Today: Iraq

[Bob]

I think the idea is to set up the production plants on the Moon. Then the stuff launched from the Moon is simply material that was already there. Of course, setting up an industrial complex on the Moon that is sufficiently advanced to make spacecraft might take more than a few weeks

I was thinking that it might be something like that. Thing is, we don't really know what resources are easily extractable from the moon - undoubtedly some things would still have to be brought up.



The other concern I see is that (ok, it would take a while) but if we go extracting bits of the moon, it has a lower mass. Lower mass = lower gravity between the Moon and Earth = something getting badly messed up.

Ok, so it would take ages to remove enough stuff to make a difference - but has it been considered? When we dig resources up on Earth, it stays on Earth and just gets moved about. But if each spacecraft weighed (say) 5 tons and you moved 100 of those from the moon... Wait, no, this line of argument is silly, you'd have to launch far more than that to make a difference on the 7.35e22 kg that the moon weighs (source). Ignore me.

Also, would you rather be looking up at our current, white, moon with a few grey speckles of craters, or something eesembling the death star all covered in refineries and smelting works, and mines. Is it right for man to make a mess of the moon just because we want to get more minerals?

-Bob