SPS doubts

> On this I disagree. The Chinese are a very ambitious people, and seldom
> commit to things that they do not intend to follow through (unlike the wishy
> washy Americans). They have stated that the moon is their goal. This has all
> the potential to Spark a new space race with the U.S. And despite being
> wishy washy, the Americans can muster a hell of lot of oomph when it comes
> to a race. Perhaps this will propel us towards other goals...

It may be true, but then it will be space colonization boosted by
politics and nationalism - and nationalism can be as powerful as any
other faith. But I was saying that without SPSs there would be few
*economic* justifications for space colonization - and that would not
preclude a space colonization powered by nationalism/politics. Let cross
our fingers so that a "Crusade to Space" comes to reality.

> Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the moon depleted of the heavier
> elements such as those necessary for fission? I have no idea, but it
seemed
> that it be that way. Not that we can't ship that stuff there (imagine
the
> enviro outcry on THAT).

True, the Moon is less dense than the Earth (and therefore its bulk was
formed by less dense elements), but on the other hand it is heavily
impacted by asteroids and, unlike Earth's, its crust is not "recycled"
from times to times - so my expectation is that you can find *any* kind
of ore at crater bottoms and rays of crater ejecta. But I have to stress
that at this point it is just a hypothesis of mine and we will have to
wait some serious lunar prospection (including underground sampling) to
come to an answer.

> Hey, now there is a good plot for a Flash Gordon movie!

I don't think so - this is too hard science fiction for Flash Gordon. :-)