. However true we still haven't mapped the entire ocean floor but geologist and scientist have have strong understanding of fuels found on ocean floors. Why you do think there they are spending trillions upon trillions of dollars on space exploration? To make money, you must invest money first. Don't be naive.

[micheals1992]

that is so true. The first company to start mining resources from the moon or space could become the heart of the worlds economy

[system0system0]

so how many people will die in this war i hope i wont be one .

I hate people . I hate you .

[IAmTheTrueEmperor]

Our whole society is dumbing itself down whilst a rich minority fly away to the moon and live in machines leaving the car driving apes to consume and watch all the crappy day time tv until their brains turn to mush and their atmosphere becomes extremely toxic and hostile to life due to deforestation and continued pollution. There are alot of set backs, I don't want incompetent feckers with bank checks to exploit more of the universe for their twisted narrow scopes of reality. Don't exploit luna.

[kennyk998]

So instead of satisfying humanity, you would enjoy keeping the struggle for items such as coal and uranium. Did you ever hear the saying "when god gives you lemons, make lemonade"????

[GRVALEYSH]

"imthetrueemperor" not a way tho think for an emperor, u c, as the life passes by, who cares about the poor ppl who live in Earth, its machines time, are those who doesnt think in the future of our human kind, only think about "we can use the NASA or Richman money to save the poor ppl" isnt ur money anyway.

why not to think in the destructive nature of the human being, we are not going to stop in destroying the planet, its better to focus in save the human kind moving to another planets.

[1479242009]

finaly someelse who thinks the same thing

[IAmTheTrueEmperor]

That's the worst possible reason to go to the moon, seriously. Finite power supplies is due to the overpopulation of humanity, we can't even regulate our own breeding and are consuming everything on the Earth destroying thousands of species whilst ours in the 20th century goes from 1.6 billion to 6.1 billion. We can run a society on more efficient low abundance energy with fewer, better quality people. Not keeping the lights on for a generation of idocratic morons who are wrapped up in lies.

[GRVALEYSH]

"That's the worst possible reason to go to the moon, seriously. Finite power supplies is due...."

then just dye, make a favor for the human kind and die, cuz that way ure not consuming anything , are u vegetarian? u live without energy or internet? do u know how cos do u bump in atmosphera using laptop?" lol ure crazy, human nature , if u care so much about animals, maybe ure one of those...

quality of ppl, if u give money to the ppl they just ask for more... make me laught

[brucekirk89]

It will be like in the book Time machine when we over mine the moon and it comes apart and messes up the world.

[KaOssis]

So the want to stop the Earth's ocean's from flooding their precious lil underground base's by swapping the Moon's magnetic force's do they; well, Nature will fuck em all, because all they got is reversed psychology and perspective with medical piccie's and vid's from electron microscope's, and underground tank's for their space shot's, loool!

[dekippiesip]

There is ice on the moon, Wich can be used. And you could produce O² by chemical reactions. If you have water and oxygen you could have vegetation.

[Drsatan9]

good point it is possible to start the life cycle on the moon

[IronJackalTw]

There is a lot of problems to these!!

Do the MOON have their own supply of WATER? If it does, then it would a step further into the possibility of building ANY BASES on it, since HUMAN BEINGS working there would need those H2O and Oxygen to even survive!

Next, we need to see if we can grow any VEGETATION on the MOON! That'll be our FOOD SOURCES!

Then, we need to see if we can MINE the MATERIALS on the MOON to build our BASES or even bring them back to EARTH for the PROFIT, of course! =)

[TheFluffyDuck]

what we need is another Kennedy to say "BY THIS DECADE IS OUT WE WILL PUT MAN ON THE MOON".....Not this flippy floppy, "oh sometime in the next 20 years we might do it" .

Nothing gets done with out deadlines and somebody kicking you in the arse to do it.

[GeneralRdot09]

@TheFluffyDuck you got the money dumbass fuck the moon and mars humans belong to earth.

[rossco1966]

@TheFluffyDuck Agreed. His attitude is "please mr china feel free to fuck us over, here have our 40 year lead". Next he will be selling them the KSC as spare parts after the shuttle is wound up. Basically come next janurary, virgin airways will have more manned space launch capability than the entire USA, but that hasnt sunk in yet. And this "commercialisation" BS is further away than a properly funded ARES would have been. Fucking tool.

[Joe35983]

@TheFluffyDuck Strongly Agreed

[johnayerger13]

lets get there and claim the whole rock OURS!!!

[Drsatan9]

rofl i smell a moon war brewing

[sirachman]

Great video, lets go!

[sirachman]

To stay this time!