Return to the Moon may help earthlings

摘要

Should humans return to the Moon? The arguments against are reasonably strong.The Moon has already been visited and nothing found there detained the visitors. Interesting lunar science could be done by people on the Moon, but much the same science could also be done by robots - and the world is full of interesting science that doesn't get done, because the world is almost infinitely interesting. Its wonders leave science spoilt for choice; as long as the science that gets chosen is good stuff, there's little point in worrying about the equally good stuff that doesn't.Some claim that a return to the Moon will bring real, and possibly large, economic benefits. You should take that with a pinch of salt (one of many necessities with which the Moon is woefully under-stocked). There may be some valuable platinum-group metals there - but unless they can be exploited on a large enough scale to change the way the economy uses such things, driving up demand even fasterthan costs drop, they don't took like a good prospect. Helium-3, which makes up a few parts per billion of the lunar regolith, has its boosters; but it is a fuel for a sort of fusion reactor no one has ever built, and which it is quite possible no one ever will build.