Moon Colonization Is Bad

Moon Colonization July 20, 1989 President Bush uses the 20th anniversary of the branch footsteps on the stargaze to declare that Americans should return, establish a long-lived presence there, and go on to Mars (Hartmann). After Bush proposed this whim of creating a permanent closure on the moon to serve as a pit stop on the way to Mars, NASA took it as a mandate to start planning. This idea of moon colonies brought upon a mood that was not seen since the days of the Apollo missions. The possibilities of a moon colony are great. The problem of overcrowding could be solved.Taking millions of people (over a matter of time) to the moon would greatly reduce the Earths rapidly growing population. While the people are living there, industrial factories could be built, producing technicals for further space exploration. sublunary Scientist for NASA, Alan Binder, says slowly but surely, the way our forefathers did in the New World, wed build up an industrial capacity in space. The moo n opens up the solar system. If you have industrial capacity to build from lunar materials, the moon could be a harbor.You could go there first, on your way to Mercury, Venus, or Mars. This is both seems like a good idea, that is if it didnt cost the nation an arm and a leg to implement. Also, due to lack of knowledge, we do not know the full effects of the moons one one-sixth somberness effect on the human body. Furthermore, the moons lack of an atmosphere, and harsh geological conditions, would not be so kind to the equipment set up to build this industrial franchise. Not only will the colonization of the moon be costly and inefficient, but also detrimental to human health and safety.For starters, building a spaceship that is capable of creating a force strong enough to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, support the life of humans for days, and be able to come arse down through Earths atmosphere, costs millions of dollars. The Space Shuttle Endeavour, the orbital cav ityer built to replace the Space Shuttle Challenger, cost approximately $1. 7 billion (NASA. gov). And a colony in space would need supplies due to the lack of resources on the moon. Shipping those supplies to the Space colony would cost a lot.The cost per pound into orbit was around $1000 during the years of the space shuttle program (Allen). Incorporate inflation, and you have a multi million dollar shipment of food, clothing, tools, etc. Once all the tools are shipped and ready to build, there would be the cost of actually constructing a factory or place to live. Rome (on Earth) was not built in a day imagine trying to build a city in the extreme weather conditions of the moon, where glooms pull is one sixth that of the Earth. mental synthesis this colony requires a 30 year plan, costing $500 to $600 billion dollars (Guterl).Those prices alone make the Moon colony extremely costly and inefficient. Now let us say that this colony was built, and people did live there. What effect would it have on the human body, being in an environment where there is constant fair weather? Located at the Lunar North Pole, where all the water for farming is, there is constant sunlight, day in and day out. Prolonged human delineation to solar UV radiation may result in acute and chronic health effects on the skin, eye and immune system. Sunburn (erythema) is the known acute effect of excessive UV radiation exposure.Over the protracted term, UV radiation induces degenerative changes in cells of the skin, fibrous tissue and blood vessels leading to unseasonable skin aging, photodermatoses and actinic keratoses. Another long-term effect is an inflammatory reaction of the eye. In the most serious chemises, skin cancer and cataracts can occur (World health Organization). These statistics were taken on Earth, where we have an atmosphere to block most of the Suns harmful rays. In an environment where there is no atmosphere at all, the effects would be indescribable.After a ye ar of exposure people would end up with 3rd degree sunburns, old wrinkly skin, and a bad case of cataracts. The conditions on the Moon are just not safe for whatever human. Another health factor is the effect of living in an environment where the gravity is one sixth that of the Earths. Exposure to weightlessness over month-long periods has been demonstrated to cause deterioration of physiological systems, such as loss of bone and muscle plurality and a depressed immune system (Webster). Because this would obviously be a permanent residence for the people living there, they would be there much longer than a month.On average, people lose about 30 percent of their strength between ages 50 and 70, and another 30 percent of whats left per decade after(prenominal) that. Generally, people lose about 1 percent of their lean muscle mass per year after age 40. After a year on the moon a humans bones and muscle mass would deteriorate so greatly that they would have the body of a weak elder ly 85 year old. In addition to those health concerns Space travel weakens the bodys immune system and alters infectious diseases, making them more potent and resistant to antibiotics (Webster). Dr.Cheryl Nickerson, an associate professor in Tulane Universitys department of microbiology and immunology, states, It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that infectious disease could be a real show stopper in space flight, as we start sending people out on two- to three-year missions and colonizing the moon, its not a question of if an outbreak occurs but when. Basically this moon colony could end up being eerily reminiscent of the black plague. After looking at all the facts, the colonization of the moon would put America and any other country who attempts to settle there, in hundreds of billions of dollars of debt.After it is set up, it would cost even more money to keep it up and running. The health effects from the low gravity would make permanent residency there not so perm anent, because it would lead to death. When we live here on Earth, were surrounded by a wonderful, safe, UV absorbing, solar wind blocking, and sun flare reflecting atmosphere, as where the Moon doesnt even have any sort of atmosphere to protect human beings. In mankind colonizing the moon wouldnt solve any problems on Earth, it would only cause more.