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WE NEED TO PROTECT THE MOON BEFORE IT BECOMES ANOTHER PLACE EXPLOITED FOR ITS RICHES-Burdick ‘10



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WE NEED TO PROTECT THE MOON BEFORE IT BECOMES ANOTHER PLACE EXPLOITED FOR ITS RICHES-Burdick ‘10

[Alan; contributing editor; Save the Moon; OnEarth; 25 Aug 2010; http://www.onearth.org/article/save-the-moon; retrieved 10 Jul 2011]


The moon, already busy with probes and satellites, will surely get busier. At least five countries aim to send astronauts there in the next 10 to 20 years. Valuable minerals, including helium-3 and perhaps uranium, await exploitation. Lately when the moon hits my eye, it looks the way Antarctica looked not so long ago: like both a natural marvel and a tantalizing morsel, rich with subsurface resources -- if only we could easily extract them. So I'm thinking: what the moon needs is its own Antarctic Treaty. Make it off-limits to everyone but scientists. Let's save the moon, before it's too late.

I hear guffaws. With all that's wrong on Earth, why fret about the moon? But consider: the "Earth environment" has vastly expanded in the past half-century. The outer reaches of our planet's atmosphere are now thick with satellites critical to navigation and communication; the exospheric fringe is as central to our lives as the soil we stand on. The moon is but the next, small step. Although the United States just killed its manned lunar program, it is dishing out prizes and tax incentives to help the private sector get us into space more readily than NASA has done. If free enterprise applies freely -- if we proceed with the view that anything within our reach is for the taking -- then the matter of how we preserve the global commons is as relevant up there as it is down here.


AN UNTRAMMELED MOON HAS A GREAT DEAL TO OFFER SCIENCE, BUT ONCE WE EXPLOIT IT, WE WILL LOSE ITS VALUE-Burdick ‘10

[Alan; contributing editor; Save the Moon; OnEarth; 25 Aug 2010; http://www.onearth.org/article/save-the-moon; retrieved 10 Jul 2011]


An untrammeled moon clearly has much yet to reveal to science. As a wilderness, could one be wilder or more remote? It's the perfect frontier, there for the whole world to ponder 29 nights out of 30. So what if it's all geology? "If Delicate Arch has any significance," Edward Abbey wrote of the centerpiece of what is now Arches National Park, "it lies, I will venture, in the power of the odd and unexpected to startle the senses and surprise the mind out of their ruts of habit, to compel us into a reawakened awareness of the wonderful -- that which is full of wonder." Odd, startling, wondrous: that's the moon.­Go ahead, laugh. Tell me a giant rock in space is still just a rock, that the moon needs no further defense. But mark these words: We'll be back there in no time, without the lofty motives that took us there 50 years ago. Next time around, we'll leave more than footprints, and depart with more than memories.
THE UNDAMAGED MOON IS AN INSPIRATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT AND TEACHES US ALL TO PRESERVE THE ENVIRONMENT-Smith ‘07

[Andrew; author; Plundering the Moon; The Guardian; 27 Oct 2007; http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/27/comment.comment; retrieved 28 Jun 2011]


Whether it turns out to be He-3, solar energy, or some as yet unknown technology that draws humanity back to the moon, there's an irony here. In 1968, Apollo 8 brought back the first shimmering image of an "Earthrise" as seen from the moon. Four years later, Apollo 17 came home with the famous whole Earth picture. These new views of our fragile, heartbreakingly isolated planet are often credited with having helped to kickstart the environmental movement - even with having changed the way we see ourselves as a species.

At present, nations are forbidden under international treaty from making territorial claims to the moon, but the same has hitherto been true of Antarctica, of which the UK government is trying to claim a chunk. Earth's sister has played a role in teaching us to value our environment: how extraordinary to think that the next giant leap for the environmental movement might be a campaign to stop state-sponsored mining companies chomping her up in glorious privacy, a quarter of a million miles from our ravaged home.


SOLVENCY: SPACE EXPLORATION WILL NOT SAVE HUMANITY
FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, SPACE DOES NOT OFFER THE BEST GUARANTEE OF HUMAN SURVIVAL-Hui ‘06

[Sylvia; AP reporter; Hawking: Space Exploration A Necessity; 13 June 2006; Houston Chronicle; http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/3965730.html; retrieved 16 Jul 2011]


However, Alan Guth, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Hawking's latest observations were something of a departure from his usual research and more applicable to survival over the long-term.

