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Lunar Composition Examined By X-Ray

Posted by timothy on from the cheese-tumors dept.

whovian writes "Chandra, the x-ray observatory launched by NASA in 1999, is being used to study the composition of Earth's moon, perhaps putting an end to the age-old question, "Is the moon really made out of cheese?" 'Nuff said. The original press release is starting to get noticed here(1), here(2) and here(3). A neat idea, if you ask me, but will this postpone any manned lunar missions?"

23 comments

  1. postpone manned missions?! by m00by · · Score: 5, Informative

    good god man, they're not taking a huge honking X-ray of the moon, chandra uses the background X-ray radiation in the universe as it's "X-ray" and it focuses that into useful data. it's a passive x-ray, not an active scan :)

    1. Re:postpone manned missions?! by bhima · · Score: 1

      But how else could they tell if it was Swiss cheese and had holes!

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    2. Re:postpone manned missions?! by m00by · · Score: 1

      I'm not doubting the usefulness. =D I'm merely saying that there is enough background radiation in space that chandra can tell if the moon is swiss cheese, or gouda, a smoked cheddar, or perhaps a brie. whatever kind of cheese it is, there's enough zap floating to and fro in the infinite expanses to let us see that with our x-ray specs known as chandra =D

  2. Manned Mission Should only be used if Necessary by bhima · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Honestly I like the of space travel as much as anyone but manned missions should be limited to those which require people. Otherwise let unmanned missions send data. I wonder how pathfinder missions could performed instead of one failed shuttle mission. (Including the effects of bad press).

    But I'd rather see a space elevator than anything these days (short of a manned Mars Mission of course!)

    --
    Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    1. Re:Manned Mission Should only be used if Necessary by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 1

      "Honestly I like the of space travel as much as anyone but manned missions should be limited to those which require people."

      As opposed to the manned missions that don't require people?

      "Otherwise let unmanned missions send data."

      Exactly the conclusion congress reached at the end of the Apollo programme.

      The problem was that people tend to view that as the reason not to go back to the moon.

      --
      Oddly Draconis
      Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
  3. Will it delay moon missions? by AllUsernamesAreGone · · Score: 1

    Unless the results indicate that the moon is actually a hollow sphere inhabited by brain-devouring alients, probably not.

  4. "Dark side" of the moon by Burb · · Score: 1

    Bit disappointing that the SciAm reference talks about the "dark side" of the moon. There's no such thing - although it's a lot snappier than "the bit of the moon we never see from Earth".

    --

    1. Re:"Dark side" of the moon by barakn · · Score: 1

      What about the "far side" of the moon? Short, simple, accurate.

      --
      "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
    2. Re:"Dark side" of the moon by M1FCJ · · Score: 1

      Oh come on... It's because they listen to Pink Floyd a lot.

    3. Re:"Dark side" of the moon by troemyd · · Score: 1

      .....they listen to Pink Floyd a lot.

      Anyone who listens to Pink Floyd a lot will know that the is no dark side of the moon - 'matter of fact, it's all dark'.

  5. Manned Mission by mchappee · · Score: 1

    "A neat idea, if you ask me, but will this postpone any manned lunar missions?"

    Not if it finds something good in there.

    Matthew

    --
    /. finds me to be 20% Troll, 80% Funny
    1. Re:Manned Mission by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right now the only thing that would spur a manned mission is if they found oil there.

      "We have evidence the Moon has weapons of mass destruction so....."

  6. Disappointed? by barakn · · Score: 3, Informative
    You may have noticed the extremely low resolution of the images produced by Chandra. In fact, other craft have gotten much better pictures of elemental compositions of the lunar surface, especially common elements like titanium and iron. For instance, Galileo returned this and Clementine (some very high res images here) returned this iron map and this titanium map.

    Chandra detected magnesium, silicon, aluminum, and oxygen, but its already known that the lunar highlands are composed mostly of anorthosite, a rock which contains all of those elements but magnesium (I would like to know why magnesium and not calcium was detected). This is more of a proof-of-concept than anything. The most important information to come from these first observations is the discounting of the anomolous farside x-ray emissions.

    --
    "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
    1. Re:Disappointed? by ZerroDefex · · Score: 1

      Whoo, look at all that metal. Hand me my pickaxe, I'm going to the Moon!

  7. Postponing Lunar Missions. by Dausha · · Score: 2, Funny

    but will this postpone any manned lunar missions? (Emphasis mine)

    Nope, the current X-Ray survey of the Lunar surface will not affect any of the Apollo Lunar missions. The last one was over thirty years ago.

    --
    What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
  8. It won't postpone any manned lunar missions... by mraymer · · Score: 2, Insightful
    But, at least in the United States, lack of public interest and the cost will. I think space.com's article on why we need a space program was very insightful.

    I also think that this is one those times where my sig fits in nicely.

    --

    "To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking

  9. 2001... by Spudley · · Score: 2, Funny

    Okay, so they're doing this a couple of years later than Arthur C Clarke predicted, but the big question is: Did they find the monolinth yet?

    --
    (Spudley Strikes Again!)
  10. Been there, Done that... by jameskojiro · · Score: 0

    I got back a simular X-ray done of my moon. My HMO charged me a bundle for it. Seems you can damage it when flashing it to nearby pedestrians. I dunno why NASA want's to go to it, they haven't even called me about it yet.

    --
    Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
  11. intelligence out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Postpone human travel to moon? Hey, are there any intelligence out there? It is obvious there's none where the poster is!

  12. D'ohl found the Monolinux! by leonbrooks · · Score: 1

    "My God, it's full of money!", he said, shortly before going insane with greed.

    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
  13. Linux/Lunar -- oops! by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1

    Karma to burn on an off-topic post... did anyone else read "Lunar Composition Examined By X-Ray" as:

    Linux Composition Examined By X-Ray

    and think it was a story about yet another attempt to find out what code SCO thinks they have a right to charge for?

    -1, Offtopic; -1, Redundant; -1, Cliche... but I just had to say it.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  14. Ok.. Mod me down. by linuxrunner · · Score: 1

    Just doing some spam research... Come and get me spam bots!

    first@mcarterbrown.com

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    fourth[REMOVEME]@mcarterbrown.com

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    eigth AT mcarterbrown DOT com

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    'tenth' 'at' 'mcarterbrown.com'

    Thank you for bearing with me...

    --
    www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?