Trei, Peter (2004-01-15 21:39Z) wrote: > >Does anyone think it will take less than trillions > >of dollars to establish a moon base? > > The more realistic numbers I've heard are $400 billion > for a moon base, double that for a Mars mission. I don't > know the incremental cost to sustain the moonbase.
Realistic? I haven't seen "moon base" defined yet. $400 billion for ISS-on-the-Moon, sure. $400 billion for a useful Moon base? I doubt it, but I admit my $1T+ guess is just as arbitrary. It could be $100B if NASA forces a bunch of engineers to work for no pay, if we steal resources from 3rd world countries, and if we staff the mission with Islamic astronauts who don't have any problem dying. It could also be $10T, depending on what "Moon Base" really means. > Interesting OpEd piece in the NYT today pointing out that > a manned Mars expedition becomes *much* more affordable if > no return trip is planned. This is obvious. More affordable, but more risk. We might end up with a bunch of dead Mars colonist-hopefuls. > Frankly, I'd like to see Mars terraformed - start by diverting > a comet or two to strike it and thicken the atmosphere so things > warm to the point where only respirators and warm clothing are > needed instead of spacesuits. How could we possibly divert comets accurately, or even reliably? How would a comet impact help the situation?
