Skuzzy: I agree that there are hurdles to overcome. Never argued with that. But we want to do stuff with current or shortly-available technology, not science-fiction, right?
A power source for the moon is not too difficult. Steam generators. Provide the water, the generators and let the sun have at it. What do you do with the hot steam afterwards? Vent it like the old steam locomotives? You would lose much more water this way than it takes to manufacture water in the first place. Have you ever heard about Carnot cycle? Can you imagine how enourmous the amount of energy you would have to dissipate? Have you ever seen those huge cooling towers next to the powerplants, cooling the water by heating the surroundng air? Or the small rivers heated to uncomfortably-warm temperature even in the winter in the power-plant heat-exchangers?
In fact the heat generated by human bodies and internal equiplent of the cave-dvellers would be a huge problem. Can't use air-conditioner, can't open windows to let the fresh breeze in....
What is the heat-conductivity of the lunar soil? You would not be able to dump heat anywhere else.
In space you will be able to spread a miles-wide metallic screens in the shadow of the main solar-collector to radiate the excess heat. Not on the moon.
Short term outages can be backed up by batteries, which are charged by the generators. Right. The short-term outage on the moon lasts about two weeks, since the moon rotates around its axes once every 28 days or so.
Would you care to estimate how many thousands tons of batteries you would need to store energy requirement of a small industrial city and artificial farm for about two weeks?
I disagree with the asteroid belt approach as the risks are too high. The moon is close enough to make rescue a viable option. Something, unforseen, happen at the belt, and we can kiss them all good bye. Moon is small. Mars is bigger. There will be scarcity of resources. Tehre will be geographically-based states, there will be conflict and war. Forever.
The belt is huge, the mineral and energy resources are unlimited for all practical purposes. The surface area for human habitation can be manufactured almost indefinitely.
The political conflict is impossible because any group that disagrees with another or believes itself oppressed would just disconnect their private habitat modules from the rest and go attach to those who's values they share.
Only belt and further settlements (Kuiper belt, Saturn rings) would guarantee the humanity prosperous existence free from conflicts.
Of course the people staying on Earth and Mars and Moon will be set in their old, political, oppressive ways, not being able to resolve conflicts without oppression, not sharing the concepts of freedom. They will certainly try to exert their influence on the belt settlements with force.
So we would have to nuke all them cave-dvellers at the first opportunity.
hawker238: Miko, to say we shouldn't do something because its too hard now is just ridiculous. No. I am saying we shouldn't do "something" because it's stupid and useless.
Going to space via moon is like going from New York to Boston via China.
miko
