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Subject The Moon: A perfect orbiting Space Station. Why have we not gone back??

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[quote:Anonymous Coward 1142680:MV8xNDQ3MzI5XzIzODU0NTg0XzM4MTcwQTg2]
I have a close friend that works at Nasa and until recently was deeply involved in the creation of hardware for the (now cancelled) revised moon missions.

According to him, the largest hindrance to returning to the moon and doing ANYTHING other than short stints outside a lander is because of the extreme abrasive nature of moon dust.
Suits returned from Apollo missions showed that even in the short walks they did, critical seals on every joint were close to failure due to the damage caused by the dust. He said that it truly was a miracle that there eren't fatalities in the Apollo moonwalks based upon what the suits looked like afterwards.

Nasa has continued work since the 70's on developing hard seal technology that works but to no avail.

Interestingly enough, one solution they mused was sending nuclear powered robots to the surface first that would use very powerful focused microwaves to turn the dust into a glass-like material. These pre-landing robots would then in essence "pave" sidewalks and pads and such for the later-arriing humans to construct their shelters and such on.
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Original Message I'm sure there's been lots of discussion on this, but why in 50+ years have we NOT gone back to the moon? With all of the technology we have, you'd think that would have been the first place they'd want to establish a base. WHy build an ISS when you have the moon? And if you were the head of the space agency, wouldn't you WANT to go back and explore? More samples, actual ground exploration....you could use the moon as a stepping stone to exploring other planets....AND work in an almost weightless environment. They could build so many things with ease on the moon...

But why haven't we done more?? Or did all nations agree not to colonize for security reasons? (no one wants their enemy orbiting around them like a death star)

Thoughts?

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