COMMENTARY | During the Republican presidential debate in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday night, the subject of Newt Gingrich's moon colony idea came up. During the exchange, Mitt Romney especially revealed a smallness of vision and an ignorance of the issue.
From the CNN transcript of the debate, when asked about space, Romney promised that as president he would gather together with top experts "[…] to create a plan that will keep our space program thriving and growing." He also once again specifically rejected the idea of establishing a base on the moon, presumably even if his committee of experts were to recommend it.
Romney's promise to study the situation certainly lacks the ringing call to greatness of a JFK calling for a man on the moon within the decade or a Gingrich proposing a moon base by the end of his second term. This was by deliberate design for two reasons.
Romney doesn't want to do anything substantial in space, but did not want to say so in Florida and thus offend aerospace workers Florida. His call for another commission to study the issue was another way of putting off the question to the indefinite future. The deficit, the cause of so much eye rolling over Gingrich's moon base proposal, may be a reason or just an excuse.
Second, by proposing another study and rejecting the moon, Romney showed a profound ignorance of the fact that a myriad of previous studies, ranging from the Apollo era Space Task Group, the Reagan era National Commission on Space, as well as the Obama era Augustine Commission all included the moon as either a prime direction or at least an option.
If Romney wants to know why Gingrich is so focused on the moon, he could go no further than to read Paul Spudis' "The Case for Renewed Human Exploration of the Moon" in which the rationale for returning to the moon, not only for science, but also as a prelude to the exploration of the Solar System is examined. Spudis also covers mining lunar resources, such as water.
Then Romney can read Taylor Dinerman's piece about the strategic value of the moon and its importance to national security. Spudis also covers the Chinese challenge where it comes to the moon.
Can we afford to return to the moon with a $15 trillion national debt? The question is actually whether we can afford not to?
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