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Glenn Urges Direct-to-Mars Trip
Geno Z Heinlein writes "Reuters reports that astronaut John Glenn testified March 4 before the President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond, saying that Bush's plan 'pulls the rug out from under our scientists' and that 'It just seems to me the direct-to-Mars [route] is the way to go.' Referring to the Moon as an 'enormously complex' Cape Canaveral, Glenn said that NASA might spend all the money getting to the Moon and never get to Mars."
So. why doesn't John Glenn want the rest of us to go to the moon? what's he hiding? WHAT DO THEY KNOW IS UP THERE.
whoops. ignore I said any of that. tinfoil hat slipped
George W Bush's scientific advisors have been urging him to go to the Moon first, as a stepping-stone to Mars. The politics are only just hotting up. More soon.
Any tin-pot third-world dictator threatens you, you just threaten to crash the moon into their country. Not only will they not want that, but their neighbours will probably overthrow said dictator on your behalf as the moon crashing into a country is likely to have severe repurcussions for anyone nearby.
I can clearly see Bush's reasoning on this.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
It's certainly somewhere some mad dictator could, say, stock up pairs of beautiful humans while sending a volley of glass spheres filled with poisonous gas designed to wipe out the entire human race, returning to earth for sexy parties in paradise.
Hmmmm. Where do I sign up?
"No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die...."
From a military perspective, wouldn't a base in orbit around earth be more practical?
That's no moon. That's a space station!
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Strategic deterrant value of the ability to control the international cheese industry. The Swiss and the French would be eating out of your hands for a start.
_O_
.|< The named which can be named is not the true named
That reminds me of a Futurama episode I saw recently (season 2 episode, but new to me). Paraphrasing since I have crap memory.
Fry "The president of the world? What's he to us, thus is the United States!"
Leela "Fry, the United States is part of the world"
Fry "Really? Wow, the future really is different"
The military value is in creating a "death star" by placing a giant "laser" on the moon and deploying two units to run the facility...moon unit alpha and moon unit zappa....
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
Yes, the moon crashing into the earth would cause a catastrophic drop in cheese prices everywhere. The swiss, normally neutral, would be furious.
"Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"
What can people on the moon or Mars do that a robot can't?
Well for one they can die a horrible death from hunger or asphyxiation, give me a few minutes and I will think of a few more things.
End of line
Ahh, asteroids. Personally I think that that's the way to go. Hollow out one of those, make it livable, self sufficient, then whip the fucker out into the blackness. Send hundreds out in all directions, and humanity can spread like cancer!
You forgot to say, "Mister Anderson".
Five percent of one year's DoD budget puts us on Mars.
Are you suggesting that we exploit the "dark side" of the moon to realize a "large moon-like space station, capable of destroying an entire planet"!?
That plot can easily be thwarted by a number of small spacecraft which would be small enough to bypass your large defenses and exploit your criticalities. Duh...
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Any tin-pot third-world dictator threatens you, you just threaten to crash the moon into their country.
Mooning dictators? What have we stooped to?
Table-ized A.I.
The bright side is in a vacuum you can't hear them screaming. Plus they won't be there to bug me while I'm pushing the detonator's plunger, since they won't have rockets to get to the moon.
I can't wait until people are upset that we're screwing up Mars by terraforming it.
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them