@faustosterling Just as a suggestion, but how about we stop all missions to the moon. It would be obscene to mine it. It is absurd to keep sending things to it. Space tourism would be a way to kill a few billionaires, but I cannot think of any other good reason to continue it.
@ArchaeoIain@faustosterling Is science not a good reason to continue sending? An entire community of planetary and lunar scientists would vehemently disagree with your suggestion. They are not in it for the mining, the tourism, the billionaires, or colonialism. We have learned a lot from lunar missions, about the solar systems, the earth, its formation, and there is more to learn. We don’t have to succumb to the “new space” articulation of the moon’s value.
Ah, @faustosterling no worries, it wasn’t you, I was responding in thread to @ArchaeoIain ‘s suggestion, itself in response to your post, that we just stop sending things to the moon entirely.
@faustosterling NASA and the Navajo dealt with this fifteen years ago, when the lunar impactor also brought the ashes of a famous Apollo era scientist to the moon. The issue was considered settled, but this round of Artemis contracts with private companies distributes and obscures blame. New corps are paid by NASA as part of this divestment of space exploration to the “cheaper” private sector, but have no relationship with the Navajo. And part of making it “cheaper” is selling one way tickets.
@faustosterling Small consolation to the Navajo, but Peregrine sprung a gas leak when they got into low earth orbit and never made it to the moon. They crashed it back down to earth and all those remains burned up in the atmosphere along with all the equipment. Proving yet again in the history of space exploration that of “faster, better, cheaper” you must pick two!
(Sending a wave from your friendly neighbourhood STS sociologist of science working with NASA :)
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