Why the Moon (yet again)?
Our Nearest and Dearest
The Moon is this beautiful orb in the sky. A familiar companion to many romantic evenings, it is also the one other place in the Solar System that the human foot has trod upon. We have even driven a car there.
We have been to the Moon so many times, in fact, that it is fair to ask, "Why again? What can the Moon do for us that it hasn't already done?" Again, a fair question.
However, it is a bit like asking, "We have already been out on three dates with this person, what can they do for us that they haven't already done?" This question is superficially reasonable but it completely ignores the enormous satisfaction and depth of experience to be gained by going beyond a mere date and settling down to a marriage.
This website explicitly proposes (ahem) that we of the Earth 'settle down' with the Moon and marry the two planets into one world, a 'doubleplanet'.
Slightly deeper questions might be, "Why the Moon, rather than somewhere else?" And "What could we reasonably expect from such a relationship?" We explore these questions on this page.
The Moon is close. Other places are far.
This may seem surprising. Isn't the Moon pretty far? You can't walk there, after all.
But what do 'close' and 'far' really mean? You can't walk from my home in Yokohama, Japan to New York City (unless you can walk on water, a trick I have not mastered), but surely they are closer together than the Moon and the Earth. Or are they?
Distance is most properly measured in time, not in inches, feet, miles, or kilometers. And not just any time, but the time it takes using the most appropriate or most available means of transportation.
A century ago, this would have been a steamship and the Yokohama-New York City run was reckoned in weeks. But who uses steamships today? Today, we use airplanes and now these two fine cities are only about 12 hours apart (once you get on the plane).
So also with the Moon. The only passenger vehicle that has gone to the Moon was the Apollo spacecraft. This gem of engineering could travel as fast as 40,000 kilometers per hour. The Moon is 400,000 kilometers away so that makes it a 10-hour journey, not including a small amount of time (a few minutes, actually) for getting into Earth orbit, and a little more time to speed up at the beginning and slow down at the end. Call it about 12 hours total and you won't be far wrong. The Apollo astronauts may have taken longer but they were the first and were being very, very careful.
Every other sizable astronomical object is much, much further than the Moon, with travel time measured in months or years, not hours. We will eventually reach these distant places, but we can get to the Moon more quickly and more easily.
So, the Earth and the Moon are really no farther apart than Yokohama and New York, given adequate infrastructure.
Also, the Moon is by far the closest sizable object to the Earth.
This is useful information. It teaches us something about our own abilities and lets us see the problem, and the possibilities, in their truer proportion.
If the Moon possesses such advantages, perhaps we can make use of it somehow. And so we can.
"All aboard! Next stop: Tranquility City, the Moon!"
Boeing 818 Space-liner (NASA-Boeing image)
The Earth and the Moon are complementary partners. What one lacks, the other has.
We do use the Earth, after all. We have been using the Earth since our species began, whenever that was. We had little choice; it was all we had. Fortunately, the Earth and ourselves seem to be well-suited to each other. We have done very well in our use of the Earth and have become a powerful species, indeed.
But the Earth isn't necessarily perfect for everything. It does a great job of giving us air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, and Earth's gravity keeps us firmly planted on its surface. These are all good things.
When it comes to space travel, however, our beloved Earth is not the most suitable place to begin. Well, we must begin here, but it is not the most suitable place to continue.
Why? The same air that keeps us alive also creates a large amount of friction and slows down or even damages spacecraft, whether entering or leaving the atmosphere. The same water that quenches our thirst influences the weather against us at times. And the same substantial gravity that keeps us comfortably on the surface is a positive nightmare for spacecraft attempting to leave that surface.
What we need is a place that has none of the life-giving, but spacecraft-defeating, qualities of the Earth, is near at hand, and is big enough to support a properly equipped human community.
We need, in short, a place with no atmosphere (no friction and no weather), enough gravity to make us comfortable but weak enough to allow easy spaceflight, and close enough to be reachable within a few hours.
This describes the Moon! And further, it describes only the Moon (everywhere else is much farther and many have atmospheres): The Moon is about 12 hours away, airless, and with one-sixth of Earth's surface gravity.
And here is a bonus courtesy of physics: because the diameter of the Moon is smaller than the Earth's, that 1/6 surface gravity is easier to get away from than you might expect.
In fact, it only takes 1/20th of the energy to break free of the surface of the Moon than it does to get away from the Earth. That's only 5 percent! Look at it the other way round: It's a 95% energy discount! Talk about a bargain sale!
It is as though a generous Providence, understanding that we were destined to become a space-faring species, put the perfect helpmate right next door. Whether it was providential or merely lucky, we are fortunate indeed. So let's take advantage of it.
So, what would we do on the Moon? LIve, expand our abilities, and (maybe) star travel.
First of all, we would do everything that first settlers always do: establish ourselves, raise children, build lives, live out our individual dreams. This is what settlers have always done. This is what the early Europeans did in the New World and, no doubt, it is what the original New World settlers did millennia ago when they crossed the Bering Strait.
The Moon is much closer to the Earth (measured in travel time) than the New World, for example, was to Europe, but the story will play out much the same: humankind marches on and creates new possibilities for itself as it mostly busies itself with daily life. Concealed within this category of 'daily life' are many fascinating adventures, about which, more later. Suffice it to say, we will use our creativity to establish humanity in the most dangerous and unforgiving environment we have yet attempted to master. And we will certainly succeed.
All by itself, this justifies the venture. Going forth is what humans do, so let us continue. Great adventure and achievement await us.
After all of that, the next thing that comes to this writer's mind is nuclear rocket research leading to manned exploration of the Solar System, and star travel. The power to visit other worlds easily and freely is like a married couple having children: whole new worlds of experience open up with nearly limitless possibilities.
But can't we do that from the Earth?
In addition to the disadvantages the Earth suffers regarding space travel, most people feel it would be irresponsible to experiment with nuclear rockets on or near the Earth. The danger of nuclear accidents polluting the environment is very real. Even doing such research in near-Earth orbit would be potentially disastrous.
But the Moon is 400,000 kilometers away. That's thirty times the diameter of the Earth. Furthermore, the 3,000 kilometer width of the Moon makes excellent shielding. We can simply locate the rocket base on the Far Side. We can then build nuclear-powered rockets capable of the kind of long, sustained acceleration that will be necessary. Even better, with the Moon as a base, we can experiment with the rockets in high Moon orbit thus ensuring any pollution is ejected out of the Solar System entirely.
The possibility of safely developing powerful new engines is the unique gift that the Moon can give us.
Aside from those romantic, Moon-lit nights, of course.
(Quick look: an actual nuclear-rocket)
(Looking deeper: These folks are putting together Detailed documentation about the nuclear-propulsion system developed in the 1950's. Look down the list, about 26 items from the top)
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