"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
One of the most laughable parts of Bush's speech was when
he said that a human base on the moon would make space
exploration cheaper? Yep folks, according to the president,
a moon base is going to SAVE us some money.
Oooookaaay.

The science behind interplanetary space travel dictates that
a moon base WILL make space exploration cheaper.

The main cost of space exploration is in the booster system
required to escape Earth's gravity. Launching from the
moon's lesser gravitational pull is much easier, requires
smaller rockets, and is thus much cheaper.

Everything launched from the moon will have to be launched from Earth
first. Anything going to Mars will have to escape gravity twice.

We will have to fund two spaceports, one of which will have to be
resupplied by rocket ships. How is this going to be cheaper?
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The only way one can avoid this to have a moon colony which can produce
stuff for the 2nd launch instead of getting it from earth. That means
setting up a self-sustaining moon colony plus more. How long is that going
to take? The ISS is not done, and space shuttle program is in remission.
Wow, talk about pipe dreams. This will be a 50-100 year program. It's
probably a good long term goal, but the timing is a bit suspect.