No place like home - APOD 20091118

[emc]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091118.html

Cool that they found water on the moon! But aren’t we bombarded with water from our encounter with natural space objects?

Now discovering a breathable atmosphere… that would be exciting because, you know, if you step outside your borrowed/transported artificial environmental container anywhere in our solar system other than our hospitable home planet, you’re a dead man (or woman).

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091118.html

Now discovering a breathable atmosphere… that would be exciting because, you know, if you step outside your borrowed/transported artificial environmental container anywhere in our solar system other than our hospitable home planet, you’re a dead man (or woman).

Or action figure:

• Buzz Lightyear: Terrain seems a bit unstable.
  No readout yet if the air is breathable.
  And there seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere.
  
  Woody: [sneaks up on Buzz] Hello!
  
  [Buzz yells. Woody screams. Buzz fires his "laser" at Woody]
  ...........................................
  Woody: [pushes Buzz. Buzz's helmet opens. Buzz chokes]
  
  Buzz: How dare you open a Space man's helmet on an uncharted planet?
  My eyeballs could have been sucked from out of their sockets!
  [closes his helmet]

[emc]

[jerbil]

Isn't it somewhat overoptimistic to consider the possibility of sustainable water supplies for humans occupying any "Moonbase?"

The existence of what I understand to be mere traces of water at some craters at the poles seems insufficient to base much confidence in the concept.

[emc]

Isn't it somewhat overoptimistic to consider the possibility of sustainable water supplies for humans occupying any "Moonbase?"

Depends if your glass is half full or half empty 8)

I'm looking forward to evolved space viewing via moon based telescopes with which to peer deeper into the cosmos


http://www.space.com/businesstechnology ... scope.html

[astrolabe]

Hello All,

An interesting idea but probably not a new one: The Moon's poles would give inhabitants a fairly unobstructed view of the Sun, barring eclipses by our Earth for short periods. If water is close by then erecting a large cylindridal solar panel at that location could guarantee a continuous source of power for gardens, animals and water treatment along with waste management and communications. Energizing observatories and labs and perhaps mining operations to establish more permanent radiation-protected underground environments. Power and water, of course, aren't the only solutions to habitation as we on Earth know only too well. Peace is sort of important too just so no one lobs weapons that only need 1/6 the thrust to reach escape velocity. I as a human and we as a civilization have a LOT of work to do.

[emc]

Except for the obvious consequences, I think it would be funny to moon the Earth from the Moon.

[astrolabe]

Hello emc,

Very, very cool!

[orin stepanek]

Isn't the biggest interest in a base on the moon more for practice to establish a base on Mars? I'm sure that further down the road more practical exploits would be for exploiting the Moon's resources if such would be feasible.

Orin

[billMe]

Isn't it true that as planets move though space their elements are stripped off and form a tail? I remember a story about that somewhere. Isn't it very possible then that the moon's water came from earth since the moon would travel through that element tail which would primarily be made up of nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen?
Seems possible, go ahead, level the blasters at that theory.

[emc]

There is thought that the Moon was formed from a near head on Earth impact with a near Mars size object.



http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-s ... -the-moon/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... 30832.html

http://www.psi.edu/projects/moon/moon.html

http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Dec98/OriginEarthMoon.html

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/pro ... bject=Moon



There is also thought that this event is the catalyst for creating our atmosphere.

[orin stepanek]

http://media.pbs.org/ramgen/wgbh/nova/t ... pact288.rm

Orin

[billMe]

There is thought that the Moon was formed from a near head on Earth impact with a near Mars size object.

I'm not sure if this was a reply to my post about the origins of water ... if that's the intent then let me respond by pointing out that I'm not suggesting that the water was formed at the creation of the moon but rather has accumulated afterwards.

[apodman]

Isn't it true that as planets move though space their elements are stripped off and form a tail? I remember a story about that somewhere. Isn't it very possible then that the moon's water came from earth since the moon would travel through that element tail which would primarily be made up of nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen?
Seems possible, go ahead, level the blasters at that theory.

... I'm not suggesting that the water was formed at the creation of the moon but rather has accumulated afterwards.

I don't think anyone has answered you yet. Here's a link:

http://cseligman.com/text/planets/retention.htm

Based on what that article says, my quick impression (I haven't done any calculations - perhaps you'd like to try) is that any gas molecules or atoms that have the velocity and kinetic energy to escape Earth's atmosphere are probably going too fast to stay on the moon except in rare cases where they hit inelastically at a high angle of incidence. (At a molecular level, I guess all collisions are highly elastic, so maybe the apparent inelasticity would have to come from a configuration of matter that allowed a molecule to bounce to a stop in a cranny.)

[orin stepanek]

In case anyone couldn't download the link I posted it was of a collision between Earth and a Mars sized object. It was portrayed on Real Player. I found what I think is a better animation on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8P5ujNwEwM

Orin