Why don't we use the moon as Earth's trash can?
 

Nuclear power would solve a great deal of problems, but we don't have a safe place to dump all the nuclear waste. Also, corporations and manufacturing plants are constantly dumping pollutants into the ocean because they no other place to dispose all the waste.

So what is wrong with dumping it all on the moon? The surface of the moon serves no purpose. It's becoming easier to launch satellites and rockets into space, why not rockets containing nuclear waste and manufacturing pollutants?

Huge, large rockets can be created to launch this waste and drop it off on the moon's surface. Later we can start digging out the moon, like huge garbage dumps here on earth.

It only seems natural. We have this huge moon just sitting there. Instead of polluting the blue earth, we can dump it all on the moon where no life exists and it won't damage anything.

It almost feels 'meant to be' having this convenient moon so nearby at our disposal.

great idea - one rocket blowing up and blowing nuclear waste over a 1000 miles radius - I applaud your ingenuity

Why not fire the stuff in to the sun?

not mentioning the other 100 hundred things that are fundamentally wrong with this idea

i'll consider this a troll thread

We will eventually live on the moon so it makes perfect sense to make it completely uninhabitable now.

:1orglaugh

The first problem is the cost. The cost today is $10,000 Per Pound to send anything into space. SpaceX says they will be able to bring the cost down to about $1000 per pound, and both of these are just to earth orbit. To get it to the moon would cost alot more.

Next is the risk factor. An accident during lift off would send all that pollution, nuclear and otherwise, right into the air.

Assuming you could get it to the moon, it would still have to be buried. This would require the usual tools, manpower or robot power, etc. Leaving it on the surface might not be a good idea as the contains would have to withstand direct sunlight and all kinds of radiation that the earth's atmosphere normally protects us from.

The idea of polluting another world is a depressing thought at best and any projects towards the idea would surely be met with lots of criticism. Is the moon ours to do with as we wish?

Then again, maybe there is a case for this. Someone might start a business offering to dispose of your waste on the Moon and take care of freight, burial and transportation costs, all for a fee of course. Perhaps while digging, the moon could also be mined for minerals and other as yet undiscovered resources that would make garbage disposal a viable and profitable idea for the right entrepreneur.

I would love to see solar panels on the moon. They could collect solar energy, transfer it to microwave energy, beam it to earth where receivers would turn it back into electricity. Not sure how good an idea that is, but I think it would be a better use for the moon than making it our new garbage can.

you think we will live on the moon? LOL that is the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time

Do i really need to be the first to point out the obvious fact that if you can get something out of earths orbit cost effectively... you can then simply release it and send it in any direction you wish to and never see it again?

Sorry folks. But when it comes to rocket science I always listen to the German. You know, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Van Braun, chaps like that. Moon or Sun a no-no.

Now, taking the waste and just letting it fly into endless space, away from the sun and out of the solar system, that might work. Set it for a course to a distant galaxy and let her fly. Think what would happen billions of light years from now when our nuclear garbage arrives on Gortex 9 or wherever! :D

Well if we don't send it directly someowhere it could float off to some alien world and they may think they are under attack and come destroy us. That would suck. :(

the price per pound to transport anything to the moon is not cost effective.

Toronto used that principle for a while.

Most of their garbage wound up in Michigan.

Let's produce electricity on the moon and let's build a big wire to send the electricity!

Problem solved !

Well, it would need some propulsion at least.
http://i.imgur.com/Z7FpC.gif
The sun and even the other planets have a strong pull. The earths gravitational pull alone is nothing to sneeze at.

Since we are in the realm of science fiction in this thread i suggest establishing a portal to either a planetoid somewhere or even the middle of dead space. Then just eject our refuse into it never to be seen again.

Just send it to Detroit

This would not work. The direction it would be "released" into would be the same direction and the same velocity as the ship that is carrying it. A little bit of thrust would be required to push it away.

The ship itself would still be in orbit, so the garbage it pushes away would still be in orbit too, and would eventually fall back to earth.

To get a ship out of orbit would be more expensive because it would take a little extra fuel to make it break away.

Once it broke away and the garbage was ejected, it could possibly drift forever, but it might also get caught up in the gravity of some other planet in the future and be sucked in.

"a big wire"...you rock! :thumbsup

And piss off the Aliens. No thank you.

Incineration is the only answer,having a filter to contain the contaminants is the issue.convert the process into electricity

While the United States lost its' pioneer spirit for space exploration leaving NASA to wither, into the breach smelling opportunity is China, who thinks they can lay claim to the moon. They have plans to send men to the moon and to set up a colony.

i cunt a4d 2 goto the moon... :(

why not just fire it all into the space? :)

You see... There has to be extraterrestrial intelligence. Pretty sure that's why they did not contact us, yet. And peeps like OP are here to show us why.

That gave me a solid business idea:

"Send your in-laws to the Moon. One way tickets available only!" - I predict super high demand

Yeah right, with all that empty space, we should pollute also the next lump of earth.

If you want to get rid of the waste, just shoot into space.

Well, don't send a map as well, as some dumbasses have already done.

Or maybe they are out of everything and will hail us for the valuable resources we have sent.

It's not. Microwave is good for sending signal modulation (data) but pretty much useless for transmission of power. Then you have the non synchronous orbit issues...
There is so much unused space here that could be put to good use for solar farms which would require far, far less investment and risk as well as not include a insane distance to try and transmit power, not to mention a lack of a stable, viable way to transmit it. Drive around any industrial area and there are HUGE factories the size of several sporting fields. With rooftop space that is completely unused. Spaces high enough to be above treelines, in areas near where 90% of power consumption is needed, near the right kind of infrastructure to get the power where it needs to go, owned by companies who would be quite happy to see their unused space put to a use that earns them some extra money.

If roads could be paved with solar panels, that would be something.

You mean like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU

Yes, althought that led lighting is not the best ideas (for lighting), as it's focused upwards, not downwards. Light pollution already being big problem, every fucking road illuminating upwards would make it so much worse.

Stephen Hawking speculates we have 100 years or less on this planet so...not so dumb to me.

Because Moon hangs above Earth, so the trash will fall back down, stupid!

Haha Gortex 9 good one. We come in peace! Radiation good for body and soul! LOL

I don't think so and I surely hope not (that little).

Well, at least I'm in the correct thread since putting trash on the moon is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

:1orglaugh

shhh let the members of 'ifuckinglovescience' figure it out on their own. Apparently we have a lot of them here...

I almost missed this one. Polluting oceans is not because there would be no other place for the waste material. Oceans are polluted because it is more profitable, at least for single companies and in short term. Although there is economical term for free loading like this, as it (polluting) is free for just the particular companies, not for the societies as a whole.

Polluting = more profit. Pollution = sickness. Sickness = "Hey, have have these insurances" = more profit. LOL. :)