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US Plans Lunar Motel
OffTheLip writes "The US is planning to build a permanent lunar base which will support future visits to Mars. The living conditions on the moon presents a variety of challenges from medical to construction. Contingency planning would be critical but some feel the challenges presented on the moon will be less than Mars. The moon is closer to Earth, the atmosphere is less harsh and, unlike Mars, water does not exist. Is this the start of the next space race?"
my my my ... poor grammar. "unlike mars, water does not exist"? what the hell kind of statement is that? does that mean mars exists, but water does not?
Wow, an astonishing piece of news - there's atmosphere on the Moon!
This is Slashdot. Common sense is futile. You will be modded down.
The moon has atmosphere now?
What a truely magnificent age we live in.
She's built like a steak house, but she handles like a bistro....
NASA is calling for help from the public in designing and building a lunar base entirely out of popsicle sticks and paper clips.
Yes, the atmosphere is much less harsh--in fact, in simulations, no one who has taken off their helmet and sampled the moon's simulated atmosphere has ever complained. Ever.
I am certainly glad it is less harsh than the atmosphere of Mars, since I still have that image of Shwarzenegger's eyeballs popping out of his head in "Total Recall" when he is exposed to the pre-terraformed atmosphere.
Perhaps hybrid Man-Beasts will be able to farm water on the Moon. I am looking forward to them filling some craters with farmed water, so I can go sailing there. The trade winds are always nice around the Sea of Stoopidity.
some feel the challenges presented on the moon will be less than Mars.
They feel do they? I'm glad we have people willing to know with their hearts rather than think with their heads.
-CGP
Finally a place far enough to go when my ex comes to town.
Fortunately, the article isn't quite so silly, but I'm hard pressed to find a reason why this article should take up space on the front page. It's not news. It's a very vague and somewhat scattered compilation of miscellaneous details that have been discussed over the past couple of years, with a sprinkling cheesy analogies and meaningless opinions on top. This fits better in the category of "Tidbits for people who don't care. Stuff the BBC wrote about last year"
On the moon, The X-4000 Launch Aparatus might actually work as a launch vehicle.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
Narrator: No one really knows when, where, or how man landed on the moon... ...but our Fungineers imagine it went something like this.
Fry: I do!
Narrator:
[Animatronic whalers emerge from a lunar lander]
Animatronic whalers: [singing] We're whalers on the moon.
Animatronic gophers: We carry a harpoon.
Animatronic gophers, Animatronic whalers: But there are no whales, so we tell tall tales and sing a whaling tune.
Fry: That's not how it happened.
Leela: I don't see you with a Fungineering degree.
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
Big deal. The Grateful Dead played From The Mars Hotel more than 30 years ago.
Jeezus! Even KingKong doesn't have that fat hair.
Stolen towels and soap from the lunar hotel would be the pinnacle of my collection!
...But when quartz is freshly ground into dust particles smaller than 10 m...
;)
I think you don't have to be scientist to realize that eating 10 meter wide chunks of rock is dangerous.
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a 747 filled with CD-ROMs.
Two words:
space prostitute
Are not cosmic rays still cancerous and devilishly difficult to filter out. It seems like that more than anything else would put the brakes on long term space vacationing
Au contraire. Offer cheap 3 month trips for all those coming up to retirement age, and they likely won't live long enough to claim their pension. Will do wonders for the demographic pensions black hole that the western world seems to be looking forward to.
"She's furniture with a pulse"
>Construction on the Moon isn't as simple as "dig a hole, plop in base, cover".
How about "light fuse on 1MT nuke. run like hell. boom. plop in base. cover.
-- Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventualy invent UNIX.
I hear they are buying up lunar roadside realty already
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Oh I think I'd love to visit there some time!! Low- and zero-gravity sex has been on my list of things to do for quite some time. Could it be possible in the next 10 years? I hope so!! Guess I better start saving now.
"Uh, does this 'Lunar Motel' charge...by the hour?"
- Capt. Kirk