To think millions of litres of fuel shouldn't be wasted on sending a rocket to the moon

Okay? And??!?!!?! What is your point? What did you learn at school?

But aren’t most of the current issues facing mankind down to mankind?

Indeed. Those people at CERN wasting huge amounts of energy on their frivolous “experiments”. A disgrace that they should be allowed when politicians want to start wars and spend hundreds of billions on bombs and create thousands of times as much pollution waging wars. How bloody dare these scientists try to advance our knowledge and find solutions to the world’s problems by investigating nuclear fusion, particle physics, engaging in space exploration and advancing our understanding of physics and chemistry when there are so many more important priorities to focus on and their activities may contribute 0.01% of global emissions. The fact we are spending 0.1% of global GDP on space exploration is an outrage!

As I said earlier, this thread makes me wish that Project Hail Mary would come and put me on a spacecraft to Irid if I could take my children with me: I’d happily go and live there with Dr Ryland Grace on his beach (as long as he let me adjust the temperature settings a little).

I really despair of humanity sometimes. What a depressing thread this has been (with a few notable exceptions from posters who have given me a little hope, for which I am immensely grateful otherwise I might go and lie on the beach like Elio now with a colander on my head and write in the sand “please abduct me!”).

Space is very big, we are very small. The people at risk from our space junk in orbit are us and yeah, it does need consideration but the fact is they can't load up a moon lander with kit and take it down the dump for recycling when they get back. They can't bring it back.

I think for my generation the presence of original Star Trek on our screens as children around the time of Apollo was a blessing and a curse. It had some wonderful ideas and good values on the whole (even if the Prime Directive was largely ignored) but the USS Enterprise made it look easy, and it really isn't.

Even if it's hard though, and imperfect, what else are we meant to do? Sit on the 3rd rock until the sun goes ape or use our talents to go as far as we can, do as much as we can, in the enormity that surrounds us?

I wish I was young.

How is recognising human arrogance and stupidity an indicator of being young?

It’s a story that spans our entire time on this planet so far.

I don’t see how your comments put forward any credible prospect to resolve the issues of facing humanity and the other species on Earth in any realistic way instead of doing this by advancing our scientific knowledge so that we can generate bountiful clean energy which will enable us to meet all human needs and protect the environment.

What’s your alternative?

Do you think all of these scientists are stupid and deluded?

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-fusion-power

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a70627756/tokamak-fusion-breakthroughs/

https://www.iter.org

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260303050622.htm

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/02/nuclear-fusion-science-explained/

It’s basically a dick-swinging contest. Trump wants the USA to beat China to (re)land on the moon. Agree that the money could be much better spent on the home planet 🙄

Again I say, should we never do anything because there might be some waste.

@ArtemisMission does it not bother you at all?

Okay and?

Well, I'll put my hands up to that! 😂

However, it doesn't stop the Moon being a barren rock, although I know there were people putting words into the moon landing Apollo astronaut's mouths about them being watched by whatever, ET's Gran possibly, or the Russians.

When there is a bit of evidence there is any form of life on the moon, happy to recant. It would be interesting.

I’m not claiming it will be done in 10 years. In 20 though I think we will have cracked it and in 30 it will be rolled out globally. It will and it will transform everything beyond recognition.

What’s your alternative to fix things on Earth? How do you envisage us both feeding the global population, stopping people from killing each other and tackling climate change without scientific innovation into cleaner and more productive, plentiful fuel sources so that people stop attacking each other? Fundamentally pretty much all global conflict is about resources (however it is couched politically in a cloak of morality/ religion/ political system/ whatever) and the underlying resource is ENERGY. When you have plentiful energy, every other problem is easily solvable without having to divide up and fight over resource, because energy PRODUCES resources and makes them easily obtainable. What humanity (and therefore the Earth and all of its other species) desperately need is a clean, plentiful source of energy generation. Then pretty much every other problem goes away.

We should be putting far, far more resources into advancing science as fast as we can.

If you have a viable alternative that doesn’t result in climate collapse/ mass extinction of many species including us quite possibly/ death and suffering and displacement or starvation of a large part of the global population then please enlighten me.

Can't see any issues. All sealed under multiple layers of containment.

Again anytime you have development there's some pollution. Should we just not build anything then because pollution?

To the very best of current knowledge,

It's rare when someone trips themselves up so completely 😂

It must be great to be as young as you 😀

What do you think might be hiding in the shadows?

To the very best of current knowledge, it really is a barren rock so all theories welcome IMO.

@ProjectHailMary and you will note that I am talking about the area nearer to Earth. Are you saying we have not polluted any of that area with old equipment etc?

There's around 100 million things in orbit around the earth, they'd better be careful not to hit something on the way up then back down.

I don’t think they eject any waste matter. Even if they did, faeces ejected into space would rapidly freeze and freeze dry. On the ISS urine is recycled into drinking water.

Perhaps you’d like to answer my question above that I posed to you previously based on your earlier assertions and asked again above at 17:46 to @mazedasamarchhare.

??

Then we all might be able to take your posts seriously, if you can provide a rationale for the assertions that you’ve made already.

Unlikely in the extreme. Probably as unlikely as “humans destroying the universe”. The sheer arrogrance and stupidity involved in some of the comments on the thread is beyond my comprehension.

So will we never leave more than a footprint on the moon? Wont leave rubbish, no longer required equipment? There are no bits of detritus floating around that have been left behind, obsolete satellites?

Well until we go back, it's hard to tell. Worth someone positing for their PhD. Who knows ? Maybe someone on this very thread ? Although I admit it seems unlikely.

And this has caused what problem, exactly?

it cannot sustain life

🤔

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. We have no idea what is hiding in the shadows.

(Although I'm not expecting anything to change our presumption)

Oh dear. You aren't the sharpest tool in the shed are you?