NASA to bomb the moon!

[Luke McAwesome]

The money that is put into space research is a drop in the ocean compared to other expenses such as silly wars. If it wasn't for space directed research we'd be still using slide rules and abacuses at schools and EB would be a physical newsletter. GPS wouldn't exist, nor would most live TV... Follow the link Eilif posted for more details. Even if we did put all the space research money to solve Earths problems it would achieve nothing. It's simply not enough and besides, Earths problems cannot be solved by money alone. 

Well said, Monsieur Polar Bear Walrus.

Let's see what becomes of this... when it's over.

[Big Cam]

Wow, turns out the video coverage was worthless. It was a thermal image which didn't look all that great.

Of course the moon is still in one piece. So that was less than exciting.

[Ratshot]

Of course the moon is still in one piece. So that was less than exciting.

You sound disappointed

Personally I don't like all this "Bombing the Moon".

Why spend $79,000,000 on smashing a rocket into the side of the Moon when there are people starving on Earth

It just beats me.

[Big Cam]

You sound disappointed

Personally I don't like all this "Bombing the Moon".

Why spend $79,000,000 on smashing a rocket into the side of the Moon when there are people starving on Earth

It just beats me.

Haha, not disappointed, just tryign to throw in a little humor. I think I failed.

I also could not agree more with your statement, Governments always seemed to have the wrong agenda, or at least the right idea, but a poor way of going about business.

[Dunjohn]

You sound disappointed

Personally I don't like all this "Bombing the Moon".

Why spend $79,000,000 on smashing a rocket into the side of the Moon when there are people starving on Earth

It just beats me.

You're suggesting they should have slammed the rocket into the starving people? What would that prove???

You also live in Ireland, where as the US is the one putting up all the money, that we clearly don't have. Our economy is in the shitter, our credit card rates are going up, it's harder get get loans, it's harder to do anything unless you already have the money saved, and the government is spending millions and probabyl billions on this endevour. Is it a good endevour, yes, I'm sure it is, but maybe right now isn't the right time.

Fair point, but at the same time, all progress shouldn't grind to a halt when economies go belly-up. Ireland's the same way; worse, in fact, since we don't have the kinds of resources to get back up and running that larger economies can potentially tap. We were one of the first countries to officially declare recession and there's no sign of it abating yet. Also, our government's inept clown : Nobel Peace Prizewinner ratio is rather less stable than yours :) It may seem extravegant to spend such an enormous fund on so apparently insignifigant a project, but like Siegfried said, there are far less-deserving causes recieving far more funding than what I see as the future of the human race.

Incidently, on another topic someone mentioned, the current belief is that the moon was not captured by Earth's gravity, but actually erupted from Earth following an early collision with another planet. The theory goes that the two proto-planets, Earth and Theia, were about the same size and shared their orbits, until they collided. Most of the material was absorbed into Earth, with the "splash" eventually forming the moon.

[JimBee]

The money that is put into space research is a drop in the ocean compared to other expenses such as silly wars. If it wasn't for space directed research we'd be still using slide rules and abacuses at schools and EB would be a physical newsletter. GPS wouldn't exist, nor would most live TV... Follow the link Eilif posted for more details. Even if we did put all the space research money to solve Earths problems it would achieve nothing. It's simply not enough and besides, Earths problems cannot be solved by money alone. 

Also, the faster humans get off this pretty rock and spread the better. It's all too easy for all of us to die out with one stray asteroid and I for one want us to have a better chance of surviving and spreading LEGO to the rest of the universe. To do this we need to practice colonisation and the moon is perfect for that purpose.

Well said. I've already made my point, but I'll just say one more thing:

While colonization on the moon might solve problems, I believe it will create a lot more. Life on earth has been around for a very long time, and we still haven't solved some of the greatest problems. I suppose that's just how it's supposed to be- nothing is perfect- but we can still prevent more problems. There are hundreds of things that could go wrong with space colonization. Space travel is already dangerous for fully trained astronauts, imagine what it would be like for civilians. There's oxygen problems, supply problems, and so on.

So basically, I think colonization on the moon would create more problems than it actually solves.

To be blunt, because you don't care enough. I've been keeping track of this mission for months. The information is all on the web...

Probably. I just haven;t heard about it on the news until now.

Incidently, on another topic someone mentioned, the current belief is that the moon was not captured by Earth's gravity, but actually erupted from Earth following an early collision with another planet. The theory goes that the two proto-planets, Earth and Theia, were about the same size and shared their orbits, until they collided. Most of the material was absorbed into Earth, with the "splash" eventually forming the moon.

I'm taking astronomy/ meteorology, and there are several theories about the moon's existence. There's the theory of Earth and another planet colliding and a chunk breaking off and being grabbed by Earth's orbit. There's that theory of the moon being space matter pulled into Earth's orbit, and the theory that during the formation of Earth, a chunk got pulled of by the force of Earth's rotation. Among others.