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Chapter 12 - Lunar Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2014

Arlin Crotts
Arlin Crotts
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
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Summary

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be,

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,

Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales.

– Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1835, “Locksley Hall”

Tennyson reminds us that despite the scope for humanity of exploration, personal fulfillment rests on immediate accomplishment: on commerce, personal opportunity, and peace versus conflict – measured on a human scale. How can outer space fit into human lives?

From the start, Columbian-era Europeans set out to explore the world for profit. Although investors often lost their stakes and crew-members their lives, both dreamed of riches, and some were rewarded. In intervening centuries ships sailed the globe to exploit and trade in natural resources: spices, whale oil, and more. In the twentieth century, exploration of Earth’s polar regions and outer space was a contest for the prestige of nations and individuals more than profit. Lunar explorers need not fear unreasonably for their lives given precaution (Chapter 11), but what have investors to gain? Can distant space including the Moon be monetized for profit?

Type
Chapter
Information
The New Moon
Water, Exploration, and Future Habitation
 , pp. 368 - 391
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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  • Lunar Power
  • Arlin Crotts, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: The New Moon
  • Online publication: 05 September 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139045384.013
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  • Lunar Power
  • Arlin Crotts, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: The New Moon
  • Online publication: 05 September 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139045384.013
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Lunar Power
  • Arlin Crotts, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: The New Moon
  • Online publication: 05 September 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139045384.013
Available formats
×