Posted on 08/31/2006 6:55:01 PM PDT by saganite
ping
I think a really great way of guaranteeing your space mission is successful is to make sure one of the mission objectives is to "slam into something twenty one hundred miles in diameter".
Too bad we can't know the exact time of the "landing" for a possible glimpse.
That's just a way of finishing it off in dramatic fashion. The mission was a total success as was the deep space one mission using Ion drive.
SMART-1 should hit its target on a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence at 0541GMT
Notice they never mentioned the probe found the Apollo Landing Sites?
Did it? I didn't know it was looking for it. Would have been kind of difficult considering it didn't carry the necessary imaging equipment.
You didn't hear about the secret post Appollo missions?
Seems like I read that one of the coming missions would try to get some photos of the old landing sites. I'm not sure it's really a priority and all it would do is set off another round of conspiracy theories. Personally I hope they're preserved as historical sites in the event we ever do return to the moon in force.
Still no word if the mars rovers have found the flag for Sheila Jackson Lee. :~)
Here's a quick link to the FAQ's on the ESA site-
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEMWSW5LARE_0.html
(Check out Questions 7 & 8 for a chuckle ;)
Questions a brain dead green indoctrinated twit would ask. Pretty funny.
A chuckle?
How about LMAO!
An interesting concept for returning to the Moon is based on the idea of first sending robots that can slowly prep the place, saving astronauts a lot of work.
The goal, of course, is to eventually start mining and processing Helium-3 for shipment back to Earth. A single cargo of it would be worth trillions of dollars.
What you want your robots to do when they land, is to first sweep the radioactive and extremely abrasive dust in the area of your base, to get down to the bedrock. Then you want them to tunnel a large, cylindrical shaft straight down, expelling the debris.
The human habitation will fit inside the top of the cylinder like a cork. Its top, in turn, will be about ground level, and astronauts can take a sealed elevator inside the habitation to end up on its "roof", ready to walk the surface.
The cylinder tunneling robot will continue down to some depth, then it will be adjusted to dig a horizontal shaft. Even if it only digs at a rate on 1" a day, in a single year it will have dug 30 feet.
Alternatively, the robotic tunneler could start by digging a shaft into the side of a cliff horizontally. This would be much easier initially, but the tunnel would need lightweight ceramic reinforcing rods inserted into the rock, which would also need to be sprayed with a pressure sealant.
It would have the advantage of not needing to be cylindrical, and the habitation would act as its "front door". This has the most potential for lots of area inside the tunnels, which could serve all sorts of purposes.
But the bottom line is the more work done by robots before humans arrive, the more time the humans have for other work.
The goal, of course, is to eventually start mining and processing Helium-3 for shipment back to Earth. A single cargo of it would be worth trillions of dollars.The first goal, of course, is to build a fusion reactor that produces more than it consumes. By that time a single cargo of Helium-3 might be worth trillions, due to inflation.
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