"It is a new area for him to look at," Guth said. "If he's talking about the next 100 years and beyond, it does make sense to think about space as the ultimate lifeboat."

But, he added, "I don't see the likely possibility within the next 50 years of science technology making it easier to survive on Mars and on the moon than it would be to survive on Earth."

"I would still think that an underground base, for example in Antarctica, would be easier to build than building on the moon," Guth said.

Joshua Winn, an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology, agreed. "The prospect of colonizing other planets is very far off, you must realize," he said.

Hawking's "work has been highly theoretical physics, not in astrophysics or global politics or anything like that," Winn added. "He is certainly stepping outside his research domain."


SEEKING TO LEAVE THE PLANET WILL EXACERBATE EARTH’S ECOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL CRISES-Williams ‘10

[Lynda; Physics Instructor, Santa Rosa Junior College;Irrational Dreams of Space Colonization; Peace Review, A Journal of Social Justice; Spring 2010]


Life on Earth is more urgently threatened by the destruction of the biosphere and its life sustaining habitat due environmental catastrophes such as climate change, ocean acidification, disruption of the food chain, bio-warfare, nuclear war, nuclear winter, and myriads of other man- made doomsday prophesies. If we accept these threats as inevitabilities on par with real astronomical dangers and divert our natural, intellectual, political and technological resources from solving these problems into escaping them, will we playing into a self- fulfilling prophesy of our own planetary doom? Seeking space based solutions to our Earthly problems may indeed exacerbate the planetary threats we face. This is the core of the ethical dilemma posed by space colonization: should we put our recourses and bets on developing human colonies on other worlds to survive natural and man-made catastrophes or should we focus all of our energies on solving the problems that create these threats on Earth?
SOLVENCY: MOON TREATY COMPLICATES SOLVENCY
THE MOON TREATY WILL MAKE PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT OF HE-3 COMPLICATED-Lasker ‘06

[John; Race to the Moon for Nuclear Fuel; Wired; 15 Dec 2006; http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2006/12/72276; retrieved 20 Jun 2011]


In a 1998 op-ed for Space News, Schmitt criticized the 1979 United Nations- sanctioned Moon Treaty, which forbids ownership of lunar territory by individuals or separate nations.

"The mandate of an international regime would complicate private commercial efforts," Schmitt wrote. "The Moon Treaty is not needed to further the development and use of lunar resources for the benefit of humankind -- including the extraction of lunar helium-3 for terrestrial fusion power."

Schmitt declined to comment for this article. But Kulcinski said their lunar helium-3 research is entirely separate from their NASA duties.
THE US WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE MOON AGREEMENT BEFORE BEGINNING HE-3 MINING-Bilder ‘09

[Richard; Law Professor @ University of Wisconsin; A Legal Regime for the Mining of Helium-3 on the Moon: U.S. Policy Options; Fordham International Law Journal; Volume 33, Issue 2; 2009]


But this conclusion may be too cavalier. First, as indicated, the Moon Agreement arguably constitutes a reinforcement, spelling-out, or agreed interpretation by the space powers and

many other concerned states participating in the COPUOS negotiations of a number of principles and obligations already contained or implicit in the Outer Space Treaty-which is

already legally binding on parties to that treaty. 100 Second, the agreement reflects a long and careful process of negotiation and accommodation in COPUOS between the states primarily

concerned with outer space and lunar activities as to the most sensible and viable rules for the conduct of activities on the Moon. In particular, the agreement's uncontroversial provisions,

such as those regarding the establishment of stations, 10 conduct of scientific research,10 2 concern for environmental protection, 103 obligations of noninterference, 1 4 notice and consultation, 05 and so forth can be argued to evidence, at least as to these matters, anemerging body of customary lunar law. Thus, the Moon Agreement will almost certainly play some role and have to be taken into account in any further discussions concerning thedevelopment of a lunar mining regime.

