https://thedebrief.org/darpas-lunar-railroad-is-the-latest-saga-in-the-dods-mysterious-obsession-with-the-moon/

DARPA is throwing money at a railroad on the moon. Yup. Libs love them some rail funding.

Quote:

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) continues to set its sights on the Moon, recently selecting defense giant Northrop Grumman to advance concepts on building a lunar railroad network.

The project is the latest initiative from DARPA's expansive 10-year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study, which aims to establish a permanent human colony on the Moon and a "thriving lunar economy."
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"The envisioned lunar railroad network could transport humans, supplies, and resources for commercial ventures across the lunar surface contributing to a space economy for the United States and international partners," Northrop Grumman said in a statement.

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The only good thing about this is they won't have to use eminent domain up there.

WTF is it with the left and trains???

A permanent lunar base has been studied for decades, going back to Apollo.

Of all the stuff the government spends money on, this one is way down on the list of what needs to be axed.

Silly people, the moon isn't real.

I personally think it would greatly improve lunar work commute times.

torrid said:

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I personally think it would greatly improve lunar work commute times.

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It will certainly ease traffic congestion.

I want to know what they could possibly need to transport around on the moon so badly that it needs a rail line. So far, the only value I've ever heard about having a moon base is a low gravity refueling station for space exploration and mining operations. You don't need a rail line to accomplish that.

Should we get there and establish one base, let alone 2, before worrying about how to connect them?

Stmichael said:

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I want to know what they could possibly need to transport around on the moon so badly that it needs a rail line. So far, the only value I've ever heard about having a moon base is a low gravity refueling station for space exploration and mining operations. You don't need a rail line to accomplish that.

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Or do you?

Monorail or I'm against it!

This is nothing more than money laundering and hiding secret projects within this absurd "projects."

Why rail when the hyperloop is VASTLY superior in every way

I will help them with their endeavors:

We can't use wooden crossties, DARPA boys!

BQ78 said:

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I will help them with their endeavors:

We can't use wooden crossties, DARPA boys!

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Why do we even use rockets to get to the moon? Why don't we just build a traintrack there? Trains are ALWAYS the best solution.

Yes, let's combine the cost overruns on every damn train project ever and every damn NASA project ever... that has "brilliant idea" written all over it.

Workers can eat the cheese it's made of while building it.

This is beyond stupid but just to entertain the notion that some form of transportation is needed on the moon.

It would seem to me that building a road optimized for autonomous vehicles would be much cheaper.

UAS Ag said:

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WTF is it with the left and trains???

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I'm sure Kamala has had her share of them...

Moonorail was right there

I would support democrat members of congress to be the first colonists on the moon

Stmichael said:

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I want to know what they could possibly need to transport around on the moon so badly that it needs a rail line. So far, the only value I've ever heard about having a moon base is a low gravity refueling station for space exploration and mining operations. You don't need a rail line to accomplish that.

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Lunar manufacturing could provide a lot of value because it has conditions very difficult to recreate here on earth. Think of any process that requires a vacuum or the use of noble shield gasses to prevent oxidation or contamination from the atmosphere. Something like physical vapor deposition could be easily done at a very large scale and more efficiently on the moon or in orbit where you have near perfect vacuum. If you're manufacturing goods at different manufacturing sites, it might be advantageous to have a rail system that brings them to a launch site.

ETA And you'd probably want multiple sites. Night and day on the moon are about 14 days here except for only a few places with constant daylight or darkness. Multiple sites means you could use solar power during lunar day and then just move any people to another facility during solar night. No need to rely on batteries or storage.

I insist they use covered wagons before building a railroad.

ntxVol said:

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This is beyond stupid but just to entertain the notion that some form of transportation is needed on the moon.

It would seem to me that building a road optimized for autonomous vehicles would be much cheaper.

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Maybe. It's a cost benefit analysis of how much extra energy it takes to drive on the moon vs put down rail.

Look at the efficiency difference between trains and vehicles. Part of it is due to the efficiency of the locomotive's drive train, but most of it is due to the minimal rolling resistance on the track versus tires on the road. Now consider moving lots of people and equipment repeatedly over a long distance over effectively dirt. The power storage and generation necessary to drive might be much higher than that required for rail over the same distance. That means more batteries and more solar cells for vehicles and more mass to get there. Also potentially more failure points in transit. Rail would take more setup and require an initial investment in getting mass there, but over a long period of time could prove much more efficient.

You just don't know until you do the math for each.

ntxVol said:

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This is beyond stupid but just to entertain the notion that some form of transportation is needed on the moon.

It would seem to me that building a road optimized for autonomous vehicles would be much cheaper.

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FYI, since the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, combustion engines won't work there, and thus all lunar vehicles will HAVE to be EVs.

Pointing this out just to trigger a certain segment of this board's posters.

Doesn't matter.

No water to make steam anyhow.

We should build two in case one of them explodes by accident.

Ok. We can manage the project, but I say let the Chinese build it.

It can be done with a von Neumann machine

UAS Ag said:

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WTF is it with the left and trains???

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Ask Buttigieg. He likes him some trains.

This will be why the Chinese get to the moon. They built the railroads in the American west. They will do it again on the moon.

Lots of money in choo choos

And the Irish from the east

California cant figure out how to connect rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2024, but these f'ing clowns are going to build rail on a separate celestial body that is 240k miles away that we haven't visited in 51 years.

Sure...sure.

We will be in the Stone Age again before that happens.