Comments on: NASA’s Moon Base User’s Guide https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/ Mon, 01 Jun 2026 04:19:01 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: BuckGalaxy https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54908 BuckGalaxy Mon, 18 May 2026 03:49:34 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54908 Off world colonies would need to be entirely self-sustaining only if a disaster struck the Earth leaving it uninhabitable. In that scenario, off world self-sustainability would become imperative. Consider this: the Earth as a whole is self-sustaining. We know what we need to be able to do to make other worlds self sustaining too. Yes a pure Autarky is vastly inefficient compared to modern Earth globalized civilization, but that doesn't make it completely impossible. It's a matter of developing the agricultural capacity, energy reserves, and industries required to sustain itself. Food is the biggest issue: Lots of greenhouses for crops. Lots of lab grown meats. Energy infrastructure, mining capacity, jobs and manufacturing of every type. Obviously it would be far more stoic than currently on earth, but I don't think off world self-sustainability is impossible. Off world colonies would need to be entirely self-sustaining only if a disaster struck the Earth leaving it uninhabitable. In that scenario, off world self-sustainability would become imperative. Consider this: the Earth as a whole is self-sustaining. We know what we need to be able to do to make other worlds self sustaining too. Yes a pure Autarky is vastly inefficient compared to modern Earth globalized civilization, but that doesn’t make it completely impossible. It’s a matter of developing the agricultural capacity, energy reserves, and industries required to sustain itself. Food is the biggest issue: Lots of greenhouses for crops. Lots of lab grown meats. Energy infrastructure, mining capacity, jobs and manufacturing of every type. Obviously it would be far more stoic than currently on earth, but I don’t think off world self-sustainability is impossible.

]]> By: ER https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54883 ER Mon, 04 May 2026 18:03:06 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54883 We have technology so we can live anywhere we want, in offshore drill rigs, Antarctic research bases, remote desert observatories etc, but all depend completely on frequent re-supply and support from the entire global industrial complex. Even cities we have continuously settled in for hundreds of years have to import vast quantities of just about everything from the world economy. Yes, its a good idea to maintain backup stashes of critical things and knowledge in safe, remote outposts, but 'self-sustaining' redoubts are no longer possible even on earth, much less in space. Neolithic humans lived off the land, the local environment provided everything they needed to survive, even prosper. Independent human communities thrived in the Sahara, the Andes, the Amazon, the Arctic, the boreal and mid-latitude forests, the steppes, the scattered archipelagoes of the Pacific Basin. But we forgot that skill a long, long time ago. Yes, we can now live anywhere we want, but we have paid a great price for that freedom: we have to bring with us almost everything we need. We have become addicted to our whole civilization and to the rest of humanity, we can no longer flourish on our own. https://www.herbkanehawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Herb-Kane_Discovery-of-Hawaii.jpg We have technology so we can live anywhere we want, in offshore drill rigs, Antarctic research bases, remote desert observatories etc, but all depend completely on frequent re-supply and support from the entire global industrial complex. Even cities we have continuously settled in for hundreds of years have to import vast quantities of just about everything from the world economy.

Yes, its a good idea to maintain backup stashes of critical things and knowledge in safe, remote outposts, but ‘self-sustaining’ redoubts are no longer possible even on earth, much less in space.

Neolithic humans lived off the land, the local environment provided everything they needed to survive, even prosper. Independent human communities thrived in the Sahara, the Andes, the Amazon, the Arctic, the boreal and mid-latitude forests, the steppes, the scattered archipelagoes of the Pacific Basin. But we forgot that skill a long, long time ago.

Yes, we can now live anywhere we want, but we have paid a great price for that freedom: we have to bring with us almost everything we need. We have become addicted to our whole civilization and to the rest of humanity, we can no longer flourish on our own.

https://www.herbkanehawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Herb-Kane_Discovery-of-Hawaii.jpg

]]> By: RobVG https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54879 RobVG Fri, 01 May 2026 19:15:10 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54879 Fair enough Fair enough

]]> By: BuckGalaxy https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54876 BuckGalaxy Fri, 01 May 2026 01:08:22 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54876 I have to say I don't believe the entirety of human civilization and achievement, and every last human on earth, deserves to be wiped from existence because some of us now are recklessly destroying our planet. But beyond that, what if it's not even us that destroys life on earth? If an asteroid or comet or solar flare ends life on earth did we all deserve it? To put it in Kantian terms, a backup to civilization is a categorical imperative. I have to say I don’t believe the entirety of human civilization and achievement, and every last human on earth, deserves to be wiped from existence because some of us now are recklessly destroying our planet.

