Comment on Underground caves do exist on the Moon, radar observations confirm
MonkderDritte@feddit.de 2 months agoI don’t get what would be the benefit, really. Scientific research, sure. But do we need monkeys on sight?
Moon mining, likely yes.
LordWiggle@lemmy.world 2 months ago
When we send monkeys to the moon, we will send robots first to autonomously / remotely controlled build a base. All so we can send people, who will have to wear suits costing millions of dollars each which will wear and tear extremity fast with the sharp regolith on the moon (the old moon suits could only last roughly 2 days, the new anti static suits just developed can only last a few days longer). And we want them to mine? When we can send robots to build a habitable base, we can send robots to mine. No monkeys needed. There is literally no benefit in sending humans, it only complicates everything to an extreme level, makes everything way more expensive and increases the risk factor exponentially. When we can work with rovers on Mars with an extreme time delay, we can work with the minor delay to the moon.
Remember, a human needs a precise climate. The right type of air, water, temperature, humidity, but also food, radiation protection, dust protection, human waste management, redundancy in case of a failure, physical and mental health care, physical exercise. For transport back and forth, re-entry into our atmosphere and for survival on the moon. A robot needs a connection, radiation protection, temperature control, dust protection, only a one way trip. If it breaks, we just send a new one. No return needed, no precious climate control just to keep it alive.
We still sometimes use humans for mining on earth because often it’s cheaper (in third world countries), while machine mining is still way more efficient. Humans for mining on the moon is much more expensive, so a dumb choice.
We also use humans in rich countries for mining, but they are just controlling heavy machines. It’s less complicated to use humans instead of remote controlling machines deep underground. This benefits do not apply on the moon, a control relay is cheaper then a human.
The only reason I can think of for humans on the moon would be for repairs. But remote controlled repair stations are also possible, so no humans needed for that either. Maybe less repair capabilities possible but it is still cheaper to send a new machine then to send a human.