I wonder why they stopped exploring the moon in the 60s of the last century? Maybe there is something found? How many years have passed, but the information is still kept in strict confidence.
All the info is public, massive amounts of it.
Lunar orbits were believed all unstable due to uneven gravity issues, but four stable lunar orbits were located that sort of weave a path between these concentrated areas of mass.
Therefore an orbiting satellite is possible. Whether it's practical to man it is another issue. Certainly an interesting idea.
Yes, Moon is actually outside of Earth's magnetic field. So unlike ISS, proposed Deep Space Gateway will be bombarded by cosmic radiation.
Actually, over a period of time and with some ingenuity, lunar dirt could be moved up to orbit and form a massive shield. That'd take some native propellants from the Moon, but maybe something like an orbiting station would get people thinking down those lines.
I heard that the moon is Helium-3. This is a material that is on the earth practically does not occur and 1 kg of the substance could power a small city during the year. May be this is the reason for such interest in the moon? Why Trump wants to sell the U.S. oil reserves? I think he knows something.
Is any single country even allowed to modify anything on the moon? From what I remember it's considered "common heritage" for mankind. I mean, it would probably suck if they start modify stuff up there that would be visible here on Earth.
On second thought, they can probably restrict all activity to the far side so as not to ruin the view for everyone. Not sure what mining it would do though, if that would result to any significant change. After all, it's way smaller than Earth.
Maybe they can just place stuff on it? I remember some idea shown on Nat Geo where it's used to charge batteries. Shuttles that are going out into space anyway would dump batteries on the moon that would be charged using a large belt of solar panels along the moon's equator. Then those batteries would just be placed on capsules and hurled back at Earth.