Live: NASA says 'significant' water found on moon

[brooklynite]

Source: CNN

NASA has found a 'significant amount' of water on the moon, said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/

[Botany]

1. Good our people will need ice cubes for their drinks

[David Zephyr]

69. Kick.

.

[Kablooie]

2. It can be used to drink, create air, and rocket fuel for explorers in the future.

[formercia]

3. Good. Next, a Penal Colony for War Criminals.

Let's see you get to Paraguay this time *.

[denem]

4. Gitanamoon.

[KansDem]

17. Or simply, "Gitmoon" (nt)

[Peace Patriot]

7. Hey, stop slamming Paraguay! They just elected a leftist government, after 61 years

of rightwing rule, and furthermore RESCINDED their non-extradition law and their law immunizing the U.S. military.

U.S. war criminals will have to go to that good buddy of U.S. war profiteers, Colombia, for refuge--or the Moon! But, frankly, I think the little Moonling communists will also elect a leftist government and throw the "ugly bags of mostly water" off their planet! WHO is orbiting WHOM--huh?

[rayofreason]

49. Both orbit each other. n/t

[cutlassmama]

45. +1000

[aquart]

5. Ye gods. Wow.

[notesdev]

6. The Chinese will be very appreciative

when they build the first lunar colony and stake out the best resources.

[Dreamer Tatum]

11. China has about the same ability to land men on the moon

as they have of sustaining an amphibious assault on Taiwan: none.

But that can change.

[greiner3]

12. Maybe we could send bush as the first;

Prior to being able to mount a return trip.

[rayofreason]

50. It will change.

The middle kingdom sees space capability as something that the superior civilization should lead in. They are making great strides in that direction.

[optimator]

8. Lets get busy then

I grew up dreaming about human space exploration.
make it happen.

[Uncle Joe]

9. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, brooklynite.:thumbsup:

[Vehl]

10. +Rec, good news! .nt

[thelordofhell]

13. I just knew there was a reason Alice was never scared

When Ralph always threatened to smack her all the way up to the moon.

[mcablue]

14. I don't discard the possibility that there was once life on the moon

If frozen water exists then it means there used to be liquid water. And if there was liquid water then the temperature was nice. And life thrives in such environments.

[Indenturedebtor]

26. Nope sorry - here read this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

[rayofreason]

51. Wrong.

Water is ubiquitous, but that does not mean that there was liquid water or enough time for life to evolve.

[fascisthunter]

15. good... send the corporatists there

[winyanstaz]

16. Leave the moon alone damn it!

We have no business messing up the moon when we dont know the results of our actions.
We have no business going to other planets when we cant stop trashing our own.

[superduperfarleft]

19. LOL! n/t

[Stuckinthebush]

21. What results are probable in your estimation

that will affect the moon negatively through our probes for water?

[winyanstaz]

25. To many people..the moon is Sacred...

besides the fact that whatever we do there...will show up practically forever...as there is no atmosphere to erase our tracks etc.
I just think we need to take care of the planet we have before we run out and trash another place.

[Indenturedebtor]

27. To many people cows are sacred

They have the right to not eat cheeseburgers.

[winyanstaz]

30. thats right...but they also have the right for others not to come

and butcher the animals in front of them too...
It is the same way with other paths/religions etc...
No one has the right to go desacrate another religions alters or as in the case of the Lakota...carve up their Sacred hills.
We can show some respect.
Right now, it will help the Earth more if we spend that money on cleaning up the messes here and making jobs here and supplying housing here and learn how to take care of this planet first.

[Indenturedebtor]

40. Not when there's only one cow and everyone is starving

We need the moon to branch out into the solar system. There is no wildlife to hurt on the moon, only people's feelings apparently.

[rayofreason]

52. What sillyness.

With water on the moon we can establish bases as a jumping off point to the rest of the solar system. Life expands into those domains it can reach. Now terrestrial life can leave the planet. It will.

[onager]

59. +1

:thumbsup:

[Xithras]

29. No religion has the right to impose itself on nonbelievers.

If you think the moon is sacred, don't do there.

[winyanstaz]

31. right...I agree..and yet we also need to show some respect...

Just because I dont believe in other religions teachings or beliefs..doesnt mean it is ok for me to go make a mess in their churches.

[Xithras]

32. It's not "their" church.

Nobody owns the moon.

[winyanstaz]

34. I also agree to that...no one "owns it"...it belongs to everyone..

so therefor we should respect it and keep it safe for the future generations that it will also belong to.

[FBaggins]

38. If you understood how substantial the gains would be you would know that's silly

Roughly 200 tons of Helium-3 could supply all the energy needs of the World for a year (at today's usage).

They think it takes about a million tons of lunar surface material to yield that much He3.

So you're strip mining about 200 million tons of the Moon's surface per year.

(All of the above are educated guestimates)

Seems like quite a bit?

It isn't. By a recent CBS piece, we produce 130 million tons of coal ASH in the US ALONE each year. That's not how much coal is mined (let alone how much material is striped away to get it)... it's just the ash left over after burning it.

