In my last post I gushed about how exciting it was to learn that the moon contains water and could become colonized, serving as a springboard to further space travel.
My optimism has not changed, but my eyes have opened a bit since then. I was thinking that humanity would expand our planetary footprint to grow and learn…to explore strange new worlds…well, you get the idea.
Then I started reading articles like this one, that show how different superpowers are racing to the moon in an obvious competition. The moon contains water, and some believe it contains a lot of water, which means whoever finds the water deposits and harvests them first will have a leg up over everyone else.
Why? Because water is extremely heavy to bring from the Earth to the Moon, so having it readily available on the Moon itself prevents us from having to incur those costs.
Why else? Because H2O contains the base elements to create rocket fuel, liquid oxygen and hydrogen. Ambitious governments will claim sections of the moon for their own where the most resources lie, and then harvest those resources to build their moon base larger than everyone else’s.
I probably don’t need to mention that the moon is a strategic military location along with our satellites, as they can target specific areas of the Earth if desired. Put a super-laser on the moon using the moon’s own resources to build yours before anyone else can and you have an advantage over other countries.
It appears we are reaching a crossroads of humanity where we can either come together and reach the stars, or destroy ourselves playing king of the mountain.
What do you think? Comment below.
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