Mars Negative

INHERENCY: PRIVATES WILL GO TO MARS
PRIVATES DEVELOPING SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE FASTER THAN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES-Grierson '04

[Bruce; BEYOND NASA: DAWN OF THE NEXT SPACE AGE; Popular Science; April 2004; page 68]


Consider recent events. The Planetary Society, the world's largest space interest group, test-launched a prototype of the world's first solar sail, a spacecraft that--propelled by light from the Sun, rather than an engine--should continually accelerate, eventually reaching the stars. A company called LunaCorp has convinced Walt Anderson, a telecom magnate, to back the world's first commercial lunar mission--an interactive experience in which ordinary people would be able to remotely control a robot on the Moon's surface. SpaceX has lined up three customers for its satellite-launch business, and at press time intended to send up its first payload, a U.S. Defense Department satellite, in May. Space Adventures--the first successful space tourism broker--has inked a deal with the Russian space agency Rosaviacosmos to send the world's third and fourth space tourists (after Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth) to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz rocket next year. And a half dozen other would-be space travelers are in various stages of qualification and training for orbital flights, says Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson.
NASA ALREADY EXPLORING MARS MISSION SCENARIOS WITH PRIVATE FUNDING-Hough ‘10

[Andrew; Nasa unveils bold plans to send humans 'one-way to Mars to colonise planet;’ The London Telegraph; 28 October 2010; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8091965/Nasa-unveils-bold-plans-to-send-humans-one-way-to-Mars-to-colonise-planet.html; retrieved 28 July 2011]


Space agency officials confirmed feasability studies were under way to asses whether astronauts could be permanently sent to the red planet, or its moons, to establish human colonies. The multi-billion pound mission, titled Hundred Years Starship, is being spearheaded by the Ames Research Centre, one of Nasa’s main research centres, based in Moffett Field, California. Officials from the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are also heavily involved in turning the science fiction idea into a reality. Early estimates put the cost of such a mission, which has “just started” at more than £7 billion and could be achieved by 2030. Scientists have been given £600,000 government grant – including £100,000 from Nasa – to start research into the idea, according to US reports. The world’s billionaire’s, including Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, have been asked to help fund the project. Pete Worden, the Ames director, confirmed the plans to a conference in San Francisco at the weekend. “You heard it here. We hope to inveigle some billionaires to form a Hundred Year Starship fund,” he told the Long Conversation event at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. “The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds. Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars and get fired. “Within a few years we will see the first true prototype of a spaceship that will take us between worlds.” Such a space journey would take up to nine months with volunteers embarking on the mission knowing they would never return to earth.
NASA PLANNING A PRIVATE-SPONSORED EFFORT TO EXPLORE MARS-Jacob ‘11

[Jijo; Mars for sale! NASA draws up plan to 'colonize' red planet with corporate help; International Business Times; 11 February 2011; http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/111476/20110211/nasa-mars-colonization-red-planet-mission-space-one-way-corporate-sponsorship.htm; retrieved 2 August 2011]


Researchers at NASA have drawn up a plan to make the greatest adventure in the history of the human race possible - sending a human mission to the red planet and, hold your breath, colonize it!

And the daring act of "selling" and carving up the red planet will be made possible with the help of corporate bigwigs who will paint the space ships in their logo colors.

NASA scientists have said in a research paper that corporate financing is the right way to support a $160-billion project to take human beings to Mars and start a colony there, according to space.com.

INHERENCY: INCREMENTAL APPROACH IS BEST


CASH ISN'T AVAILABLE IN TODAY'S WORLD FOR A MARS EXPLORATION; INCREMENTAL IS THE BEST SHOT WE HAVE-Morring '02

[Frank, Jr.; Mars Is The Destination; Aviation Week & Space Technology; 16 December 2002; page 59]


The nuclear initiative—and earlier, funded NEXT-inspired studies of in-space propulsion technology and the radiation environment beyond Earth orbit—show that some money is available today. It's going to take a lot of funds to get to Mars, and that cash simply isn't available today. But as the late Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-Ill.) famously noted, “a billion here and a billion there, and before you know it you're talking about real money.”
UNITED STATES COMMITTED TO MARS MISSION THROUGH EXPANSION OF THE ISS PROGRAM-Siasat Daily ‘11

[NASA eyeing 'manned flight' on Mars; Siasat Daily; 8 April 2011; http://www.siasat.com/english/news/nasa-eyeing-manned-flight-mars; retrieved 28 July 2011]


The National Aeronotics and Space Administration (NASA) has said that the next decade US Space programme will have focus on working on the International Space Station (ISS) as it will be the frst step in preparing for manned flights on Mars.