On the moon there's no liquid water to spread polution from the mining... and no wildlife to hurt. You wouldn't even be able to see it because the most likely spots are on the back-side of the moon.

[Indenturedebtor]

39. Mining for energy aside - using it as a launch point to the solar system

is the real benefit in my book. I believe that humanity, for all it's faults, should continue. We cannot do that unless we get off this rock.

[KakistocracyHater]

84. the sun would fry you

people who go there will be exposed to solar radiation because the earth's magnetic field is weaker, they haven't yet figured out how to shield living tissue.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_dangers_040120.html from 2004

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/22mar_telomeres.htm from 2006


...."While the astronaut twin is hurtling through space, Cucinotta explains, his chromosomes are exposed to penetrating cosmic rays. This can damage his telomeres—little molecular "caps" on the ends of his DNA. Here on Earth, the loss of telomeres has been linked to aging.

Sign up for EXPRESS SCIENCE NEWS delivery

So far, the risk hasn't been a major concern: The effect on shuttle and space station astronauts, if any, would be very small. These astronauts orbit inside of Earth's protective magnetic field, which deflects most cosmic rays.

But by 2018, NASA plans to send humans outside of that protective bubble to return to the moon and eventually travel to Mars. Astronauts on those missions could be exposed to cosmic rays for weeks or months at a time. Naturally, NASA is keen to find out whether or not the danger of "radiation aging" really exists, and if so, how to handle it. ".....

..."Total exposure

Any grand leap into the cosmos, as outlined by Bush last week, will start with dangerous baby steps as explorers cautiously venture into the hazardous, radiation-laden space beyond Earth's protective magnetic field. Scientists are still working to characterize the dangers and develop the technologies necessary for safe suits and ships.

This much they know:

Any trip beyond Earth orbit will involve radiation threats not faced by residents of the International Space Station, which sits inside the planet's magnetic field.

A 2-1/2-year trip to Mars, including six months of travel time each way, would expose an astronaut to nearly the lifetime limit of radiation allowed under NASA guidelines.

The Moon, with no atmosphere, is more dangerous than the surface of Mars. Lunar forays will have to be brief unless expensive shielded habitats are built.

Mission planners knew the Apollo astronauts would be at grave risk if a strong solar flare occurred during a mission. The short duration of each trip was a key to creating favorable odds.

"A big solar event during one of those missions could have been catastrophic," said Cary Zeitlin, a radiation expert at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "The risk was known. They gambled a bit."....

[winyanstaz]

65. and how out of balance would our satellite moon become....

if we are bringing a lot of it to earth?
How bad would the earth become with all that added chemicals and gases burning etc?
We can focus on creating sustainable and bio-degradable and planet friendly energy sources here and not have to blast our moon and create jobs here as well.

[Indenturedebtor]

66. I hardly think that releasing helium into the atmosphere

will have a negative impact... nor would billions or even trillions of tons of moon dust have even the slightest impact on the moon.

Fusion is planet friendly. But it's far off. For the immediate future we need the moon as a launch pad.

[Vinnie From Indy]

43. Maybe not, but...

There have been serious discussions about projecting advertising on the moon. Someday you may look up and see a giant coca cola logo on the moon.

[Dreamer Tatum]

53. Nothing on the moon will ever look "giant"

Criminy, for anything to be remotely visible from the moon's surface, it would have to be pretty much the size of the moon.

Somehow we're supposed to believe that WalMart or CocaCola is going to go to the expense to put something on the Moon that you'll need a powerful telescope to see in detail? I doubt it.

[Vinnie From Indy]

55. Criminy! Great word!

The ideas I have read about concern PROJECTING images on the moon's surface with laser light. In theory, it is not much different than a movie projector with a 2" opening projecting a 40' x 60' image on a screen.

[muriel_volestrangler]

57. But when the screen is 250,000 miles away, you would need a very powerful set of lasers

You have to illuminate hundred of square miles of moon surface bright enough for the naked eye to see it back here on earth.

Here's an article which thinks it would take a 100 gigawatt laser (continuous power, not in a nanosecond pulse) to make a single visible dot on the Moon. Or maybe, if you're really lucky, only 1 GW. So, for an identifiable logo, you'll be back at about 100 GW anyway - illuminate 100 points.

http://www.osa-opn.org/Blog/post/2008/03/Image-of-the-near-side-of-the-moon-taken-by-the-Clementine-mission.aspx

[Vinnie From Indy]

58. The lasers could be deployed in space much closer to the moon

They could be powered with massive solar collectors. Yeah! that's the ticket!

[Posteritatis]

44. To many people, cows are sacred, but I'm not going to feel guilty about the steak I had earlier. nt

[Odin2005]

47. Oh God, not this superstitious BS again.

:banghead:

[onager]

60. Yep. DU seems to have more Neo-Luddites these days.

n/t

[Codeine]

62. We can and we will and no amount of superstitious

whining by the Fringe Kookery and Woo Brigade is going to stop it.

