Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for July 13, 2011

Danae you are some kind of “raw genius”!

Sorry, Danae, your idea impinges on the intellectual property of ITC Entertainment in its similarity to the entertainment program “Space: 1999” in which the moon is used as a vessel upon which humanity travels to other star systems.

If you like Danaes’ idea, check out The Armageddon Inheritance by David Weber.

I dont think they did that on purpose in Space: 1999, unless Im thinking of the wrong cheesy scifi TV show

On ‘Space:1999’ the moon was blasted out of orbit by a super-duper chain reaction of atomic waste dumped there, shooting it out of the plane of the ecliptic and into very convenient wormholes (at least 10 times per season).Unfortunately, the moon would rip apart before being blasted out of Earth orbit, creating general havok, and ruining the tides, as well as a lot of good songs.Adn since it’s impossible, the Pentagon will buy the idea.

I find it amazing that there is a prize for that when the United States can no longer even get to the space station.

Oh yeah, I realize it’s just a cartoon….and it’s really about the philosophy of kids, but I couldn’t resist the opening.

There’s a classic SF story where aliens quarantined Earth to keep us from colonizing space, but mankind responded by turning Earth itself into a rocket ship. I forget the title.

Nothing to add. “Space 1999” (as has been mentioned) did something like this in the 1970s. Wonder if Danae has been into her Dad’s DVD collection again?

Space: 1999 IS available on DVD.

Your plan is full of what?. This gas comes from where? Forget NASA, send it to Congress.

Space:1999 was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this strip as well. Glad to see that I’m not the only one who remembers that show.

This could work, but use Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn. They just discovered a vast underground ocean of water that’s full of hydrogen and oxygen (i.e., rocket fuel). Google “nasa Cassini Captures Ocean-Like Spray at Saturn Moon”. Unfortunately, if you did it, you could ruin the rings of Saturn!

My mom had a thing for Martin Landau, so we watched it. It takes all kinds, I guess.

“Space:1999” got beyond ridiculous when almost every week everyone was killed off, then resurrected by a benevolent alien in time for next week’s show. Not to mention that the moon must ave been hollow and filled with Eagles, since they blew two or three of them up each week.

As Nightshade mentioned above, removing the moon from earth’s orbit could have a whole bunch of very nasty and unexpected consequences. Of course, we know the tides would almost completely disappear. But would the loss of that mass cause a change in the earth’s orbit? If so, where would we end up? In the path of another planet’s orbit? Removing that much mass from the equation could get very tricky. Any astrophysicists out there who would like to weigh in intelligently instead of uneducated rambling?

But the Eagle is still the coolest looking transport ever designed.

There’s a Heinlein novel in there somewhere, too.

Well, assuming that you could move the moon without it’s gravity pulling the Earth out of orbit, there’s no reason why Earth’s orbit would change.

Even taking into account the displacement that removal of the moon’s mass would make on the Earth’s orbit though, it wouldn’t make a significant orbital change. Maybe we’d have to change the century leap-days.

More important is the cessation of the tides, which would wipe out a great deal of ocean life.

You go, Danae!

I guess the contest rules don’t say anything about “within our lifetime”, so yeah, Danae wins!

Could always remake the moon into a Dysan Sphere

I once tried to design a role-playing game on space travel using only the laws of physics. Artificial gravity would be supplied with a 10 meter per second per second accelleration to the half way point, then face the other way to slow down for reentry. With an impossible 100% Carnot efficiency of E=MCsquared, no matter what size the space vehicle (and thus fuel capacity versus total mass) fuel ran out at a quarter the speed of light somewhere around the orbit of Neptune.

I poured the details into the standard fantasy format and had Mythworld.

Ancient myths from around the globe tell of a time when the moon was not yet in the sky. Even the Bible alludes to this scenario: Job 25:5 the grandeur of the Lord who “Makes peace in the heights” is praised and the time is mentioned “before [there was] a moon and it did not shine.” Also in Psalm 72:5 it is said: “Thou wast feared since [the time of] the sun and before [the time of] the moon, a generation of generations.” From “The Earth Without the Moon:” “The period when the Earth was Moonless is probably the most remote recollection of mankind. Democritus and Anaxagoras taught that there was a time when the Earth was without the Moon. Aristotle wrote that Arcadia in Greece, before being inhabited by the Hellenes, had a population of Pelasgians, and that these aborigines occupied the land already before there was a moon in the sky above the Earth; for this reason they were called Proselenes. Apollonius of Rhodes mentioned the time “when not all the orbs were yet in the heavens, before the Danai and Deukalion races came into existence, and only the Arcadians lived, of whom it is said that they dwelt on mountains and fed on acorns, before there was a moon.” While it’s quite probable the moon formed naturally elsewhere and was captured by our Earth’s gravity, there’s compelling evidence to suggest that our moon is in fact a construct and was deliberately placed just so. Suggested search terms: “moon anomalies” “Pegasus Research Consortium” Wait… there were an entire race of people named the “Danai?” Disturbing, no? At any rate, instead of the moon, since the (possible?) current inhabitants – The “Anunnaki” – may not care for our taking their spaceship, perhaps an asteroid would be more appropriate to adapt to Danae’s idea.

Danae, you get that alot because all that 4,000 years worth of gas IS you.

Space:1999 Moonbase Alpha had their own “Mechanics Bay” where they stored, serviced and built Eagles. They would need them for “Operation Exodus”, that day when they would leave the moon permanently for a new world.

In addition to providing tides, the moon exerts a gyroscopic effect on earth. As it is, the earth wobbles slightly in its many trips around the sun. Observing from the pole stright up, it would trace out a circle every 23,000 years or so. But it never gets more than about 23 degrees “off vertical”

Without the moon. It would wobble faster and even more pronounced and perhaps the earth would even wind up laying on its side.

If it flipped 90 degrees, twice a year we would have 12 hours of light and darkness (at the equinoxes when the earth’s axis is tangental to its orbit) gradually lenthing to 24 hours of sunshine or darkness (when the axis is pointing directly at the sun).

This would probably cause us to rethink daylight savings time and also cause some climate change.

Of course, Danae also makes us wonder, looking upon our society, whether Earth has ever developed a bipedal “intelligent life form”.

Too many geeks reading this strip.

Don’t feel bad, Wiley. Since you started this every suggestion has come from a SF TV, movie, SS or Novel. NO ONE has had an original idea, first because the idea has been bandied about so much and second because it’s hard to come up with an original practical idea for ANYTHING let alone space travel. i think NASA’s money is safe unless the award it to an idea and are prepared to split the award with every SF writer and the estates of the dead ones.

Don’t forget 1999 starred Martin Landau and Barbra Bain so it really was on a mission impossible. :-)

It’s not “The Wanderer”. Totally different description.

Anyone remember the British TV show "Space: 1999? Nuclear waste stored on the moon explodes, blowing the moon out of orbit and into interstellar space.

I also loved theme music to UFO.

And like many things consumed raw, Danae’s “genius” can lead to severe stomach pains.