"ISS is an anchor for the future of human space exploration and major component of our current human space programme," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at the International Space Station and Mars Conference at George Washington University Wednesday.

"Over at least next ten years, we will continue collaboration with other nations in order to live and work together in space and perform research and technology demonstrations," Bolden said.

He stressed the importance of the ISS as the most realistic model to test life support and other technologies that would ensure successful human exploration of deep space.

"A journey to Mars will require robot systems, ensuring the crew stays healthy and safe. The station (ISS) is the start of this journey," he said.

Bolden confirmed that a US delegation will travel to Russia April 12-15 to discuss the extension of the ISS's service life and future joint projects in space exploration, including the development of a nuclear-powered spaceship.

In a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center April 15, 2010, US President Barack Obama predicted a manned Mars mission to orbit the planet by the mid-2030s, followed by a landing.

The US Congress has approved manned missions to the Moon, followed by asteroid exploration in 2025 and a trip to Mars in the 2030s.


NASA MOVING AWAY FROM ITS BUSINESS AS USUAL MENTALTY ON DEVLEOPMENT OF DEEP SPACE MISSIONS-Hover ‘11

[Siddha; NASA Moves Closer to Manned Missions to Mars; Green Answers; 30 June 2011; http://greenanswers.com/news/241396/nasa-moves-closer-manned-missions-mars; retrieved 6 August 2011]


The contract for development of the spacecraft remains with Lockheed Martin Corporation, the primary contractor of the scrapped Orion ship. The decision to stay with Lockheed Martin drew some criticism given the final costs of the Orion project. SpaceX, a private company, has also indicated it can develop a similar ship for significantly lower costs. However, NASA officials were careful to point out that budgetary considerations remain paramount.

"This selection does not indicate a business as usual mentality for NASA programs,” stated Douglas Cooke, an associate administrator with the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. “The Orion government and industry team has shown exceptional creativity in finding ways to keep costs down through management techniques, technical solutions and innovation."

The announcement of the development of the MPCV comes a little over a month before the final launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. Scheduled for liftoff in early July, Atlantis’ completion of the STS-135 mission will signify the end of the shuttle program.

INHERENCY: ROBOTIC MISSIONS ENOUGH FOR MARS


NASA LACKS THE DATA REQUIRED TO DEVELOP THE TECHNOLOGY FOR A MARS MISSION; UNMANNED MISSIONS MUST GO FIRST-Chang '10

[Kenneth; For Mission to Mars, a New Road Map; The New York Times; 8 June 2010; page D4]


Some aspects remain fuzzy. Cristina Guidi, deputy director for NASA's Constellation systems division, who talked about future heavy-lift rockets, said NASA had not figured out how powerful a heavy lifter it needs for human missions beyond Earth orbit, much less a specific design.

NASA is also looking at a series of robotic missions, to the Moon, to asteroids, to Mars, that would gather data needed to set the stage for future astronauts.


UNSTAFFED MARS PROBES ARE THE EQUIVALENT TO ROBOT GEOLOGISTS-Davidson '03

[Kaey; U.S. taking another shot at Mars with 2 spacecraft; Giant air bags will cushion landings; San Francisco Chronicle; 6 June 2003; page A1]


NASA calls each Rover a "robot geologist." They have extendable robotic arms that carry "a tool belt of . . . instruments" that can "extend, bend and angle precisely against a rock to work as a human geologist would: grinding away layers, taking microscopic images and analyzing the elemental composition of the rocks and soil," according to the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"To me, one of the most interesting findings in the last few years is that Mars has a very complex history and a very complex geology," said Philip Christensen, who is principal investigator on the camera system for an earlier Mars orbital mission, the spectacularly successful Mars Odyssey.

Thanks to high-resolution Odyssey images of the Martian surface, geologists can perceive sedimentary layers within canyons on Mars, "just like what you'd see in the Grand Canyon," Christensen said.
CURRENTLY IN THE MIDDLE OF A RENAISSANCE OF UNSTAFFED MARS PROBES-Vergano '07

[Dan; Prepare for landing; USA Today; 5 September 2007; page 7D]


Once a graveyard for space probes, Mars is now a prime destination in scientific exploration. NASA's latest lander aims to uncover fresh territory on the Red Planet.

