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NASA: water ice on Moon

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  • NASA: water ice on Moon

    The balloon just went up for lunar bases. Water ice = water for sustenance and a massive source of fuel for exploring the solar system.


    NY Times link....


    Water Found on Moon, Scientists Say

    There is water on the Moon, scientists stated unequivocally on Friday, and considerable amounts of it.

    “Indeed yes, we found water,” Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, said in a news conference.

    The confirmation of scientists’ suspicions is welcome news both to future explorers who might set up home on the lunar surface and to scientists who hope that the water, in the form of ice accumulated over billions of years, could hold a record of the solar system’s history.

    The satellite, known as LCROSS (pronounced L-cross), slammed into a crater near the Moon’s south pole a month ago. The impact carved out a hole 60- to 100-feet wide and kicked up at least 24 gallons of water.

    “We got more than just whiff,” said Peter H. Schultz, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator of the mission. “We practically tasted it with the impact.”

    For more than a decade, planetary scientists have seen tantalizing hints of water ice at the bottom of these cold craters where the sun never shines. The Lcross mission consisted of two pieces — an empty rocket stage to carve into the lunar surface and a small spacecraft to measure what was kicked up, but it too slammed into the surface.

    For space enthusiasts who stayed up, or woke up early, to watch the impact on Oct. 9, the event was anticlimactic, even disappointing, as they failed to see the anticipated debris plume. But NASA later said that a plume was indeed photographed; the live video stream was not properly attuned to pick out the details.

    The water findings come from analysis of the slight shifts in color after the impact, showing telltale signs of water.
    Dr. Mordrid
    ----------------------------
    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

  • #2
    Originally posted by Dr Mordrid View Post
    The balloon just went up for lunar bases. Water ice = water for sustenance and a massive source of fuel for exploring the solar system.

    Going to get a long way with a couple of buckets of ice!
    Brian (the devil incarnate)

    Comment


    • #3
      Have you checked the price of launching several tens of tons of fuel outside of low Earth orbit lately? Load that hydrogen into a VASIMR plasma rocket and it's easily enough to do manned missions all over the solar system.
      Dr. Mordrid
      ----------------------------
      An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

      I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

      Comment


      • #4
        Have you checked the price of launching several
        PHP Code:
        tens 
        hundreds of tons of
        PHP Code:
        fuel outside of low Earth orbit lately 
        lunar station lately?

        Edit: the PHP strikeout code ain't working
        Brian (the devil incarnate)

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