I feel like this proposal for a private manned mission to the moon is almost a quintessential over-the-tinfoil hat – line idea. The goal is lofty and awesome, but there is no meat to the high-minded framework, a deficiency that can it seems you can only get away with if you have a lot of money to burn through while fleshing in the details. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case - $7,000 has been raised of the $10 million goal.  

 Besides all that, what struck me was what greets you on the front page: Earnest Shackleton’s famous call for adventurers to join him on an expedition to the South Pole and the subsequent analogy between Space and Antarctica.

 Honestly, the comparison between Space and Antarctica seems more apt than I’m comfortable with:

 Both are large, cold destinations that are inhospitable to human life. Both have been considered frontiers for exploration. The primary reason for visiting both is either research or tourism.  It feels like space could be the Antarctica of the 21st century.

I honestly hope this is not the case – my fingers are crossed that instead the similarities between the two will fade away as time goes on. This is because Antarctica, while still useful in some sense as a research post and tourist destination, exists on the fringe of humanity – it’s basically a completely optional undertaking that really doesn’t render huge benefits to anybody. (Please correct me if I’m wrong!)

 It’s easy to see extra-terrestrial activity falling into the same category, which is why I’m determined to discover reasons to shatter the Antarctica-space analogy.