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To: snork55
It's not clear they were operating the rover remotely. My first thought was they were now trapped in the cave.

The first item of trade for the Moon is the ice in the craters on the poles. In perpetual darkness those spots are probably the most valuable real estate in the solar system. Much cheaper than having to haul up water from Earth. Very likely to be an area of considerable tension because of the various powers desires to get there first.

One neat feature of living on the Moon is that the Earth is always in the same place in the sky. Architects would likely build that view in as a permanent feature.

66 posted on 07/12/2025 7:08:25 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: Nateman
One neat feature of living on the Moon is that the Earth is always in the same place in the sky.

You have heard of libration, right? The Moon exhibits both latitudinal and longitudinal libration - hence, an observer on about 1% of the surface of the Moon (i.e., at the so-called "limbs" at the apparent edge of the Moon as viewed from Earth) could watch the Earth completely dipping below / rising above the lunar horizon every month.

For observers elsewhere, the libration is still in effect, but the phenomenon wouldn't be as dramatic - the Earth would simply appear to wobble about 8° (due to longitudinal libration) and 7% (due to latitudinal libration), and therefore describe an analemma in the lunar sky.

The Earth has an apparent diameter of about 2° in the lunar sky, so this shift in position is not trivial.

Regards,

92 posted on 07/12/2025 9:47:03 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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