I had never heard of Bill Stone until now - thanks very much for the link!
From the news section of the Stone Aerospace website I followed a link to an article he published last year about mining the Moon:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/spac ... g-the-moonMost of it sounds great. Using inflatable structures sounds like a good idea, though maybe more tricky on the Moon than using them in Earth orbit like Bigelow have been planning.
The bit he might have problems with (in terms of scaring investors etc) is this:
Quote:
First, to save about $1 billion during the initial staging of the lunar mining base, the first human team will take only enough fuel to land and establish the base—not enough for a return trip to Earth. This may sound radical, but the human crew who will undertake this mission will do so knowing that their success and survival depend on in situ fuel generation for the return. Should they fail, theirs will be a one-way trip; the risk is theirs to take. For government-sponsored space agencies, such a concept is unthinkable; they cannot tolerate the political risk of failure. Yet it is the only viable business choice. Centuries of explorers made the same hard choice in pushing the limits on land, sea, and air. It’s time to carry it forward into space. This is not reckless bravado but calculated risk management to satisfy mission needs and affordability.
Well, call me a coward but I won't be flying with Stone Aerospace anytime soon.
How badly do we need humans physically present for this kind of mission? Couldn't their role be taken by remote-control devices at least until some of the basic equipment has been put in place?