There is a lot going on in Washington this week with China. One of the two hottest topics is the race for the moon, (the other being Chinas under-valuing of her currency).<br /><br />China's ambition to make a trip to the moon is causing an intense debate among U.S. legislators.<br /><br />"If China beats us to the moon, we will have lost the space program," said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA. Lawmakers are pushing to accelerate the U.S. space program, approving $1.1 billion more than Bush's $16.8 billion for NASA for fiscal 2007.<br /><br />What could you do with and extra $1.1-billion? And where is that extra money coming from? (Hint: April 15th was just a few days ago). And why was $1.1-billion just laying around? We cant keep illegal Mexicans from decimating our economy but we have $1.1-billion lying around?<br /><br />Ok, Im being silly. Theres really more to it than that. I think we are going to see more and more money thrown at the project to get back on the moon. And this time we might be able to see/watch some activity on the surface of the moon as I suspect they will be landing on the side that faces the earth this time.<br /><br />What you arent being told: the next generation of weapons is space based. I believe the $17.9-billion congress put toward going back to the moon is actually the seed money for our entry in to the space-based weapons race. The moon is seen as the idea launching platform for missiles. Whomever has the best setup on the moon shall dominate the entire surface of the Earth. It is no coincidence that China, Russia, and the US suddenly started racing for that otherwise valueless wasteland that is the moon. <br /><br />The idea is a missile launch system can be put inside of a crater, designed to raise above the rim, fire and sink back down, like the big guns that protected the West Coast during WWII. And being inside of a crater it is protected from incoming projectiles from Earth. No atmosphere on the moon means not easy (and expensive) to develop ordinance that will turn a corner and enter a crater. Targeting from the moon is as simple as waiting for your target to rotate into view. The missiles flight time and thus vulnerability once inside the earths atmosphere, is as short as it can possibly be.<br /><br />There is absolutely no other reason to go back to the moon, and why we havent been back there. Its a wasteland, useless. Fwiw, a member of my extended family recently was hired into JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) on a feasibility project/study for sending a manned craft to Saturn; the target date: 2015. I guarantee you no one is looking at the moon for reasons of exploration. Besides, whatever we need from the moon we can obtain remotely without the addl expense and liability of sending a man there.