[snooper2]

63. Leave the moon alone!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[undeterred]

18. But is there OIL?

I'm sure that's the next question.

[FBaggins]

24. No... but you're closer than you think

One of the possible "next generation" power sources IS expected to be there.

Helium-3 fusion is thought to be a very clean source of power (and with very little radiation). It's almost non-existant on Earth because the planet's magnetic field keeps the solar wind from depositing much here... but it's thought to be comparatively common on the Moon.

The real question is exactly how common it is and how easy it would be to extract commercial quantities. Then, of course, fusion technology needs to progress to the point where it can be done.

Don't be surprised if your grandkids really DO think of the moon as a replacement for our sources of oil.

[WriteDown]

28. If there is then that leads to A LOT of other questions. nt

[Frank Cannon]

33. You beat me to it.

If we had discovered oil on the moon back during the Apollo program, we would have a colony on Mars by now.

[Alhena]

20. Now would be a good time to panic

run for your lives.

[Greyskye]

22. "This goes beyond the water," he said

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/11/nasa-announces-significant-quantities-of-water-on-the-moon.ars
Shortly after NASA's LCROSS probe slammed into a crater in the polar region of the Moon, the Agency held a press conference to announce that it had obtained significant amounts of data from the collision. Unfortunately, to the frustration of many present, it wasn't ready to interpret that data. That reticence ended today, as NASA held a press conference in which it announced that the data contains unambiguous evidence of water, present in what it termed "significant quantities." But the signal from water isn't the only one lurking in the data, and NASA is remaining coy about what the other signals indicate.

Could the other signals indicate the presence of Helium-3? If so, finding both water and He-3 on the moon would be a game-changer; and start up a new space race.

[Vidar]

23. With one sixth of earth's gravity, the moon could make a great launching pad for

further space exploration e some amount of water would be helpful.

[bikebloke]

35. Let's go swimmin'

Last one in's a rotten egg!
:P

[FarLeftFist]

36. Good, now we can send all the republicans there to colonize

And we won't look inhumane.

[phasma ex machina]

37. The Moon Is a Marsh Mistless nt

[DavidDvorkin]

42. Ha, ha!

[Greyhound]

54. Loonies unite! n/t

[daleo]

41. We could grow man-in-the-moon marigolds. n/t

[Kablooie]

46. Wow! A significant amount!

[stlsaxman]

56. excellent photoshop!

[Odin2005]

48. WOOT!

[onager]

61. Oh, and you're welcome.

You can thank your local Evil Military-Scientific Complex for this great news.

Including my employer, who was one of the many contractors on LCROSS.

You may remember all the recent breathless DU threads about us "nuking/bombing the moon." Only we didn't, because LCROSS contained no explosives and basically just slammed a bus-sized object into the lunar surface.

While I'm here - thanks to all the science-minded DU'er's who tried explaining that, over and OVER to the DU Anti-Science Brigade.

Not that it did a damn bit of good, but some of us appreciated your efforts.

[smalll]

64. Additional reasoned, scholarly discussion about water on the moon can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9124668

:hide:

[theHandpuppet]

67. Pretty much one and the same from the looks of this thread

When to the grownups show up?

[tammywammy]

73. By far one of the funniest threads I've read here in a while

:rofl:

[Kurska]

68. BUT WHAT OF THE MOON GODS? WILL THEY NO RAIN THEIR VEGANCE UPON US?

Hehe, I still remember posts talking about how we shouldn't "bomb the moon because it is a important spiritual entity".

[Zhade]

71. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Someone actually POSTED that nonsense?

LOL!

[Occulus]

78. It gets worse.

The worst of the lot was concerned about the Moon's ecology.

[Posteritatis]

80. Don't forget the people convinced that it would destroy the moon

... Or that it was more dangerous for the probe to impact at night.

[muriel_volestrangler]

74. Not once we've stolen their water! Bwahaha!

No rain coming from there after this!

I propose we call the moon-god-water-nicking scam "Operation Prometheus".

[Ian David]

70. HOLY SHIT, MAN FINDS FUCKING WATER ON FUCKING MOON!

[tammywammy]

72. Now that actually made me laugh

Excellent find!

[Posteritatis]

79. The Onion has an entire book like that

Bunch of newspaper front pages spanning the twentieth century, all written - well, at least designed - in the style of newspaper coverage of the time. It's called "Our Dumb Century," and is ridiculously worth taking a look at. (It's surprisingly historically-literate, too.)

[tammywammy]

81. I'll have to get it.

I'm always up for a good laugh. :)

[Kurska]

82. Awesome I'll check that out, I love the onion!

[Posteritatis]

83. I bought it, lost my copy, and proceeded to buy it again

It's one of those "not allowed not to be on my shelf" books. When I've sub-taught twentieth century history I'll try to reference it sometimes for kicks for students.

[WinkyDink]

75. The elite are hoping the moon will be their Ararat.

[AlphaCentauri]

76. Water for the toilets and the bidets

too bad there is no ocean there to dump the crap like we do in earth

[semillama]

77. Ah, but were there whalers as well? n/t