I have been reading in the news that China, Japan and soon India are all sending probes into space to be the first to colonize the Moon. China wants to build a space defense platform on the Moon that will be what they believe there shining monument in there Military. Personally I think they watched Austin Powers too much and think that if they put a weapons platform on the moon that the other countries will bow before there superiority. I think they have not thought this through. It’s going to take years of effort and trillions of dollars (that they do not have) to build a defense platform on the moon. Not to mention that if they choose to launch something offensively, it will take 3 days or more for it to reach earth, with all the orbital satellite’s that detect foreign object heading toward earth it will be like watching a bug hit your window in slow motion. Japan has also launched a probe to the moon. This one is a little more ambitious. They are looking to map the surface and plan on future exploration of the moon for “various” reasons. One such reason that is speculated is mining the planet for the known and unknown metals that are deposited there from the millions of years of meteor impacts. It was found years ago that there are large sources of Iron ore that have been impacted on the surface and covered over by years of silt. This could be a big boom to the Japanese economy if they can find an economic way to mine, refine and transport the ore to the planet. They themselves are in a financial bind as there space program has been delayed for years due to budget cuts, errors in equipment and overall failure of the program itself. This launch was supposed to happen four years ago but because of a scuttled launch then a series of costly failures it was postponed. Between China and Japan I would like to see who gets the claim on the Moon first, will this start an international incident that will force the United States to interfere and forcibly settle the possible dispute between the two countries! Or will America step up once the countries do make steps to colonize and tell them that they cant since we were technically the first one’s on the Moon and stake a claim for themselves and tax the crap out of any country that wants to turn it into a resource. Oh! Let’s not forget India. They will be heading to the moon soon as well, but it is unclear at the moment why. The only thing that I can think of is that they have to ride on the coat tales of other countries when it comes to the space race. So since China and Japan are going they have to go or they will look inferior to the rest of the other countries. I think it’s funny that these countries are just now headed to the moon and we are working towards Mars. I hope this drives the United States to pick up the pace and start the colonization of Mars and get a foot hold on the planets that can be used as resources. I told a friend of mine that we should just build a penal colony on Moon and send all of our life prisoners there. There is no chance of escape and in order to survive they would need to farm animals, veggies and what not. Its like Australia, it was originally a penal colony that was comprised of convicts, Marines and the Marines families. The convicts would have to farm there veggie, fruits and animals for consumption. They could be regulated and even mine the interior for minerals and metals that would be used to sustain the facility. They would learn a trade expand the facility and in the end have the ability to prove there worth as a valued member of society. Something that they can not do here on Earth. On Earth they just sit in a cell and wait to die.

I think I will draw up some pictures of my idea for a Lunar Penal Colony and see what everyone thinks. Stay tuned for more on this.