The Speculist

Arthur C. Clarke agrees that we shouldn't use rockets to go back to the Moon.

Explorers, he said, made it to the South Pole before the technology existed to make it practical to stay there. They used dog sleds because that was the best method available. After that first dangerous trip, it took fifty years before people went back. But when they went back, they stayed permanently. Dog sleds were not involved.

Now we are planning to return to the Moon 50 years after Neil Armstrong, but we're planning to do it again with rockets. Rocket technology will not allow us to maintain a permanent presence on the Moon. They are the dog sleds of Lunar exploration.

The Space Elevator is the technology that will make permanent Lunar bases supportable.

I love how he closes the column:

I am often asked when I think the first space elevator might be built. My answer has always been: about 50 years after everyone has stopped laughing. Maybe I should now revise it to 25 years.

He doesn't explain this new optimism. But it would have to be based on recent carbon nanotube advancements and, perhaps, the work of Bradley Edwards.

Hat tip to Instapundit who believes that "the laughter has pretty much stopped."