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Site for Moon Base Determined

Deinhard writes "Going hand-in-hand with the recent discussion on Moon Bases, Space.com is reporting that the perfect spot for a moon base has been found. According to the article, 'the best spot to settle on the Moon may be on the northern rim of Peary crater, close to the north pole.' What makes the location so important is that it is permanently lit, with a balmy -58 Fahrenheit (-50 C)."

32 of 738 comments (clear)

  1. Hello Slashdot reader, I am Ignignot & this is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    We are Mooninites from the inner core of the Moon. Our race is hundreds of years behind yours. Some would say that the Earth is our moon, but that would belittle the name of our moon, which is The Moon.

    For one thing, the Moon has one third less gravity than your Earth. I don't know if you can understand that, but our vertical leap is beyond all measurement.

    On the Moon, nerds get their pants pulled down and they are spanked with Moonrocks.

  2. Re:Hello Slashdot reader, I am Ignignot & this by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fine, I'll build my own moon base! With blackjack...and hookers...in fact, forget the base!

    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  3. And now... by Tuxedo+Jack · · Score: 4, Funny

    They can build the Alan Parsons Project.

    --

    Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
  4. Re:Hello Slashdot reader, I am Ignignot & this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So I suppose you'd be a good person to ask who wrote "The Moon Rulez" on my car with a key.

  5. Too bad... by polyp2000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I own that bit of the moon, i have a certificate to prove it.

    --
    Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
    1. Re:Too bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well in that case, you'd better get up there before anyone else and protect your claim!

  6. -50c?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "But Keptin, this is the Garden spot of Ceti Alpha 6"

  7. Always??? by Fnagaton · · Score: 5, Funny

    "What makes the location so important is that it is permanently lit"

    Even during a lunar eclipse? ;)

    --
    Martin Piper
    Owner - ReplicaNet and RNLobby
    1. Re:Always??? by Ayaress · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Easy way to deal with that (instead of cutting off outside light and imposing an artificial day/night cycle inside the base) is to change the kind of people NASA gets for astronauts. The Mercury through Apollo astronauts were mostly pilots, and a lot of space shuttle astronauts have been as well. But I think a permanantly-lit lunar base would be better suited for naval officer, particularly ones that serve on submarines.

      People on submarines have to adapt to weeks and even months without any sense of time. No daylight, no night, sometimes not even a well defined schedule. Not everybody can handle it, but some people get by pretty well. Not to mention that submarines are cramped and uncomfortable places to be, which isn't uncommon in space travel.

    2. Re:Always??? by h4rm0ny · · Score: 4, Funny


      Tell you what, build the base on the other side of the moon and send Goths. Lots of Goths.

      Gothsss in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

      --

      Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
  8. Dammit, skip the moon, go to Mars... by tquinlan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...we've had the technology for years as Robert Zubrin points out in his book. The moon is just a big rock, and we've been there before.

    (Seriously, read the book, and if you're not convinced, well, you should be. ;) )

    --
    DBA? Software Engineer? My company is hiring! Click
    1. Re:Dammit, skip the moon, go to Mars... by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The moon is just a big rock

      Yes, just a big rock, chock full of raw materials we need for your trip to Mars, and with only 1/6 the gravity and no atmosphere, it's easy to get those materials into orbit.

      "Skipping" the moon is sheer lunacy (pardon the pun). Once established, the Moon Base will py for itself countless times over.

      --
      ____

      ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    2. Re:Dammit, skip the moon, go to Mars... by brontus3927 · · Score: 5, Informative
      Moon's Composition:
      1. Oxygen: 42%
      2. Silicon: 24%
      3. Iron: 13%
      4. Calcium: 8%
      5. Aluminum: 8%
      6. Magnesium: 6%
      7. Other (including lots of Helium-3 & Titanium): 3%
      Incidently, the largest concentration of Iron looks to be in the general area of where the article recommends putting a base
  9. Slashdot polls work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I bet it was all triggerd by our poll

  10. Re:Finance: Money for Moon Base Unknown by bobbis.u · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are other countries in space besides the USA.

  11. Moon Bases in Lava Tubes. by Greg+Wright · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One proposal for a moon base I found interesting was using lava
    tubes as pre-built bases. It provided radiation as well as
    meteorite protection. They actually did a bunch of research in
    lave caves in Oregon some time ago.

    http://www.oregonl5.org/lbrt/l5ombrr1.html

    --
    --greg Vulcan quiescent... Q: What machine shutdown with this message?
  12. What about Earth-moonbase LOS? by amstrad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wouldn't putting a moonbase so close to the Moon's limb will cause line of sight communication problems during parts of the month due to lunar libration?

    Possible solutions:
    1) very tall antenna
    2) relay satellite

  13. watch out for water ice! by Zapraki · · Score: 5, Funny
    in the permanently shadowed depths of craters around the lunar north pole, water ice may lurk...

    Wow, I didn't realize that the moon was going to be so dangerous, what with water ice lurking in the inky blackness and all.

    Kinda reminds me of playing Xcom2: Terror from the Deep...

  14. Re:Why bother? by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Build it in parts here, assemble on the moon. Easier to launch a bigger ship from there.

  15. Hmm by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's important to me that my moon base have all 4 seasons.

    Will I get that there?

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
  16. Re:Up Nort' by Hoplite3 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The lack of atmosphere really changes the way heat flows. Our intuition about hot and cold is shaped by convection, where heat is transfered to gas molecules that bump against us and are then swept away. With no atmosphere, heat transfer slows down. The only heat loss on the moon would occur by conduction into the surface of the moon.

