There Is Water On The Moon
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The evidence is in. And yet, the moon is still boring. It’s a distraction, from what should be our mission of Martian conquest.
We need to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here. Right, J’onn J’onzz?
“You bet, terran.”
18 Responses to “There Is Water On The Moon”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Robots are cheaper and safer until we figure out the important shit like life support (radiation is a bitch) and propulsion that doesn’t require hundreds of tons of liquid or solid fuel.
The sad thing is, we’re living about 100 to 200 years before the singularity.
Truth is Oliver we probably have to return to the Moon on the way to Mars.
Sending humans to Mars and returning them home is beyond our current technology and likely beyond the financial ability of any one country.
A round trip to Mars will take a minimum of 30 months (6-9 months there, 18 months on the surface waiting for the planets to line up again, and 6-9 months back). During the full duration of the trip the astronauts will be exposed to the full force of the solar wind, cosmic radiation and ultraviolet light. The trip through deepspace will provide no protection and Mars has too thin of an atmosphere and no active magnetosphere to provide any protection. Any spacecraft sufficiently shielded would be to massive for our current rocket-based propulsion technology. Once on Mars the astronauts would need to live below the surface to reduce radiation exposure. The excavation will likely need to be accomplished by an early robotic mission.
Don’t get me wrong. I am a strong advocate of both human and robotic space exploration. I think it was a tragic mistake to cancel Apollos 18, 19 and 20. Had we continued human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit in the 1970s we would likely be on Mars now.
Getting humans to Mars is going to take either a breakthrough in propulsion technology (to shorten the duration of the trip by not depending on a Hohmann transfer orbit) or a breakthrough in radiation shielding technology.
The Moon can be a testing ground. Astronauts living longterm on the Moon will be exposed to almost as much radiation as they would be on a trip to Mars (the Moon is outside the Earth’s magnetosphere) yet they are only 3 days from home.
One does not climb Mount Everest straight from Kathmandu. You establish a basecamp at the bottom of the Khumbu icefall and another camp at the top of the icefall. Think of the moon as basecamp for an ascent to Mars.
Well of course there’s water on the moon.
What did you think the moon people drink? Yoo Hoo?
It’s all fun and games until we’re in a galaxy war over moon water.
This is stunning. The new con bible will have to explain this some how; God’s tears at America losing it virtuous ways?
Naysayers, you shall be the death of us. Onwards to Mars, FOR EARTH!
Tang, of course.
Water on the moon is important and will be vital for a Mars mission.
Transporting a liter of water from the earth to the moon costs about $8,000 right now. If it’s there already, we don’t have to bring it with us. Water can be converted to hydrogen and oxygen for propellant for a Mars mission. So, yeah, the moon is pretty important for Mars.
Duros62 you are correct and if there is enough water on the Moon getting to Mars just got a lot easier. It has been speculated that water around the outer hull of a spacecraft could filter out cosmic radiation in the same way that the atmosphere on Earth does. That is a lot of water though and water is very heavy. The heavier something is the more fuel it takes to achieve escape velocity. Of course fuel is heavy as well so as more fuel is added more weight is added as well requiring more fuel. Obviously there is a point of diminishing returns. The moon is one-sixth Earth’s gravity so it is easier to lift something into lunar orbit than it is to lift the same thing into Earth orbit.
You are underestimating the costs involved. Currently it costs around $10,000 to send 1 pound to the ISS. So sending a gallon of water to the ISS costs around $85,000. Now the ISS is in low-Earth orbit. It’s actually so low that atmospheric drag needs to be accommodated. Occasionally they will use thrusters on the Progress Re-supply Modules to lift the station into a higher orbit.
Any interplanetary spacecraft will need to be built in space. If the water does not need to be lifted from Canaveral, Baikonur or Kourou getting to mars just got a lot easier.
Oliver, we aren’t naysayers. Getting to Mars is hard. There’s a reason they call it Rocket Science.
Kennedy Space Center has a great t-shirt. http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/nasa_2076_23743107
Bill Nye agrees with Oliver.
“It has been speculated that water around the outer hull of a spacecraft could filter out cosmic radiation in the same way that the atmosphere on Earth does.”
Wouldn’t water outside of a ship be ice?
I come off as pretty negative on manned space-flight. But I’m really all for it. I just think this century will see its breakthroughs through robotic missions until the next generations of life-support and propulsion.
A permanent settlement on the moon makes sense to me though.
Jaim, Inside the ship and around the hull. Lining the outer hull with water.
I wasn’t sure about the cost, but I knew it was high.
The Moon is vital to learn more about life in space and for future missions to be launched from.
Mars is an unexciting ball of rock our robots can tell us all what we need to know about Mars for the moment.
Alpha Centauri and other close stars is where we should be considering for future missions. Finding Earth like planets will happen in our life time for sure, once we find an Earth like planet and its not more then 10 – 15 light years away then I bet getting there will become the focus of many nations thus creating a new space race which will enable finances to be directed at better propulsion, robotics and eventually human space travel, maybe some day we might use Mars as a base like we are considering with the moon but Earth Like planets is where people will want thier tax dollars spent, a new Earth would be worth a fortune to any nation. Getting there first to stake a claim will be what fuels the technological advances needed.
Check out James Camerons new movie Avatar being released in December. I have a feeling James has been onto this concept for quite some time as well.
Huh. That sounds pretty cool.
a new Earth would be worth a fortune to any nation.
Manifest Destiny all over again. The chances of finding a “New Earth” with biochemistry compatible to ours is exceedingly slim. And what do we do then – obliterate life on that planet to import our own?
The chances of finding a “New Earth” with biochemistry compatible to ours is exceedingly slim.
A. Most would have said the same about finding water on the moon.
And what do we do then – obliterate life on that planet to import our own.
A. Good point and I am sure that issue would be considered but I doubt it would stop us from trying to get there.
What does J’onn J’onzz know? He’s dead — unless that’s Black Lantern J’onn J’onzz talking.