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Some Silicon Valley folks want to build a moonbase

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 5:27 pm
by AntennaGuy
Hmm:
"The Silicon Valley Heavyweights Who Want to Settle the Moon"
See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-the-moon

Thoughts, anyone?
:geek:

Re: Some Silicon Valley folks want to build a moonbase

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:46 pm
by GCoyote
As long as they can raise the money, they are welcome to try. I have serious doubts about any such venture being economically viable however. I didn't see much explanation as to what lunar colonists would actually be doing. IMO once you get into specifics you are hard pressed to find a routine activity that a robot could not do more easily and for lower cost in any vacuum environment.

Re: Some Silicon Valley folks want to build a moonbase

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:59 pm
by helicon
Steve funded the first company I co-founded back in 1998. Now though he is no longer with the firm he co-created, DFJ.

It would be interesting to see an open-source type of living environment to evolve on the moon, but it ain't software we are talking about and various difficult issues would have to be overcome.

It would seem that such a project would need billions of dollars and at the end of the day, government sponsorship to a degree - to be successful. Raising $5 million of seed capital is good but there are many obstacles and it would not be the first time that $5 million is lost in the ether. Thanks for the heads-up on the initiative - I had not yet heard of it.

Re: Some Silicon Valley folks want to build a moonbase

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:57 pm
by notFritzArgelander
The political idealism is commendable. The economic feasibility is dubious. Robots are cheaper than humans.