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peadith t1_ja4uwxq wrote

Reply to comment by stewartm0205 in Opinion: Mining on the moon is no longer a loony idea, and Canada can capitalize on it by Gari_305

Okay Im a moron and haven't done any homework. What's the chance of screwing this up and wrecking tidal lock or the whole orbit so we don't get to play anymore?

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GodsSwampBalls t1_ja507si wrote

0%

The moon and earth are really big, there is absolutely no way humans will be able to move enough stuff between the earth and moon to noticeably change the gravity of either body.

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peadith t1_ja5cjpr wrote

The moon only seems really big compared to 0%. But I guess in 10,000 years we'll have other problems anyway.

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nameTotallyUnique t1_jaa0n29 wrote

Not contradicting you but an Interesting fact:

there is a dam in china that actually slowed down the earth rotation a tiny fraction. Can't remeber whats is called saw a youtube movie about it.

Sry kinda lazy message.

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AnDraoi t1_ja7zymc wrote

not in the short term at least, that’s an ethical question for humanity in 2423

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ConfirmedCynic t1_ja5p8wi wrote

With current technologies? None.

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Horses4HandJobs t1_ja6355r wrote

Unless we decided to tunnel deep into the Moon and set off some nukes

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DingoFrisky t1_ja7vher wrote

Well, I saw an excellent documentary where there were actually Nazis living on the moon, so maybe we should nuke it to be safe (Iron Sky)

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sheriffhd t1_ja4xz4m wrote

Tbh knowing how business work it wouldn't matter so long as it makes profit

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TheEverHumbled t1_ja6za4n wrote

The business model of extractive industries helps explain why this is a no for the forseeable future, and very very likely forever.

Mining and Oil drilling operate based on constraints of physical reality which drives costs(e.g. cost of equipment, workers, etc). Reserves of resources exist in a bunch of places which are simply impractical to extract based on present prices and technology.

The key point is that extractive businesses don't go everywhere and extract everything- they add projects which have the best potential for profits. As more material is extracted, market demand would fall, and make costlier extraction less profitable.

The moon is pretty massive for any forseeable timescale- by the time lunar mining is of any noticeable scale, humanity would likely have spread out a lot more mining activities to the asteroid belt (assuming of course human civilization can reach such a point), and most resources would have cheaper sources(sitting even closer to 0 g environment).

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