.Eaterofsun looks beyond Apollo towards the future: the Moonbase as a technological challenge and an economic gamble
, the global temperature fluctuates by 200ths of a degree Celsius. This is because the Moon, when it is full, reflects a whole lunar surface-worth of distant sunlight onto the terrestrial night and Earth is measurably warmer than it would be at the Moon’s crescent, or even in its gibbous phase.In this, and many other imperceptible ways, the Moon has an effect on the Earth.
Its pale face reflects humanity’s hopes and fears, and offers a faintly-marked surface on which to sketch our dreams. Fifty years ago this summer, and 240,000 miles from home, American astronauts began a series of brief walks on the dusty lunar surface. This period of direct contact lasted six visits during a trifling three years. The view from the Moon revealed the beauty and fragility of our own blue planet.
Since then, no astronaut or cosmonaut has travelled much more than 300 miles in a vertical direction. But we can dream, and we can despatch robots to look at the lunar terrain. And one day, humans could step out onto the far side of the Moon. A vast corpus has looked back at the great fact of the Moon landings, and a vastly bigger body of science-fiction has already extended the adventure.’s briefings editor, is one of those orphans of Apollo.
A little like Norman Mailer in his book, “Of a Fire on the Moon” , Mr Morton bookends his tale with some of his own responses to the moon, space launchers and the lunar light. He brings an enviable knowledge of science-fiction literature to focus on the uneasy futures we imagine for this hostile homestead-to-be .
Finally he brings a reporter’s direct experience of encounters with tomorrow’s lunarnauts: the giants of private enterprise and innovation who may, and perhaps will, provide the impetus and the hardware for a new age of exploration and exploitation. These include Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin and Elon Musk of SpaceX. Mr Bezos is described as well-motivated. So, too, is Mr Musk, with the rider that he is “also a prick.
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