To the Moon!

Surprise! We are on our way to the moon. We have been living in space for two decades now. The next step, in the planning stages for those same two decades and launching today, is living on the moon.

According to Jim Bridenstine, NASA director, we are “Pushing the boundaries of space exploration, science, and technology once again…” and “America is on the verge of exploring more of the Moon than ever before. This new era of lunar exploration is called Artemis. Named after the twin sister of Apollo…” And “NASA is building a coalition of partnerships with industry, nations and academia that will help us get to the Moon quickly and sustainably, together.”

Why? It’s not the famously flippant answer George Mallory gave to the question “Why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?” He answered, “Because it’s there.” No! the reason for going to the moon is not because it’s there. We are going because of what we know to be there, minerals and an abundant wealth of resources: Silicon, Rare Earth elements, Titanium, Aluminum, Water for drinking and farming or splitting into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, Precious Metals, and Helium-3. Make no mistake, the only justification for the massively expensive undertaking we begin today is the massive profits to be reaped tomorrow.

The only sustainable reason to go to the moon is to recover those minerals via mining.