# Is there any real use for the Moon in interplanetary travel/shipping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 27, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833 "2012-01-27T05:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/61 "2012-01-29T11:24:38Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > An alien race with any mastery of interstellar travel would certainly be able to direct any number of asteroids at speed to wipe out any moon base, which would never be able to entirely defend itself. > > Moon base as defence is just science fantasy. Unless we have a moonbase with interceptors. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/62 "2012-01-29T18:21:02Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > It seems a bit of a stretch that an alien race with the technology to manage interplanetary travel should somehow be unable to refuel along the way, from either gas giants or asteroid belts. > > You either do it the quick way, using magic level science that means you can control the laws of physics/warp spacetime/step outside of the standard dimensions and their limits, all of which would also be superweapons we could not defend against in any way. > > Or you do it the slow way, with massive space ships that must have the ability to resupply for fuel, food and manufacturing materials along the way from either gas giants/asteroid belts/whatever. > > Either way, the idea that they would turn up, conveniently too depleted of resources to be able to attack us with either their drive system or re-targeted meteors, with no way of refueling, seems just a little bit improbable. You are describing something similar to the scenario presented in _Footfall_ by Niven and Pournelle. An interstellar vessel uses a Bussard ramjet and artificial hibernation to make it to here from the Centauri system. They are fleeing from ecological collapse caused by their poor management. It is a one-way voyage as they jettison their drive. They also refuel at Saturn. And they throw rocks and lasers at Earth to subdue us. Quite an intriguing story. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/63 "2012-01-29T18:33:52Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I have always been a proponent of space exploration. > However, pretending the a lunar base would be a useful jumping off point disregards the actual physics involved. Instead, we should have a geosynch orbital habitat and use it as the anchoring point for a space elevator. Originally, the habitat would serve as a construction site for increasingly larger ships. If we can just send (OK, there are logistical elements of this that I haven’t worked out) an nickel-iron asteroid into a geosynch orbit and use that as our habitat. > So, we then have raw materials for the creation of a habitat. The challenge isn’t logistical, it’s material: We’re still awaiting the development of carbon nanotubes light and strong enough to make a space-elevator cable that won’t break from its own weight. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/64 "2012-01-29T18:36:33Z")
> [@David42](#): > > Next, I’d deny any colonizing alien a foothold on the moon. With all due respect to Stephen Hawking, any alien race’s attitude towards us most likely would be like ours towards a silicon-based species we discover in another star system: Interesting to study, but pointless to try enslaving, conquering or displacing; we can’t eat them, we can’t eat what they eat, we can’t even breathe the air on their planet, and a slave who requires the equivalent of scuba gear to work in your house is too expensive to keep. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/65 "2012-01-29T18:42:26Z")
I mean, we wouldn’t even conquer aliens for their unobtainium. Life-bearing planets are so comparatively rare in the universe that, if there’s unobtainium on Pandora, there’s **got** to be a better supply of the stuff on an lifeless rock somewhere. (Unless the unobtainium is itself a unique planetary bioproduct, like Spice.) ---
**Author:** ![David42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@David42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David42)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/66 "2012-01-29T18:52:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > With all due respect to Stephen Hawking, any alien race’s attitude towards us most likely would be like ours towards a silicon-based species we discover in another star system: Interesting to study, but pointless to try enslaving, conquering or displacing; we can’t eat them, we can’t eat what they eat, we can’t even breathe the air on their planet, and a slave who requires the equivalent of scuba gear to work in your house is too expensive to keep. I see no reason to presume that an alien is going to be substantially different in body chemistry. I’m not denying it’s possible, I just think it’s far more likely to be somewhat similar than it is to be dissimilar. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/67 "2012-01-29T18:55:31Z")
> [@David42](#): > > I see no reason to presume that an alien is going to be substantially different in body chemistry. I’m not denying it’s possible, I just think it’s far more likely to be somewhat similar than it is to be dissimilar. If it’s even a **little** different, practically anything that grows on this planet is going to be poison to it. As for air, I’m sure it’s very hard to find two planets with nearly the same mix. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/68 "2012-01-29T21:15:01Z")
> [@David42](#): > > I see no reason to presume that an alien is going to be substantially different in body chemistry. I’m not denying it’s possible, I just think it’s far more likely to be somewhat similar than it is to be dissimilar. If you’ll excuse me, that is a truly bizarre thing to say. We know that the Universe is: a) Really, Really Big, b) Extremely diverse c) Has been around a long time Which of those three factors suggest to you that the form of life we live is likely to be the lowest common denominator for universal evolution? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833/69 "2012-01-30T00:12:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **xtisme** : > If you could REALLY build up the infrastructure in the future, you could, for instance, build a space elevator on the moon a hell of a lot easier than on the Earth…which would give you cheaper access to the solar system, if not the universe. Of course, building it would be the trick… Nitpick: It’s not possible to build a space elevator on the Moon, since it rotates too slowly. You could use the same technology to build skyhooks, though, which would have much the same effect. On the other hand, though, to build either, you’d need to launch a whole bunch of carbon into space, which is going to cost about the same launching it to geosync or to the Moon. And people who say that the Moon is out of the way are misunderstanding how space travel works. In fact, _everything_ that’s sent beyond the Earth is launched to pass in the rough vicinity of the Moon, since in so doing you can arrange to use some of the Moon’s orbital energy to give you a boost. It’d be going out of your way to avoid the Moon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-use-for-the-moon-in-interplanetary-travel-shipping/610833.md?page=3)