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AnswerRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
Foothill2-Aug-17 11:34
professionalFoothill2-Aug-17 11:34 
GeneralRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
PIEBALDconsult2-Aug-17 13:51
mvePIEBALDconsult2-Aug-17 13:51 
AnswerRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
OriginalGriff2-Aug-17 20:15
mveOriginalGriff2-Aug-17 20:15 
AnswerRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
Mark Parity2-Aug-17 21:15
Mark Parity2-Aug-17 21:15 
AnswerRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
Eddy Vluggen2-Aug-17 22:42
professionalEddy Vluggen2-Aug-17 22:42 
JokeRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
Nelek3-Aug-17 0:12
protectorNelek3-Aug-17 0:12 
AnswerRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
Marc Clifton3-Aug-17 2:05
mvaMarc Clifton3-Aug-17 2:05 
GeneralRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
Peter Wone4-Aug-17 1:48
Peter Wone4-Aug-17 1:48 
100% reliant on shipments from Earth? That's not even close to true, for the moon at least. There are billions of tonnes of water ice as asteroids. A drone with some simple dirty reactors could use some of that water as reaction mass simply by heating it to steam in a hole - and the hole could be dug with the reactor on low.

Once you have ample water ice orbiting the sun near the Earth the whole game changes. You can use it for reaction mass. You can crack it to oxygen and hydrogen with a platinum catalyst and UV radiation from the sun (pretty strong out there). That gives you ample thrust and reaction mass, plenty of air and water, ablative shielding, ice shielding for larger reactors and surplus hydrogen that's sure to be useful for something.

Start mining metals on the moon instead of hauling them up out of the Earth's gravity well and it won't be long before you are in a position to build spaceships like battleships instead of soda cans. Not to mention a stronger military position since any missile would stagger slowly up out of the gravity well on an extremely predictable arc, unable to dodge if you throw rocks at it and with several days notice.

By contrast, if you were really annoyed, a 50 tonne rock would be an extinction event for the groundhogs. Who knows, maybe that's what happened 65 million years ago.

PeterW
--------------------
If you can spell and use correct grammar for your compiler, why should I tolerate less?
AnswerRe: Moon or Mars? Pin
Paul Kemner8-Aug-17 5:33
Paul Kemner8-Aug-17 5:33 
GeneralPot-luck lunch Pin
R. Giskard Reventlov2-Aug-17 9:36
R. Giskard Reventlov2-Aug-17 9:36 
GeneralRe: Pot-luck lunch Pin
RickZeeland2-Aug-17 9:56
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Tony Foo2-Aug-17 19:00
professionalTony Foo2-Aug-17 19:00 
GeneralRe: Pot-luck lunch Pin
GenJerDan2-Aug-17 19:44
GenJerDan2-Aug-17 19:44 
GeneralRe: Pot-luck lunch Pin
Marc Clifton3-Aug-17 2:08
mvaMarc Clifton3-Aug-17 2:08 
GeneralRe: Pot-luck lunch Pin
R. Giskard Reventlov3-Aug-17 5:03
R. Giskard Reventlov3-Aug-17 5:03 
GeneralA reading vs. programming question. Pin
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 8:34
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 8:34 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
RickZeeland2-Aug-17 8:57
mveRickZeeland2-Aug-17 8:57 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 9:29
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 9:29 
AnswerRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
RickZeeland2-Aug-17 9:35
mveRickZeeland2-Aug-17 9:35 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 9:48
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 9:48 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
RickZeeland2-Aug-17 9:50
mveRickZeeland2-Aug-17 9:50 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 10:00
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 10:00 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
raddevus2-Aug-17 10:11
mvaraddevus2-Aug-17 10:11 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 16:38
Brady Kelly2-Aug-17 16:38 
GeneralRe: A reading vs. programming question. Pin
BillWoodruff2-Aug-17 21:54
professionalBillWoodruff2-Aug-17 21:54 

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