HERE, HERE! (You can have your $0.02 back; you have my vote for first colonist ;-)) Actually, I completely agree. I think that taking a capitalist approach to space exploration is inherently problematic. For starters, the cost/profit ratio is completely negligible. However, the cost/discovery ration is nearly 1:1. But until projects, like the X-prize are truly revolutionizing the way for space exploration (at which time government, as always, will step forward and take the lead), space exploration will remain in the hands of us backyard astronomers, who care to imagine and learn, and not necessarily profit. (ps... now its my $0.02, into the pool. Does that mean that the ante is up to $.04? We could fund the whole mission if everyone in the world chipped in their own $.02.) Cheers, James. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+cyanics=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+cyanics=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.com ] On Behalf Of Richard Tenney Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 4:03 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Bush: Back to Moon I can't resist weighing in here (politically) too... hope this doesn't offend... I believe returning to the moon would be an excellent idea -- in order to fund it, we would first need to quit wasting tax dollars and human lives in the middle east (we could build a new shuttle every month with the money currently being hemorrhaged in Iraq). And if we returned with a purpose, say, with the goal to create a renewable power grid for humanity -- such as a vast array of solar collectors whose energy gets beamed back to earth via microwaves (a project a prof. at the Univ. of Houston has already drafted and shown to be not only cost effective but doable), a lot of the world's problems (poverty, hunger, suffering, etc.) that tend to foment war and hatred might just be mitigated by such an endeavor, particularly if done in cooperation with other nations, WITHOUT the goal of commercial gain for a select few. One of the big appeals of a "Star Trek" future (for me anyway) -- cooperative humans (just imagine!). No more need to drill for oil, or barter or fight wars over it -- everyone ends up with energy and to spare, which would improve the quality of life for millions, and we can then get on to bigger and better things, like the pursuit of adventure and discovery in this wonderful universe we find ourselves part of. Naiive? Perhaps, but such a hope is worth pursuing, considering the frighteningly tiresome results of the alternative... My $.02, Rich --- David L Bennett <dlbennett@mac.com> wrote:

I'm all for the mission if Bush and Co-President Cheney are the first colonists...

On Friday, January 9, 2004, at 09:35 AM, UTAHDEB@aol.com wrote:

...

Sounds like election year politics to me.

Clear Skies,

Debbie

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