A black monolith?
Posted on 08/23/2010 11:07:10 AM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
By now, most of us know there is water on the moon. But did you know that it comes in three flavors and there is so much of it--158 billion gallons--that it could fill all of Seattle's water needs for three years?
It turns out there is water all over the lunar landscape, which is rather astonishing since astronomers were convinced for such a long time that it was bone dry.
Discovery.com and Space.com report this all changed when actual measurements were taken using the Mini-SAR and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3 or "M-cubed") instruments on India's Chandrayaan-1 moon probe and NASA's recent LCROSS mission when the moon was "bombed."
There are three flavors of moon water:
1] Thick, nearly pure crater ice
2] Fluffy mix of ice crystals and dirt
3] Thin layer of ice that covers much of the lunar surface
One mystery still to be solved: Scientists don't know why some of the lunar craters contain pure ice, while others have an ice-soil mixture. One idea: The moon water is generated by more than one source. "Some of the water may be made right there on the moon," Paul Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas told Space.com. "Protons in the solar wind can make small amounts of water continuously on the lunar surface by interacting with metal oxides in the rocks. But some of the water is probably deposited on the moon from other places in the solar system."
Why is water on the moon an important discovery? Water is not only the key ingredient for life as we know it, but also would be essential if we were to ever establish a human outpost on the moon.
"It's a different world up there, and we've barely scratched the surface," Spudis told Space.com. "Who knows what discoveries lie ahead?"
Yeah. It's always beena mystery after a rainstorm why there's puddles in some places and mud holes in others.
Did none of these scientists ever play outside?
Elvis
A black monolith?
Jimmy Hoffa?
/mark
Because they never actually went there?
Because the astronauts didn't set off massive explosions just under the Moon's surface. If they had, they would have discovered the water. It took NASA another 40 years and the successful execution of LCROSS moon operation to make such a confirmation...
Water on the Moon Confirmed by NASA Crashes
It's official: There's water on the moon—and a "significant amount" of it, too, members of NASA's recent moon-crash mission, LCROSS, announced today.
How many of us FReepers are Heinlein fans I wonder?
I dunno man. I saw Space 1999. Not a pretty picture.
;)
A nuclear reactor is not needed. Photovoltaic cells that can be manufactured on the surface from available materials will be enough to produce oxygen through electolysis from metal oxides in the regolith. You will not need hydrogen for fuel because of the abundant aluminum oxide, which can be used as rocket fuel. Also, you can use magnetic accelerators to acheive escape velocity, given the lack of an atmosphere.
“I thought they were going to say they found Osama bin Laden or G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show.”
No. But they did find a recent poll where Obama had an 80% approval rating.
Throw rocks at them.
Moon Base Alpha!
As far as I know, only China has plans for a manned lunar base.
Japan and India have expressed some interest, and have sent some nifty probes/cameras. But I don’t think they’ve officially declared lunar base programs.
I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, this being FR!
Why is a laser beam like a goldfish?
“I thought they were going to say they found Osama bin Laden or G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show.”
No. But they did find a recent poll where Obama had an 80% approval rating.
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