Moon Base Alpha

 Whatever happened to humanities dream to go to the moon? Why don't we have a 'Moon Base Alpha'?

It seems like unless we are competing with another nation we lose our drive to accomplish wondrous things. I for one would love for some smart business people to start a company that has a goal of starting tourism on the moon.

Could you imagine a better vacation? A two week long stay in a luxury suite in the Moon Base Alpha's Holiday Inn. Or maybe you prefer the Ramada?

We have Space Shuttles and the technology we have gained from that program is a big step in the development of our luxury resort.

Getting mining equipment to the moon, to find and then utilize minerals from the moon herself for the construction of our resort seems the logical next step.

Along with the mining equipment we'd need refining equipment to process the raw materials we find.

Perhaps the first trips could be to retrieve some more moon samples to identify likely materials for the construction of our resort. We would have to know what we needed to bring so it sounds like exploratory trips might be in order.

Perhaps during the exploratory trips we could bring smaller shelters, a pre-fabricated, just hook them up kinda thing. Of course they would have to be air tight and we would have to have some kind of bathroom facilities in them, beds to sleep in, maybe even a television or two. I wonder if they can get cable up there yet? We could bring plants to fill the inside of these shelters to help produce oxygen, and filter the carbon dioxide. Who knows in time we might even accidentally create a breathable atmosphere on the moon.

I would say solar panels would be a good something to bring, so we could have an endless supply of power up there. Or perhaps a good old-fashioned nuclear power plant. I'm sure there are scientists that could tell us the best way to power our new resort, and the housing for the construction workers building it for us.

What a dream job that would be. I'd be applying for a job that is for sure.

Maybe a resort shouldn't be the first thing we build up there. Maybe we should build something for the scientists. The more we learn now the easier and cheaper it will be to build the resort when the time is right. I'm sure we would have no end of people lining up to volunteer for a month or two to join our research expedition to the moon.

Maybe starting with an observatory would be best. We could fund it with the S.E.T.I. money. It could help detect disastrous weather systems on Earth as well. Talk about your eye in the sky!

Make a department of lunar exploration and get some miners to drill us a hole or two. Maybe we'll find out that a few thousand feet down is a lake of frozen water we can use instead of having to import water from mother Earth.

Maybe there is a tunnel system just under the surface, leftover from when the moon was covered in lava flows.

That would save us some money, if we could somehow build our resort in the caves under the surface of the moon.

Maybe we would just have the employee's dwellings down there.

People paying good money for a vacation would probably want a room with a view.

NASA says they will have a lunar base established by 2024. I think that we might want to build the resort a little bit away from them.

People on vacation don't want to be told to quiet down because the scientists need to be able to get some sleep.

Besides I don't know what the drinking and moon hopping laws are yet, so better safe than sorry.

A little bit of elbow room never hurt anyone.

They will definitely want drinks, and probably a dance floor. I wonder what pizza delivery would cost? Probably better if we build a pizza joint up there too.

You know, we might want to think about a roller coaster park... I mean with the lighter gravity they could really build some wild rides I bet!! Plus them places always draw tourists. Don't get me wrong I'm sure being able to look out your window at the Earth will be really fun on your first trip, but I'm thinking about the return business. The people that want to come back a second time, then the amusement park will be perfect.

You know what else? I bet a telescope in each of the rooms would go over well. People could look through them and try and see in peoples sky lights back on Earth... All Joking aside, it would be cool wouldn't it...