Apparently we're NOT going back to the moon...at least not now.

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I have to agree with the decision. I'm all for exploration and study of the universe, but going to the moon seems to me to be rather wasteful. I'd rather see exploration of other objects; Mars, moons of mars, near earth asteroids, and I think we can do that without going to the moon first.

Unfortunately, those endeavors are likely on hold and for the same reason as the moon; money. That the moon idea was scraped for budget concerns the others are no different.

For now, I'd like to see a probe being sent to Europa.

I have to agree with the decision. I'm all for exploration and study of the universe, but going to the moon seems to me to be rather wasteful. I'd rather see exploration of other objects; Mars, moons of mars, near earth asteroids, and I think we can do that without going to the moon first.

Unfortunately, those endeavors are likely on hold and for the same reason as the moon; money. That the moon idea was scraped for budget concerns the others are no different.

For now, I'd like to see a probe being sent to Europa.

The only reason for going to the moon would be to establish a base that could be used to boost vehicles (using magnetic rail gun technology) to the other planets and beyond. We cannot continue to initiate space exploration from the gravity well of the earth. It's is simply too expensive.

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History has shown us that until we establish a home at a new location, we can always pull back. This happened in the early exploration of America and is what happened to us at the end of Apollo. As long as all we want to do is explore, we will never have a chance of living off earth. To me its very sad because I will never have the chance to visit other worlds. It will be reserved for the lucky few who are able to get in the space program and not for the masses.

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I have to agree with the decision. I'm all for exploration and study of the universe, but going to the moon seems to me to be rather wasteful. I'd rather see exploration of other objects; Mars, moons of mars, near earth asteroids, and I think we can do that without going to the moon first.

Unfortunately, those endeavors are likely on hold and for the same reason as the moon; money. That the moon idea was scraped for budget concerns the others are no different.

For now, I'd like to see a probe being sent to Europa.

The only reason for going to the moon would be to establish a base that could be used to boost vehicles (using magnetic rail gun technology) to the other planets and beyond. We cannot continue to initiate space exploration from the gravity well of the earth. It's is simply too expensive.

Yes, and I disagree with this approach. The amount of resources and funding you save by launching from the moon instead of Earth's gravity well are deficit expenditures when considering the cost of establishing and maintaining a base there in the first place. We do not need the moon until we are ready to do regular launches on a weekly basis.

I would love to see us back to the moon or Mars, but I think we aren't ready for long term stay in space yet. Correct me if I am wrong, I believe the max achieve was about 1 year by Russians.

I think if we really want to gain something from the massive investments made to have us colonizing other planets, we have to focus on

1. Sending probes everywhere and gather information about possible targets.
2. Solve the propulsion problem.
3. Solve the energy problem. In my humble opinion, using solar energy is a total waste for long term trips and I believe the solution is nuclear energy.
4. Solve the protection problem. Protection from micrometeorites and protection from solar winds and cosmic ray.

After that, let's talk about building a base on the moon or Mars. And till that happen, i believe we have to focus on expanding the ISS as research platform.

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