Posted on 10/08/2011 6:15:07 PM PDT by decimon
A new map of the Moon has revealed an abundance of titanium ore that is up to 10 times richer than on Earth, a finding that could one day lead to a lunar mining colony, astronomers said on Friday.
The discovery was made thanks to a camera aboard the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which swept the surface of the Moon, scrutinising it in seven different light wavelengths.
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"Lunar titanium is mostly found in the mineral ilmenite, a compound containing iron, titanium and oxygen," they said.
"Future miners living and working on the Moon could break down ilmenite to liberate these elements.
"In addition, Apollo data shows that titanium-rich minerals are more efficient at retaining particles from the solar wind, such as helium and hydrogen. These gases would also provide a vital resource for future human inhabitants of lunar colonies."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Moon shadows ping.
Cool, wish they’d find a bunch of rare earths now.
Remember 1:4:9 when it’s dug up.
If we could only mount a real expedition there, not a fake one like, we did inside a Burbank sound stage back in what year was it, 1969, 1970? when that faker Tricky Dicky Nixon was in power!
Titanium is hardly a rare element and ilmenite is a common mineral found in beach sand. And with most of the developed countries on planet Earth on the verge of economic collapse, only a fool would see some point in spending billions colonizing the moon.
The Luddites always show up on these threads.
I hear the moon is a harsh mistress.
Occupy the Moon!
We had the chance. Nixon blew it, just like so many other opportunities he threw away.
lol
ML/NJ
I don’t think they will allow mining on the moon. It would endanger salamanders, or voles, or something.
A mistress you can ditch.
I thought that only applied to magnetic anomalies.
If you can raise private capital and make a profit colonizing the moon, go for it. But that’s not in fact what you want, is it. You want tax dollars to finance your fantasy. Crony capitalism, just like 0bama with Solyndra.
However, there is something far worse than spending money we don't have in space: Spending money we don't have to provide people who refuse to work with a lifestyle better than what 99% of the planet enjoys.
If Nixon had rolled back LBJ's great society instead of space development we would be trillions of dollars richer and had a whole new sector of the economy.
Titanium helped put the US on the Moon, and the USSR never got there. Similarly, US military aircraft used a lot of titanium, while Soviet military aircraft had larger engines to move all that steel, and a shorter range as a consequence (they planned to fight their air war near their European bases anyway; also built a lot more craft), as well as less manueverability.
Titanium remains expensive. Processing it on the Moon will work fine as long as it is done by a sovereign colony, rather than employees working under an EPA-crippled enviroweenie-impact agenda. Thanks decimon.
LOL!
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