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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."

19 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. 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
  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.

  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. 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.

  8. Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  9. 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

  10. 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.

  11. 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

  12. 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?

  13. 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?
  14. 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.

  15. 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.