How do you feel about a permanent US presence on the Moon?

31 comments

1. Shhhh. We don’t talk about Moon Unit Zappa up there protecting our freedoms.

2. “Most Americans probably don’t even know”

   Really????? Seriously really??? Legit?

   If that’s true… Oh my. That blows my mind lol.

3. I would be for it as long as it was a world wide effort. No US bases, No Chinese, bases no Russian bases. One base were every country can send thier scientists to do research. We don’t need a repeat of “colonization” of the solar system like we did before.

4. I dunno. I assume NASA kind of knows what its doing. If that’s the frontier of space that will most benefit from their involvement, then go for it. I still want to see whats on the surface of all our solar system’s planets and moons, though. So I hope they keep sending out probes, too.

5. The obvious next step in Manifest Destiny

6. I feel like those funds could be better used on Earth than in space, but then again I am sure there is some scientific reasoning that gives some reason for this investment, which is probably better than giving billionaires tax breaks

7. Fun fact, according to the Roman Catholic Church the Moon is part of Florida.

8. >Most Americans probably don’t even know, but NASA plans on returning to the moon next year

   Have you seen how heavily NASA advertises Artemis?

   >How do you feel about the US potentially having space colonies in the relatively near future?

   I want them to annex the vassal states on the earth first. Europe would be a good start.

9. I think it’s going to be a pretty big deal but I don’t think we will have any real permanent lunar bases this decade.

   I think asteroid mining could be a big 21st century thing that gets started and would drastically change the mineral market here on earth. Whoever pulls it off suddenly has the infinite minerals cheat code.

10. Pretty good about it, that means we can try to make the moon a place to live

11. It is our destiny 🇺🇸💪

12. I 100% support the effort.

    HOWEVER, the Artemis program has had several cost overruns and suffers the same reusability issues that the Apollo program had. It just seems that at this pace we’ll use more resources getting there than a moonbase is worth.

13. All I want is affordable Healthcare

14. If we can establish a colony on the moon inside a dome then I would want to live there.

15. The moon belongs to America and anxiously awaits the arrival of our Astromen.

16. As long as they don’t run off with the Moon like Space: 1999

17. If they can blast NFL Sunday Ticket to a moon base, fuck it; send me up

18. I there should be another ISS on the Moon. A universal base that all countries use.

19. Makes me feel kinda weird. I’m properly excited for beginnings of space colonisation. However I thought we’d have achieved peace on Earth before then.

    I thought it would have been mankind taking to the stars, not one country who will definitely use their new position as leverage over the rest of humanity.

    It’s weird.

20. Gotta wonder if the military is in cahoots with NASA on this one. See, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” by Hienlien.

21. Moon laser isn’t going to build itself.

22. I think that would be great. A little costly but it may start paying for itself. For one thing their might be mine prospects, for another a lot of distasteful industry can be shifted off the earth, for another there is manufacturing possibility for some low gravity products (I believe they’ve talked about better ball bearings).

    Besides it’s really cool.

23. As long as they don’t displace the moon whalers I’m fine.

24. I like it. Keeps us ahead of China if we do it first.

25. What would be the point?

26. As an aerospace engineer, I think space colonies are still a ways away. We don’t classify Antarctic research stations as colonies because, although they’re permanent installations, they’re functionally not places for people to live, only to work on scientific projects.

    That is the same function of a permanent NASA station on the surface of the moon. Now, one could argue that having the know-how and experience with setting up an off-planet surface base makes it much easier to establish a residential/commercial presence. While there is some truth to that, consider the fact that we’ve been building space stations since the 70s and (as of the time of writing) don’t have any commercial/residential orbital facilities, and that’s following decades of lowering launch costs and increasing privatization of space. Also keep in mind that the largest private provider of launch services is currently run by a man who is increasingly seen as less stable for investment and more divorced from the interests of his shareholders and customers.

    Perhaps it’s a pessimistic view of the future of space exploration (and I, like many, enjoy a good sci-fi story where humans travel across the stars), but I will remain skeptical of space colonies coming any time soon (within the next few decades at the very least)

27. I mean on the one hand I was told we would have moon colonies back when I was in the first grade so been waiting on this for a while, but on the other hand…why? Like how many people could help here on earth with that money?

28. I think there will inevitably end up being a Scramble for the Moon and it will probably result in humanity finally killing itself off. I don’t think any country should have a permanent presence on the moon. It should “belong” to humans in totality.

29. A permanent US presence, NOPE. A permanent international settlement, YES PLEASE.

30. a waste of money and resources that could be better spent on missions with more scientific merit and better chance of long-term benefit.

31. We have so many more urgent problems to solve on Earth first, let’s get through those first.