^ and, to continue in the same vein, they were handicapped by being given a particularly dodgy BBQ culture and accent.
A plan that only the most brilliant man in the world could come up with! 
Well, now – I’ve been a fan of Alan Moore’s for a little over 30 years, but I don’t know if I’d go quite that far.
Yes, sorry, Helium 3. I couldn’t remember if it was Helium or Hydrogen and the Wiki article on Hydrogen 3 talked about fusion so… Promising, but a ways off.
Of all the wacky things Gingrich said in the speech, the idea that 13,000 people would move there and eventually apply for statehood wins the prize for idiocy. Sure I’d like to visit the moon, but who in their right mind would want to live there? Raise a family there? I have a feeling the coolness factor would wear off pretty quickly (probably by the time the sun goes down and it gets really cool ;-)).
I basically agree with everything Neil says here (major astrophysicist):
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/neil-degrasse-tyson-sympathizes-with-newt-gingrichs-moon-mission/
What, you mean, something that does not involve rockets? What?
If Newt weren’t such an idiot and if he were actually serious about this I’d say it’s genius. It looks like it’s a sort of X-Prize, so it doesn’t cost the government a dime unless someone actually manages to pull it off (and if it’s like earlier X-Prizes there will be judges that dis-allow the loony types who don’t have any chance at all). It would stimulate private industry if there is any possibility of success (I bet Scaled Composites would give it a shot for the possibility of $10 billion).
I’m not seeing any downside for the US, despite near lock step opposition to the very idea in this thread.
-XT
Oh, I agree entirely that a permanent Moonbase by 2020 is something worth spending a whole lotta money and time on. For purely scientific reasons. We should have permanent Moonbases like we have permanent Antarctic bases. All bodies in the extraterrestrial Solar System are extremely scientifically interesting and insufficiently known, at this point in our history. But, I just can’t see how that base develops into a town, where there are thousands of people and some of them are born there and will die there. Which seems to be Gingrich’s vision. A town needs some kind of industry or economic base, and scientific research is not enough of one. I would be overjoyed beyond measure to be proven wrong about this.
Well, just disregard all that horseshit as standard political pap and look at the actual plan (though, if I’m being honest, I’ve only skimmed it since he hasn’t got a chance to win the nomination and I’m unsure if he’d actually follow through with this even if by some miracle he got elected). AFAICT it costs the government nothing, or at most very little. If no one succeeds we don’t have to pay. Other people will have to pony up the bucks to make the attempt. Folks like Mr. Rutan I imagine, or those guys at Bigalow. Or Virgin Galactic (though they would probably partner with SC). There would be plenty of takers, and were it me I’d open it up to international competition as well, with the proviso that since it’s American dollars it’s an American venture (if other countries want to do their own X-Prize or do their own efforts then I’m totally cool with that…in fact, that would be wonderful).
It’s a great idea. Sadly, I think he’s blowing smoke. However, perhaps if it gets any sort of traction at all, Obama, who I expect to win re-election, might take some notes on how to do this sort of thing without costing the taxpayers anything unless there are some real results.
-XT
If we don’t establish a base on the moon, how will Newt find Ron Paul’s treasure he paid Aldrin to bury?
Just offer a reward in Tang, it’ll be delivered.
It’s brilliant ideas like these the GOP needs!
You hear that, Virgin? Yummy, delicious, Tang.
No, Virgin (or NASA or whoever) provides the Tang, and the transportation, to land on the Moon and offer it to the Selenites, in exchange for, etc. Oh, and we’ll finally try out that golf course, thanks.
Dammit, doesn’t anybody else remember these animated Tang commercials from the '70s?! The Moonlings were ball-shaped and had two arm-leg limbs each plus antennae?
This could lead to a dangerous trade war, and we all know how such things tend to pan out in space because of Lucas and the prequels:
Box Office gold. It’ll be like America printing its own money.
Building a base on the moon is just another way tothrow America’s money into the money hole, a plan I fully endorse.
And of course we should never stop pounding the drum about how space-related tech research so often generates profitable non-space-related spinoffs.
I loved Tang as a kid.
It may be useful as a assembly plant of a large ship if there are advantages of construction in gravity or having a solid body to be based on as opposed to in space assembly.
It may be helpful also not having to design a ship that has to withstand earth based liftoff.
Just don’t put a nuclear-waste dump on the Moon. That never ends well.