Presidential Hopeless Newt Gingrich; "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American," He proposes an entirely American effort to establish a colony of perhaps 10,000 people on the Moon by 2021.
Newt Gingrich's idea of a large-population Moon colony is what i would expect
from a person who has no idea what he is proposing or talking about. The
cost of a large Moon colony, along with all the hardware that goes with
it would be many times his estimate. There is the problem of the
physical degeneration of the inhabitants to account for (try getting
10,000 people to exercise for hours a day). Most, indeed all, of the
resources for the large colony would have to be delivered from Earth
until mining, manufacturing and farming could be established on the
moon. Advances that would take years, perhaps decades, to achieve.
The
only way i could envision this happening would be through a fully
international effort backed by major corporate interests. It is simply
too vast a project to be embarked upon by any one nation, particularly
in light of today's financial situation. It is improbable, as well, that
Americans as a majority would support such a venture. I already see
dissatisfaction and criticism over the paltry .6% (est) that NASA
presently ekes from the national budget.
Finally, Newt isn't a
"space-head" (except perhaps in the sense that there is a vast emptiness
in his skull). He's a Science Fiction aficionado....this isn't nearly
the same thing. The former concerns themselves with what can be, is
being and has been accomplished in space, the latter with fictitious
stories of what might be.
I am a booster (pun intended) of a more
advanced and aggressive space program. I'd like nothing more than to
see mankind burst forth into the Cosmos in my lifetime. However Newt's
methods would lead to failure. He is not a visionary....he is an
illusionist.
