In 1962, Van Allen – believing that protons of the inner belt could seriously threaten human spaceflight missions – suggested clearing them away by setting a nuclear bomb off near the outer belt. The particles would then have the extra energy to escape Earth’s magnetic field.

The Van Allen Radiation Belts are one part of Earth’s dynamic magnetic environment, known as the magnetosphere. During periods of intense space weather, the density and energy of radiation belt particles can increase and pose a danger to astronauts, spacecraft, and even technologies on the ground.

Van Allen radiation belt

For near-Earth missions, the Van Allen belts are not a hazard to spacefarers. It was, however, a hazard for the Apollo missions. The Van Allen belts are not a physical barrier to spacecraft, and so, in principle, we could have sent the Apollo spacecraft through the belts.

James A. Van Allen

There were six crewed U.S. landings between 1969 and 1972, and numerous uncrewed landings, with no soft landings happening between 22 August 1976 and 14 December 2013.

There is water on the moon … along with a long list of other compounds, including, mercury, gold and silver. Turns out the moon not only has water, but it’s wetter than some places on earth, such as the Sahara desert. …

So yes there will be gold and probably diamonds. But diamonds are carried to the surface by volcanism primarily, and Martian volcanism didn’t work the same way as terran volcanism. So the diamonds that formed or were caught it the Martian mantle might not ever be carried to the surface.