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China going to the Moon?
Topic Started: Dec 1 2013, 02:34 AM (464 Views)
CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

:china: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/25141597 :china:

The Moon could be a "beautiful" source of minerals and energy, a top Chinese scientist has told the BBC.

Exotic materials including helium-3 and the potential for solar power could prove invaluable for humankind, he says.

The comments come from Prof Ouyang Ziyuan of the department of lunar and deep space exploration.

His first interview with the foreign media provides insights into China's usually secretive space programme.

Prof Ouyang was speaking ahead of the first Chinese attempt to land an unmanned spacecraft on the lunar surface.



I'm sure China will be able to get to the Moon easily enough, but it'll probably be quite a while before anyone starts mining or building power stations there.
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Zero Revolution
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^ My thoughts exactly, it shouldn't be TOO hard for them to get to the moon, it's been done before by multiple people, but mining and building power stations on the MOON? I'm sure it's possible, but seems much too difficult at this point in time.
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CJ
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Well, actually building them is something we could probably do at any time. Making them economically viable, however, is another matter entirely. It probably won't make financial sense until we have people living there permanently.
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Hedgehog121
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They'll tank their economy before doing that.
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Mechanized
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Structural wise it would be less difficult than building on Earth thinking of the low gravity i'd assume, but if they were to build solar panels how would they transfer that energy back to a Earth would be my question, however it's not as far fetched as what most sci-fi lovers want xD
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CJ
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One solution for bringing the energy back would be to beam it back in the form of microwaves, and then convert them into electricity using stations on the ground. There's a Japanese firm out there that wants to do that - and supply all the world's energy in the process!

http://qz.com/152384/japans-plan-to-supply-all-the-worlds-energy-from-a-giant-solar-power-plant-on-the-moon/

I just hope they wouldn't end up like Gazprom, turning off the supply to certain countries!
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Hedgehog121
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Yep, tank their economy.
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CJ
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Well, I'm sure they're not going to do any of this until they can afford to do so. It does look like a long-term thing: for the time being, they're just sending up unmanned rovers (a bit like in the Soviet Luna program).
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Hedgehog121
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It would take a large international effort to create a moon base. No nation can do it on its own at the moment.
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CJ
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Yeah, realistically, that's what it'll take. I think there are a few nations that could do it if they spent a ridiculous amount of money on it, but that's not going to happen.
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Mechanized
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Well once whether it's a nation or multiple actually get around to doing it, somebody's going to monopolise it i'm sure
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CJ
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Well, the unmanned Chinese probe has successfully landed on the Moon, and it's sent some pictures back:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25393826

It'll be interesting to see how well this mission goes. I wasn't aware it was the first time anyone had landed anything on the Moon since 1976!
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