The practicality of lunar tourism is a function not just of consumer interest, but by the physical realities of the mission. These include orbital mechanics, energy requirements and mission duration. The orbital transfer used, for reasons of safety, would be the same as used in Apollo, the Hohmann orbital transfer, and from that energy and fuel requirements may be calculated. The Moon and the launch site on Earth (or the position of a Space Station, if it was from that that departure for the Moon occurred) would need to be in precise alignment.
Lava tubes are natural formations which follow volcanic activity. A stream of lava flows down an incline, the outside freezes while the interior continues flowing, until the interior is an empty tube. These tubes exist on Earth, and on the Moon and Mars.
On the Moon, these tubes are usually located near the boundaries of highland areas with Mares. Various popular articles have touted the possibility that future lunar settlements could house the habitats inside lava tubes. Tubes larger than 1000 feet in cross section may exist, buried under a hundred meters of hard rock. Continue reading Lava tubes on the Moon→
The Moon is lacking the basic ingredients of life, therefore it will never be a world with life.
For any manned colony in space, the elements of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen are essential to life. These elements are common on Mars. This directly means Mars is a plausible site for manned colonies. It is also why the Moon is Continue reading The Moon is Lacking the Ingredients of Life→
Although anything can be done, and several nations would like to match the American accomplishment of landing men on the Moon, the greater question is “Why?”
The American accomplishment of the Apollo missions simply cannot be matched. Repeating something done in 1969 with a flight in 2019, fifty years later is not matching Apollo. It is repeating it, with all the advantages of advanced technology. Fifty years worth. It is like doing a cattle drive of the 1870s, in 2015. Continue reading Is a manned return to the Moon practical?→