Launched Aug. 5, the space agency's Phoenix mission is on a 10-month trip to Mars' northern plains. If it lands as planned, the $400 million Scout lander will dig into the soil and ice, searching for signatures of life-friendly conditions in the planet's ancient past.

"We now know there are massive ice deposits where Phoenix is landing," says mission scientist Diana Blaney of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The launch comes amid a renaissance in Martian studies as the durable Mars rovers -- the rolling geology labs that landed in January 2004 -- head toward a fourth year of exploration and a fleet of orbiters circle the planet.

"Right now, it's exciting, and things are getting better and better in what we're learning about Mars," says Louis Friedman, head of the Planetary Society in Pasadena.

In "the dark days of 1999," as Friedman says, Mars science seemed jinxed with the crash of NASA's $120 million Mars Polar Lander and the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter late that year. The Phoenix mission uses instruments designed for the lost polar lander and follows in its intended footsteps, but with better direction, Blaney says: "We know the water ice is there now."

"I remember the dark times," Blaney says. "Now it's a lot busier." A dust storm on Mars that temporarily shut down the rovers, which are fueled by solar power, was almost helpful to mission scientists, says Blaney, who is also deputy project scientist for that mission. "We needed a chance to catch our breath."

SEVERAL UNSTAFFED MISSIONS HAVE FOCUSED ON WATER ON MARS-Vergano '07

[Dan; Prepare for landing; USA Today; 5 September 2007; page 7D]


"Follow the water" has been NASA's mantra for exploring Mars in the past decade as it searches for signs of life's crucial ingredient. Since the rover called Opportunity (the other one is Spirit) discovered rock layers left behind by salt-laced waters, new discoveries have fundamentally changed the scientific view of Mars, says William Hartmann of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson.

"If anything, the last decade of Mars exploration has intensified our excitement about tracking the history of water on Mars," he says.

A fistful of missions have evolved into a full-fledged scientific network:

*The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, which reported the first signs of ice layers under the Martian surface.

*The 2003 European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, which found evidence of even deeper ice layers.

*The 2004 Mars Rovers, which are persevering more than two years after landing on Mars. The Opportunity rover is preparing to enter its deepest crater yet, Victoria, to search for sedimentary rock.

*The 2006 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has probed the Martian atmosphere and returned high-resolution images of the rovers crawling on the planet's surface.
UNITED STATES HAS A GREAT RECORD OF ROBOTIC MISSIONS TO SPACE-Jacob ‘11

[Jijo; Mars for sale! NASA draws up plan to 'colonize' red planet with corporate help; International Business Times; 11 February 2011; http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/111476/20110211/nasa-mars-colonization-red-planet-mission-space-one-way-corporate-sponsorship.htm; retrieved 2 August 2011]


"The U.S. NASA Mars exploration program has had a somewhat better record of success in Mars exploration, achieving success in 13 out of 20 missions launched (a 65% success rate), and succeeding in six out of seven (an 86% success rate) of the launches of Mars landers," it says.
MARS ROVER PROGRAM ADDED SUBSTANTIAL KNOWLEDGE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MARS AND OUTER SPACE-St. Petersburg Times '04

[Making history on Mars; The St. Petersburg Times; 8 may 2004; page 14A]


The rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January. Their job was to discover whether water could have existed in large enough amounts to make Mars habitable. In March, the Opportunity analyzed a rock and found an "astounding'' amount of crystallized salt. Further tests, and findings by the rover Spirit, led scientists to conclude that the ground had been sufficiently soaked to make life possible. Whether life was there is another question.

Beyond furthering the imagination about life beyond us, the rovers have added to what we know about Mars and space exploration. The robots' cameras took more than 20,000 images, many of which are freely available in vivid clarity on the Internet. The rovers set, and broke, records for driving on the Martian surface. Scientists also reported finding a rock with the same chemical makeup as one found in Antarctica in 1979 - a rock "knocked off'' of Mars that orbited the sun before falling to Earth.

NASA has extended the rovers' mission, in hopes of learning more about water on Mars and the craft's physical strength. How long the robots can last is unclear - a week, a month, even longer. "Everything we get from the rovers (now) is a bonus,'' NASA said in a recent statement. "We look forward to continued discoveries by both rovers in the months ahead.'' This mission is a tribute to NASA and the scientific community and to the value of unmanned flight.



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