Electric Moon

[FS3]

Now "water on Moon", shortly after Mercury

As the water content is similar to those spherules that are found on Earth one might speculate that the water is connected directly to the forming mechanism and has nothing to do with the sci-fi explanation of "lava".

FS3

[Solar]

They believed there couldn't be water on the moon because of how it was formed. According to the "giant impact" theory, the moon was born 4.5 billion years ago when an object the size of Mars came hurtling out of the void and smacked the young Earth.

This impact melted both objects and scattered a cloud of debris around the Earth. That debris became the moon — and the new moon was a hot ocean of magma.

They're still holding on to this lunar formation idea??

[seasmith]

~

They're still holding on to this lunar formation idea??

Solar,

What is the origin of our moon?

s
~

[junglelord]

A nice explanation of how to photoshop colours on the moon. If you have a telescope, digital camara and photoshop, or even if you do not, its a simple yet good read on the moon and its composition.
http://www.colormoon.pt.to/

[tholden]

When human feet next touch the surface of Mars, they may not be American feet:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/How_ ... 641756.cms

[Solar]

Why do human feet need to go to Mars?

The Mars Con

A human presence on the Moon, says space expert James Oberg, would allow engineers to iron out the technical and medical challenges of a manned Mars mission, which require at least a year of space travel.

The president will ask Congress for $800 million in seed money for 2005 and an additional five per cent of NASA's approximately $15 billion annual budget over the next five years, reports United Press International. A human mission to Mars is expected to cost $40 billion to $80 billion.

The initiative has already been described as "crazy" by some White House advisors for its massive projected cost when the country is facing $500 billion deficits. And it may come at the expense of other NASA missions that do not involve human spaceflight. - Mission to Mars

So first we need to go back to the moon to iron out a few "technical and medical challenges" before we can then proceed with a manned mission to Mars?

The cost of the human and robotic missions to the moon and Mars would total roughly $120 billion by 2020, according to estimates from a NASA chart. NASA's current annual budget is $15 billion. -Manned mission to moon by 2015

I think you're correct. If India's cost precedent is any sign then the U.S. won't be the first to accomplish this task. Nothing from any of the successful Mars probes have found anything that indicates a former nor present "presence of life", which seems to be the driver other than rank curiosity, so now we have to send someone to go see directly?

I think unmanned probes are the way to go.What would having a Moon base or Mars base stations do for ... anyone? What is it's value?

[keeha]

Indian probe lands on moon

The probe touched down on the moon at 8:34pm (1504 GMT), 25 minutes after it was ejected from an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the moon, spokesman S. Satish said.
The probe, carrying three instruments and with the Indian flag painted on its outer panes, settled in a crater in the moon's south pole.

[Xuxalina Rihhia]

I wonder if the colors of the moon, especially greens and blues might not be some kind of
hardy organisms. I don't buy into the moon having no atmosphere, because then vacuum
welding will make the dust into a concrete-like mass. You need some atmosphere and
moisture to make footprints like the astronauts did on the moon.

[michael.suede]

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=28005

verifies

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2008/ ... tation.htm

[Lloyd]

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2008/ ... tation.htm
Jun 11, 2008
Lunar Dust Levitation
Static electric charge might help to explain the glowing haze sometimes seen rising 100 kilometers above the Moon’s horizon.
- The magnetotail is actually a part of the plasma sheath that envelops the Earth. The Moon passes through it once a month at full moon phase and the electric differential was found to occur during that passage.
- The movement of the Moon through the ionized plasma affects the materials in the lunar regolith. Electrons accumulate and produce a negative charge on the ultra-fine dust particles, causing them to repel each other and drift off the surface.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=28005
- Lunar dust particles are minuscule, with an average size of 70 micrometers, the thickness of a human hair. The particles get positively charged by photoelectric effects caused by powerful solar ultraviolet radiation and X-rays -- the thin lunar atmosphere does not attenuate solar radiation -- generating strong electrostatic adhesive forces which compel the specks of dust to cling to surfaces of scientific instruments and space suits.
- For future Moon and Mars missions, O'Brien offers a practical solution to the dust hazard: Use a wide Sun-proof shed, to block the rays that enhance dust's adhesive forces.
* This is sort of a confirmation of the TPOD above, but not exactly, as they attribute the charge on moon dust to solar radiation, i.e. the EM spectrum, which includes sunlight, rather than to the Earth's plasma sheath, which the moon passes through each month.

[GaryN]

Any predictions from the EUers?

http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

[Lloyd]

* I predict that almost no water will be found, but that water can be made on the moon from the oxygen content of the rocks. The hydrogen can be obtained as well, but via transmutation via bacteria, algae, lichen etc.
* Here's Wikipedia's list of Common lunar minerals.
Mineral - Elements - Lunar rock appearance:
Plagioclase feldspar: Calcium (Ca), Aluminium (Al), Silicon (Si), Oxygen (O) - White to transparent gray; usually as elongated grains.
Pyroxene: Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Silicon (Si), Oxygen (O) - Maroon to black; the grains appear more elongated in the maria and more square in the highlands.
Olivine: Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Silicon (Si), Oxygen (O) - Greenish color; generally, it appears in a rounded shape.
Ilmenite: Iron (Fe), Titanium (Ti), Oxygen (O) - Black, elongated square crystals.

[Lloyd]

* While reading today's TPOD on LCROSS, toward the end, in the mention of Hydrogen possibly having been detected on the moon's surface due to the solar wind, I realized that the solar wind is indeed where future astronauts can get the needed Hydrogen for generating water, assuming the solar wind density is great enough, or that there's a way to funnel solar wind ions into a container. And, by the way, it makes the same prediction that I did, that no water will be found. But it also says previous TPODs have already predicted that as well.

[GaryN]

I'll agree with the none, or very little water detected view. I'd be just as interested though in the shape and depth of the impact hole, the debris field, and the possibility of electrical discharge between the Centaur rocket being used as the impactor, and the surface. I see no mention of anything other than the water experiment. I presume the lunar seismometers are still working, so there should be some data to help refine the interior structure model.

[moses]

The Moon could also have deposits from planets at a pole.
So even fossils are possible on the Moon !
Mo