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China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

bbc.com

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Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#121

Post by Novashi »

worldsayshi wrote: post #2

To me it seems that the greatest obstacle to space colonization would be maintenance and production of materials and technology needed to sustain and expand the colony. Seems like the last step for truly becoming self sustaining. You'd need extremely small scale factories that can build everything needed for a modern civilization. I wonder what that would take. What the smallest amount of shipments and time would be.…

I think we’ll see robust shipping routes before completely self-sustaining colonies. To the point where missing 2-3 shipments isn’t a huge deal.

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#122

Post by rbanffy »

Symmetry wrote: post #117
rbanffy wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some caves on the moon that provide shielding and, probably, water since they have perpetual shadow inside them. They can be very attractive places to build future colonies.

And if you don't have caves you can just pile dirt on top of your habitats. Dirt is one potential export from a lunar settlement. Everywhere outside the Van Allen Belt needs radiation shielding and dirt doesn't mind being violently accelerated in a mass driver.

Dirt is abundant near every solid surface. Not sure it's a valuable commodity but regolith glass would be more interesting. I'm curious about the metallurgical processes we can do easily on the moon.

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#123

Post by KMag »

simion314 wrote: post #49
worldsayshi wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, becoming 100% self sufficient wouldn't be a reasonable short term goal but I can't imagine there being any product worth trading in the long term over such distance and given such cost for logistics?

I imagine that in the beginning you will have mostly scientific facilities , like telescopes on the dark side of the moon(you will need scientist, technicians and other stuff around this big telescopes). There could also be facilities for experiments that can't be done on Earth, like things that can grow better on low gravity, there may be materials/gases that are rare on Earth and we could grab from asteroids so hav…

> the dark side of the moon

BTW, this isn't a real thing

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#124

Post by dragonwriter »

KMag wrote: post #123
simion314 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that in the beginning you will have mostly scientific facilities , like telescopes on the dark side of the moon(you will need scientist, technicians and other stuff around this big telescopes). There could also be facilities for experiments that can't be done on Earth, like things that can grow better on low gravity, there may be materials/gases that are rare on Earth and we could grab from asteroids so hav…

> the dark side of the moon BTW, this isn't a real thing

> BTW, this isn't a real thing

Yes, the dark side of the Moon is a real thing. It's the side that doesn't get Earth-lit nights.

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#125

Post by Jaruzel »

dotancohen wrote: post #118
pluma wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> shitistan Seriously? This isn't 4chan.

That's funny, I really thought that I just coined the word. I guess that rule 34 really applies!

It's more to do with dissing any -stan country by using the phrase I reckon. I think we strive to be better than that here.

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#126

Post by cpeterso »

simion314 wrote: post #4
worldsayshi wrote: post #2

To me it seems that the greatest obstacle to space colonization would be maintenance and production of materials and technology needed to sustain and expand the colony. Seems like the last step for truly becoming self sustaining. You'd need extremely small scale factories that can build everything needed for a modern civilization. I wonder what that would take. What the smallest amount of shipments and time would be.…

But why should you have a 100% complete industry, a colony can trade with Earth like countries trade with each other, a colony could trade some rare resources and buy high tech stuff. The main obstacle a colony will have is the initial buildings/bunker with all the life support and safety tech, plus extra redundancy and a backup plan if something bad happens there or on Earth . If the colony would manage to generate…

Robert Heinlein's novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress has a lot to say about a space colony (in this case, on the moon) depending on resources from Earth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#127

Post by CodeSheikh »

Is it a misleading article since every thing happened in a contained simulated environment and NOT on the Moon? "The plants are in a sealed container on board the lander. The crops will try to form a mini biosphere - an artificial, self-sustaining environment." Only takeaway I can think of is the growth possible in a low-gravity environment

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#128

Post by aristophenes »

lawlessone wrote: post #32
richardknop wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Water possibly could be of great value in the future? Moon has plenty of drinking water. Maybe gold, not sure if there’s gold on the Moon?

Desalination is expensive but i think it might be cheaper than moon water.

I was about to upvote you, then realized desalinization is not even expensive anymore. Shipping water from the moon to earth is just a really really bad idea. Ha, even burning the fuels to send the rockets into space would create more water here on earth than we could bring back. Fuel + Oxygen --> carbon dioxide + water

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#129

Post by aristophenes »

richardknop wrote: post #18
worldsayshi wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, becoming 100% self sufficient wouldn't be a reasonable short term goal but I can't imagine there being any product worth trading in the long term over such distance and given such cost for logistics?

Water possibly could be of great value in the future? Moon has plenty of drinking water. Maybe gold, not sure if there’s gold on the Moon?

Pure drinking water literally falls from the sky on this planet.

Re: China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

#130

Post by A2017U1 »

stubish wrote: post #13
worldsayshi wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, becoming 100% self sufficient wouldn't be a reasonable short term goal but I can't imagine there being any product worth trading in the long term over such distance and given such cost for logistics?

Maybe nothing worth shipping back to earth, but perhaps resources for shipping to orbit. Fuel, space ship components, or entire ships or satellites. If nothing else, there is real estate. Might not be worth much, but there is a lot of it.

> Maybe nothing worth shipping back to earth

Helium 3 is certainly worth shipping even at a premium.

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