NASA hits nail on head with moonbase

Stan Beer
Sunday, 10 December 2006 10:18

Opinion and Analysis

Whenever I hear the moronic prognostications of narrow minded luddites who would thwart the long overdue plan of NASA to return to the moon and establish a permanent base there, I think back to that day in 1969 when the world as one watched with pride at man's awesome achievement.

About 25 years later, I had the privilege of being an invited journalist in the audience at an IBM sponsored event where Neil Armstrong spoke of his experiences during the Apollo 11 mission. Mr Armstrong told us that the onboard computer of his spacecraft did not even have the power of a modern day (1994) calculator. The communications systems, the technology available to NASA at that time was absolutely primitive by today's standards.

I could not help thinking at the time how idiotic we were, given the giant strides in computer and communications technologies since the last moon mission in 1972, not to go back there. Even more idiotic was the decision to abandon the program in the first place.

Virtually all the giant strides in space technology, including satellite communications, resulted from the original NASA program and so-called space race with the Soviet Union, which first put un-manned satellites into orbit and culminated with the moon landings. Since the last moon landing, progress has been made to be sure. However, compare the progress of the past 34 years to that of the 13 years between Sputnik in 1956 and the moon landing of 1969.

The luddites argue that we should first concentrate on fixing the problems on earth before we even consider spending money on manned space exploration. Well luddites, if that's the case, we'll never go anywhere. There will always be problems to be fixed on earth. There has never been a moment in our history where there has been universal peace, prosperity, and egalitarianism. That's not earth; that's a utopian ideal.

I hear some of the luddites argue that there is more value in unmanned space exploration. A space telescope enabled astronomers to see how a black hole destroys a star. Well whoopee doo! A manned mission to the moon may lead to discoveries of valuable mineral deposits and lead to the development of scientific and engineering processes that are actually of some benefit to mankind.

Un-manned space missions, such as the Mars Global Surveyor, are fine so long as they benefit future manned explorations. The fact that an un-manned mission was able to discover the possibility of water flowing on Mars is a perfect example.

The problem with the luddites who would keep us earth bound is that they don't understand the human need to reach out into the unknown and the enormous benefits that occur as a side effect. Early seafaring explorers who circumnavigated the globe discovered new lands, redrew maps and helped to improved navigation systems. Likewise, manned space exploration will lead to the development of new technologies, new processes and perhaps even the discovery of new resources.

Perhaps most importantly, however, mankind reaching outward toward a common almost but not quite unnattainable goal, can serve to rekindle the human adventurous spirit that binds us all together on spaceship earth. It is a spirit that has lain dormant since Apollo 17 returned home 34 years ago.