Something just doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps to use a probably over simplistic example. If i went to Cancun today and hated it, i probably would not go back, less still, just go back to drive around Cancun without actually stepping in Cancun.
I am very confused.
Artemis is not motivated by the profit motive but by scientific value, mogging other countries, and other non-material values. And yeah, it transfers money from the taxpayer to many private organizations that can in turn kick back some to politicians to keep the money going. Something like that.
The moon landing is a much more difficult mission than just circling around the moon and I'd argue that we don't have a realistic plan for the landing right now.
There is nothing valuable about going to the moon. The moon is barren and nothing of value there. It takes a long time to get there, with many things that can go wrong along the way. Landing on the moon is not easy, with an incredible amount of things that can go during landing, and even more that can go wrong getting off the moon and making it back to earth. Reentry to Earth alone is incredibly dangerous.
Very expensive, lots of risk, very little return.
It doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, but there is a lot of opposition on why we shouldn't.
That should remove your confusion.
bigyabai•1h ago
The value of putting people on the moon was almost 100% nationalist, driven by the Cold War and subsequent Space Race.
> If we did not find anything valuable, then why are we going back to circle it and stuff?
The value of nationalist stunts has gone up again.