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Bombing the Moon for Water

s20451 writes "In 1998, NASA scientists deliberately crashed the Lunar Prospector into the Moon, in a failed attempt to detect traces of water allegedly hiding in deep craters at the lunar south pole. Now the BBC is reporting a new proposal to attack the lunar poles with "Bunker Buster" missiles to liberate a detectable amount of water. Called Polar Night, the mission is being proposed as part of the "Discovery" series of probes."

41 of 517 comments (clear)

  1. What is this MSNBC? by OwnerOfWhinyCat · · Score: 5, Funny

    They aren't going to attack the poles with "Bunker Buster" missles.

    They're going to emplant "scientific equipment" "...a few meters below the surface of the moon."
    Using "...probes are based on bunker-buster penetrators."

    And when compared with the cost of sending up a [wo]man to dig a six foot hole for the same information, it sounds terrific. Let's Terraform!

    1. Re:What is this MSNBC? by spongman · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think they've just run out of places to look for Osama Bin Laden.

    2. Re:What is this MSNBC? by Shoten · · Score: 4, Funny

      NASA could probably sell this better to the current Administration if they ran with the bombs concept, and said that bin Laden might be hiding on the moon :)

      --

      For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
  2. Aha! by Raul654 · · Score: 5, Funny

    First Iraq, then North Korea, and now the moon! The Lunans are conspiring against our interests abroad! Conspiracy, I say!

    --


    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
    1. Re:Aha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'd hate to be the one that unleashes Zemus/Zeromus from the moon! He's evil I tell you... eeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllle!

  3. Liberate the water? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    new proposal to attack the lunar poles with "Bunker Buster" missiles to liberate a detectable amount of water.

    We must free the water from its evil ruler Saddam Moonsein.

    1. Re:Liberate the water? by Per+Wigren · · Score: 3, Funny

      Is he the real Saddam? ;-)

      --
      My other account has a 3-digit UID.
    2. Re:Liberate the water? by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

      "We must free the water from its evil ruler Saddam Moonsein."

      Shut your black hole, you.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  4. The outrage! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should give UN weapons inspectors more time!

  5. In related news... by DennisZeMenace · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Moon has been added to the infamous "Axis of Evil" group...

  6. first.. by EugeneK · · Score: 5, Funny

    .....the US has to make up some stuff about how the moon has WMD, supports terrorism, and insinuate that it was somehow involved in 9/11.

  7. Hey! by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 3, Funny

    Guess what I just found out! It ends up there is lots of water on earth, and it's not even protected by rocks. No need to blow the place up to get it! ^^

    okay, anyway, the only purpose for looking for water is to find life on the moon. By using missiles to release the water, we blow up any life we may have found, just a thought....

    --
    YOU SUCK BALLS!
    1. Re:Hey! by meridian-gh · · Score: 5, Informative
      Life?

      More like fuel. Hydrogen and Oxygen. Guess what the shuttle engines run off of?

      If we discovered water in any signifigant quantity on the moon, it would (someday) make getting there and back much cheaper and easier. Instead of packing the gas with us, we can stop at the ol' lunar gas station. It is so hellaciously expensive to put things in orbit, every pound saved is a penny earned.

      It could also make construction of spacecraft on the moon or in orbit a possibility. Again, the less we have to bring up with us, the better.

      Regards,

      Meri

    2. Re:Hey! by RocketRick · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Gauchito wrote:

      This abundant, unavailable hydrogen thing make me laugh, kind of like "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink".

      OK, pet peeve time. If you're going to quote poetry, at least quote it correctly:


      Water, water, everywhere,
      And all the boards did shrink;
      Water, water, everywhere,
      Nor any drop to drink.

      From "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", by Samuel Taylor Coleridge


      - Rick "Pedant" Dickinson
  8. This just in from the Iraqi Information Ministry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is no moon. There never was a moon. We are winning the war. The moon is painted on the sky by evil Americans to confuse us. There is no moon.

  9. Good idea... by sevensharpnine · · Score: 4, Funny

    And in related news, NASA officials recently announced an exploratory campaign will be taking place in Syria next week.

    --
    "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -Voltaire
  10. Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bombing the moon? Finally: some astronomy that the Bush camp can get behind.

  11. But what do the Dixie Chicks think? by jj_johny · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I am so ashamed to be from the same state that Johnson space center is in." - Natalie Maines

  12. Who else here.. by stuckatwork · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...pictured Slim Pickens on a bomb in a space suit riding towards the moon yelling "whoo hoo", a la Dr. Strangelove?

  13. cheese by DanThe1Man · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think they are really just trying to find a better source for cheese.

    Little know fact: The cheese mines on earth are dwindling

  14. Re:Yeah, but why? by inertia187 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From the BBC article:
    • What is the nature of the deposit?
    • What is the source of the water?
    • Are other ices besides water ice present?
    • Is the hydrogen actually in the form of water ice, or is
    • it hydrogen from the solar wind?

