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this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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If you want to hunt asteroids, go to the moon.
You read that right. What “many Americans” aren’t thinking about is that we are at the bottom of a very big gravity well here on Earth. Launching anything into space, like an asteroid destroyer, takes enormous energy to accomplish.
If instead we could launch from the moon, we’d be able to get bigger things into space faster and cheaper and more often. But to do this we need a base and a way to manufacture fuel. The raw materials are there, but we don’t have any of the infrastructure built.
Eventually we HAVE to get to a point where we are mining, refueling, and building off-Earth. The only thing we should be launching from Earth is people.
The moon is our first stop on this evolutionary path.
Most americans don't understand this, sadly
Happily, though, NASA isn’t run by internet poll 👍
It is ultimately run by elected representatives though. Popular opinions matter
I think they do occasionally toss a mission into the agenda because it will capture the popular imagination. NASA has it pretty well dialed in. They serve science so liberals are happy and they have big explodey rockets and a history of competing against enemies so conservatives are happy. You don’t get to half a percent of the national budget without a good sales pitch.
Asteroid hunting is simply tracking them. You do not need to be on the moon for that. Satellite telescopes would do just fine. Doing something about those asteroids? Having something on the moon could be helpful, sure but getting the necessary manufacturing on the moon to deflect a possible asteroid would be massive and likely not something that we would prioritize considering it would likely be a one off event.
I'm perfectly happy going back to the moon, BTW. I'd prefer Mars but I'll settle for the moon. But NASA can walk and chew gum at the same time. They can hunt asteroids and go back to the moon.
Tracking them is tracking them. Hunting them is intercepting and interfering with them. Which requires launching an interceptor. Which is less fuel intensive if launched from the moon.
It’s true that getting infrastructure onto the moon is a huge effort, but it’s a gateway to everything else we might want to do. Including going to Mars. If you could refuel on the Moon, a Mars mission would be much more viable.