Chinese probe lands on the dark side of the moon, no Nazis found

[GoTfan]

Please let this lead to a renewal of interest in competition via a space race, NASA's budget is ridiculous and only keeps getting smaller. There are so many potential resources out there, not to speak of all the undiscovered knowledge.

We just announced we're going back to the moon.  link

And how many different announcements does that make over the last few decades?

The problem is that there isn't a good compelling reason to send men instead of machines to explore anywhere in the solar system these days. Anything men can do, machines can do cheaper. The only reason to send men is to colonize, not explore. The only even marginally colonizable world at present is Mars and we don't need to return to Luna in order to plant a colony on Mars.

It's good pracitice for Mars and it's much easier to get to Mars from the Moon than from Earth.

Getting to Mars isn't the problem. We know how to get to Mars. The problem is getting back.

[GoTfan]

Please let this lead to a renewal of interest in competition via a space race, NASA's budget is ridiculous and only keeps getting smaller. There are so many potential resources out there, not to speak of all the undiscovered knowledge.

We just announced we're going back to the moon.  link

And how many different announcements does that make over the last few decades?

The problem is that there isn't a good compelling reason to send men instead of machines to explore anywhere in the solar system these days. Anything men can do, machines can do cheaper. The only reason to send men is to colonize, not explore. The only even marginally colonizable world at present is Mars and we don't need to return to Luna in order to plant a colony on Mars.

It's good pracitice for Mars and it's much easier to get to Mars from the Moon than from Earth.

Getting to Mars isn't the problem. We know how to get to Mars. The problem is getting back.

That's exploration not colonization. If we ever send men to Mars, it should be to start a permanent colony of people who will live there the rest of their lives.

You have to explore before you colonise.