    So, we want to know more. And this is one way to do it.
    --
    A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
  15. British support forthcoming by mao+che+minh · · Score: 5, Funny
    In a scheduled press conference, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce that he fully supports the US action against the moon, much to the behest of the Labor Party.

    Iraqi intelligence officials are reporting that the moon intends on defending itself against the crusaders to the end, and has already prepared the graves for thousands of imperialist satans.

  16. Earth First! by Wee · · Score: 3, Funny
    We'll stripmine the moon later.

    -B

    --

    Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

  17. friendly fire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    lobbing ordnance at the moon is probably the only way the US won't be able to either kill its own people or its allies. although i have a sinking feeling that the rocket will burn up somewhere ofer England and waste some british troops.

  18. what do you mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    go U.S.A! we're totally going to KICK THE MOON'S ASS!!!

    1. Re:what do you mean? by hazem · · Score: 5, Funny

      "By God, I think this is rather very unlikely. This is merely a prattle. The fact is that as soon as they land on the moon, we will besiege them and slaughter them. Wherever they go they will find themselves encircled." - Lunar Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, on NASA forces

    2. Re:what do you mean? by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny
      go U.S.A! we're totally going to KICK THE MOON'S ASS!!!

      When we get done bombing that piece-of-crap spheroid it's gonna look like a figgin' moonscape!

    3. Re:what do you mean? by redtail1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're against the bombing of the moon? What are you, unpatriotic?

  19. Re:hmm by nate1138 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did you even read the article? There aren't going to be any explosives at all on these missions (if approved). They use the PENETRATION technology of "Bunker Busters" to bury sensors under the moon's surface, and those sensors look for water/life/whatever and send the data home.

    And by the way, bombs don't generally need atmospheric oxygen, the oxidizer is part of the explosive compound.

    --
    Where's my lobbyist? Right here.
  20. Ravine Change by msheppard · · Score: 3, Funny

    We should probably promote this as a "Ravine Change."

    M@

    --
    Krispy Cream is people
  21. made me think of this one: by bauernakke · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2003/01/13/tomo/s tory.jpg

  22. Veto I say... by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

    As a Frenchman, I cannot support this unilateral decision to liberate water from the moon. We must give the inspectors more time so we can better cover up our involvement with the moon. In the mean time, we (in France) are boycotting lawn darts in protest because we will not glamourize lobbing missiles at the moon.

    However, should the Americans find water on the moon, we'll completely reverse our position.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  23. Not to be excessively picky but� by HalfStarted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just how exactly do you expect a Massive Ordnance Air Blast to work without the air? For those that need to be reminded... read

    --


    Have you thought for yourself today?
  24. Mr. Show by underwhelm · · Score: 5, Funny

    David: We have the technology; The time is now; science can wait no longer; the children are our future. America can, should, must and will blow up the moon.

    Bob: Yeah. And we'll be doing it during a full moon so we make sure we get it all.

    --

    I don't need large brains to have a good time.

  25. Re:The Time Machine? by RatBastard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Too bad they screwed that all up. The moon is drifting away from the Earth and there is nothing we can ever do about it. Ever.

    --
    Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
  26. Re:Damn� by HalfStarted · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ok... string me up for not reading my own linked article through... its not the best description... an air blast weapon gets most of it's explosive power by dispersing a fine mist of a highly reactive agent over a large area using the oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere as the oxidant. Thus... no air... no boom, in all reality I would bet that most if not all conventional explosives would fail to detonate in space due to the lack of atmospherically supplied oxygen... any demolitions experts here that can answer this?

    --


    Have you thought for yourself today?
  27. Re:hmm by Nix0n · · Score: 4, Informative

    Moon does'nt have oxygen. Therefore this bomb will need to have its own oxygen system.

    Umm, the vast majority of conventional munitions have their own oxidizing agent, with very few exceptions( such as the fuel-air bomb ).

    If a substance's oxidation rate is dependent on its contact with atmospheric oxygen, it would be far more likely to "burn" than "explode".

    The dust(?) created from this bomb will linger far longer than earth because of moon's gravity.

    Another problem with your reasoning. The specific reason that dust "lingers" on earth is buoyant forces BY THE AIR upon very small dust particles. the moon's gravity well is smaller than that of the Earth, but the fact that F=ma will prevail without impedance by an atmosphere will make the "dust" settle rather quickly.

  28. Re:hmm by Drakonian · · Score: 4, Funny
    Did you even read the article?

    You're new here aren't you? ;)

    --
    Random is the New Order.
  29. The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)

    Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.

    Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!

    Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.

  30. Re:This smells fishy....sounds like a cover up to by praksys · · Score: 3, Funny

    Much more likely to be an attempt to destroy evidence of alien contact before the Chinese get there.

  31. Tsk tsk by Tomble · · Score: 3, Funny
    we're going to KICK THE MOON'S ASS!!!
    Shame on you, you really shouldn't be reducing Operation Lunar Freedom to such jingoistic terms.
    --
    Be careful! New moon tonight.