But beyond that, what if it’s not even us that destroys life on earth? If an asteroid or comet or solar flare ends life on earth did we all deserve it?

To put it in Kantian terms, a backup to civilization is a categorical imperative.

]]> By: RobVG https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54874 RobVG Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:19:33 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54874 Sorry Buck, but I'm quickly losing faith in humanity. What's happening in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Lebanon and in our streets shows our basic nature. For a civilization to survive long enough to develop the tech to become truly "space faring", it would have to become peaceful to the point of being altruistic. (Counter to that, it's ironic that war is the main driver of technology.) Yeah, we're not that. If we manage to ruin the planet and bring on our own destruction, we don't deserve to continue. Sorry Buck, but I’m quickly losing faith in humanity.

What’s happening in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Lebanon and in our streets shows our basic nature. For a civilization to survive long enough to develop the tech to become truly “space faring”, it would have to become peaceful to the point of being altruistic. (Counter to that, it’s ironic that war is the main driver of technology.)

Yeah, we’re not that. If we manage to ruin the planet and bring on our own destruction, we don’t deserve to continue.

]]> By: BuckGalaxy https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54871 BuckGalaxy Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:21:36 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54871 It would be too late. Establishing self sustaining outposts on the moon and/or Mars would be insurance against global catastrophe. Kind of like the ultimate Svalbard Global Seed Vault, but for everything on earth: Humans, animals, plants, medicines, DNA of everything, KNOWLEDGE. I'm sure you back up your data in your work just as I do, not because it's "cool" but because it is absolutely necessary for you to sleep soundly at night. The cost of backup drives is spent despite limited resources. It would be too late.

Establishing self sustaining outposts on the moon and/or Mars would be insurance against global catastrophe. Kind of like the ultimate Svalbard Global Seed Vault, but for everything on earth: Humans, animals, plants, medicines, DNA of everything, KNOWLEDGE.

I’m sure you back up your data in your work just as I do, not because it’s “cool” but because it is absolutely necessary for you to sleep soundly at night. The cost of backup drives is spent despite limited resources.

]]> By: RobVG https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54864 RobVG Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:21:41 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54864 The have me write feature requests. I have to separate needed and beneficial changes to the program opposed to "You know it would be really cool if we did <em>this</em>". It's all about limited resources. The have me write feature requests. I have to separate needed and beneficial changes to the program opposed to “You know it would be really cool if we did this“.

It’s all about limited resources.

]]> By: RobVG https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54863 RobVG Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:14:41 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54863 Let the tech billionaires have Mars. If we had to evacuate Earth in a hurry, they'd be the only ones going anyway. If I was to send anyone to another planet in our solar system, It would be a geologist. Let the tech billionaires have Mars. If we had to evacuate Earth in a hurry, they’d be the only ones going anyway.

If I was to send anyone to another planet in our solar system, It would be a geologist.

]]> By: BuckGalaxy https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54862 BuckGalaxy Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:20:24 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54862 Axiom Space's commercial space station is also showing corrosion, and the culprit for both Axiom and Gateway's problems appears to be Italian areospace company Thales Alenia Space. Axiom is set to launch the first of five modules in 2028. We'll see if that slips now depending on the severity of the corrosion issues. At least three different modules with the same problem. One thing is for certain, heads are going to roll at Thales Alenia Space. Axiom Space’s commercial space station is also showing corrosion, and the culprit for both Axiom and Gateway’s problems appears to be Italian areospace company Thales Alenia Space.

Axiom is set to launch the first of five modules in 2028. We’ll see if that slips now depending on the severity of the corrosion issues.

At least three different modules with the same problem. One thing is for certain, heads are going to roll at Thales Alenia Space.

]]> By: podrock https://www.habitablezone.com/2026/04/16/nasas-moon-base-users-guide/#comment-54859 podrock Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:00:29 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=108686#comment-54859 https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/04/well-this-is-embarrassing-the-lunar-gateways-primary-modules-are-corroded/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/04/well-this-is-embarrassing-the-lunar-gateways-primary-modules-are-corroded/

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