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NEWS > SCIENCE > BUZZ ALDRIN OFFENDS INDIA WITH CHINESE MOON GAS STATION PROPOSAL
BUZZ ALDRIN OFFENDS INDIA WITH CHINESE MOON GAS STATION PROPOSAL
July 2 2010
Merritt Island, FL – The moon has long been an object of fascination for those of us trapped on the surface of this little blue marble. Inspiring poetry and lovers for centuries, the moon has become an essential part of human culture regardless of race 
or religion or politics. Just like our ancient ancestors who headed to their caves when the moon rose in sky, our fascination with that mass of rock revolving around our planet is endless. Despite the billions of people who have gazed upon the man in the moon throughout history only 12 people have ever been able to touch her surface, Buzz Aldrin is one of those people.
Aldrin of course was the second person to set foot on the moon in that legendary expedition that many thought heralded a new era in human exploration. While science has certainly benefited from that expedition precious few others have been able to live the dream of wandering the heavens. Most space exploration in the intervening years has been confined to low orbit passes and satellite launches, something endlessly frustrating for our exploratory spirit. Aldrin however has kept that spirit alive constantly promoting further reaches into space and actually postulating the process for doing that very thing. Now Aldrin has suggested a radical solution in creating a lunar gas station that would act as a way station for vessels to be manned by the Chinese, something that has already angered many in the fledging Indian space program.
“Do we really need these big, gigantic, heavy rockets? What if we launch a rocket that’s empty and its sole purpose is to act as a source of fuel on the Moon? Who should build that?” Aldrin told Vanity Fair. Well, I think the U.S. should build that. But who should send up the propellant? China, India, Europe. We’re going to Mars, we need propellant. And we could buy propellant from them at our moon gas station.”
It’s not clear if such a station would also have a convenience store like earthbound facilities but keeping store of food and other goods would seem likely for the long trip to Mars or other bodies in our solar system.
“This is frankly deeply offensive to many people around the world. The Chinese space program has been lagging very far behind others for a long time which while surprising is simply a fact. India for example has been launching
satellites for years and has actually launched vessels to the moon and will be continuing to do more of that in the future. Their program is far more advanced than the Chinese one so if anyone should be in the running for that it is them,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “India has been a leader in this realm and has an exploding population and economy with a lot of highly educated individuals. Chinese success has been based on manufacturing whereas India’s has been based on science and more sophisticated pursuits making them a far better partner for a moon-based gas station.”
Aldrin also speculated that facilities for resupplying should also include waste disposal and clean clothing, the latter of which has reportedly drawn a great deal of interest from the fledgling Korean space program. 
“Having supply bases throughout different regions of space makes perfect sense for long term trips, even if they are unmanned. Trying to load all of that fuel onto ships designed for space and exploration would simply be unfeasible and potentially dangerous. After all we don’t have massive gas tanks on cars, we have tankers supply stations from which we refuel and there’s no reason we can’t do that in space,” continued Poe. “The question of who creates and mans them is something that will have to answered in the future by right now the only country that makes sense is India. Maybe China’s program will advance in the coming years but for now the best solution for these gas stations to run effectively is to give control to the Indians. They know the business better than anyone.”
Chairman of the Indian Space Research Station K. Radhakrishnan stated that he would be very excited by the possibility and hoped that future vessel would make many return trips to the moon station.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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