    How "cold" is the moon in human terms? I don't have any idea. I'd imagine sunlight would be more important for constant solar power (well, barring eclipses).

    --
    Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
  17. Re:There's always an eclipse on Earth by Ayaress · · Score: 5, Informative

    You've got it backwards. Take a look at the numbers. The maximum possible number of lunar eclipses per year is three.

    What you're thinking is that when there is an eclipse, it's visible everywhere on earth, I think. Solar eclipses are only visible in certain places.

    The alternative is that you're thinking of solar eclipses, and just completely wrong. The maximum possible number of solar eclipses visible from ANYWHERE on earth in the same year is five (also worth noting that if there are five solar eclipses, there can only be two lunar eclipses).

    Furthurmore, of those maximum of three eclipses per year, not all of them are total. The north or south pole sometimes escapes them. If the north rim of the moon is visible, then the north pole station will remain lit.

    Now, when there is a lunar eclipse, the maximum length is two hours for a partial eclipse, and 1 hour 42 minutes for a total eclipse.

    In the worst possible case scenario, a north polar base on the moon will have to run without solar power for a total of six hours a year, broken into three two-hour blocks.

  18. No problem by El · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Growing up in Alaska, I've been outside in -60F weather, and it's not so bad (you can always put on more insulation). You just have to keep every part of your body covered, including wearing a face mask. Once you solved the problem of a total lack of oxygen, solving the problem of keeping warm should be trivial.

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

    1. Re:No problem by Skyshadow · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Once you solved the problem of a total lack of oxygen, solving the problem of keeping warm should be trivial.

      There is no problem with a lack of oxygen. The vacuum would kill you way before you had a chance to suffocate.

      --
      Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
  19. Moonbase Pluses by TiggertheMad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Any materials obtained here would still need to be sent to the moon, and then to Mars.

    Except the tons and tons of hydrogen, oxygen, and water that you are going to extract from the ice frozen in the ice caps in the poles. In addition, they might be thinking of mining the ice, which would involve tunneling. To me this makes a lot of sense, as several meters of rock is wonderful protection from high speed rocks, is wonderful insulation to help maintain a constant tempature, and is a cheap way to add to the size of the space station without having to build entire new modules. The moon would be a good place to put a telescope, since it is massive enough to be stable, unlike an inhabited orbital platform, and could be the start of a massive Very Long Baseline array for looking at really distant objects. Plus, it could be the start of permanent off world colonies. Mars is a good idea, but it's kind of a long first trip. Plus, It will give us extra time, as invading aliens will probably stop to level the moonbase before attacking earth.

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
  20. Moon race, part 2 by salimma · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now that the Chinese, Indian and Japanese all profess an interest in colonizing the moon.. the question is, will the first nation who reach the site claim its entirety, and how valid would that claim be?

    --
    Michel
    Fedora Project Contribut
  21. Re:Solar Radiation? by MoralHazard · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have you ever heard of a little thing called the "International Space Station"? Yeah, exactly.

    If you leave Earth's protective envelope, you do become subject to larger exposures of radiation, but the danger can be minimized with shielding. People can take a decent amount of radiation exposure before they show any health effects, even the long-term cancer risks.

    Basically, you just have to build sheltered structures for the inhabitants to block the radiation. It can be a choice of construction materials, or you can just bury the structures and pile regolith on top--the old bomb shelter solution. All it takes is a bulldozer and some internal supports, and you've got a pretty nice shelter.

    Spacesuits aren't very good radiation protection, so they'll probably impose daily, monthly, and mission-specific limits on outdoor activities for inhabitants. If they also keep alert to solar activity, they can just head indoors when the worst stuff is coming.

    How can you keep alert to incoming radiation, you ask? The ionizing, harmful parts of solar radiation are mostly charged particles, which travel slower than the speed of light. Big emissions of charged particles happen in conjunction with particular types of electromagnetic radition, which DOES travel at the speed of light (duh). So we look for the EM radiation that signals a coming charged particle storm, and tell the moonies to get indoors quick.

    Not perfectly safe, but come on: they're on the fucking moon.

  22. Re:Moon Bases in Oregon by natoochtoniket · · Score: 4, Funny

    Great idea. Oregon would be an ideal place to build a moon base. Not only could we use the lava tubes for potection against solar radiation, but the logistics would be much simpler and cheaper. Putting everything on rockets and sending it a quarter million (or so) miles to the moon would be really difficult and expensive. It would so much easier to just have it delivered to Oregon in the first place. UPS and Fedex even go there, already.

  23. Re:Finance: Money for Moon Base Unknown by terrymr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Something D O O ecconomics, anyone ... anyone .... VOO DOO ecconomics.

  24. I am Gnotigna, Royal Daughter of Ignignot by LPetrazickis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello, beloved earthlings.

    We have been observing your earthworld with moonminds vast and merry for many moonyears. You earthtechnological earthachievements are moonimpressive to our moonminds.

    Unfortunately, we mooninites are fighting a civil moonwar. Moonsibling is killing moonsibling. As Moonheir to the Moonthrone, I am trusted with protecting the ample Moontreasury.

    Fellow sapients, the Moon needs your earthhelp. I need to transfer the equivalent of $50,000 USD to two thousand and one Earth banking accounts. In order to do so, my moonsubterfuge moonskills will have to deceive the earthbankers.

    I plead with you on my moonknees.

    Please let me transfer $50,000 USD to your earthaccount. The moonmoney will have to stay earthhidden for at least pi earthdecades. I trust you will earthsafeguard it from the moonpretenders to the Moonthrone.

    We will moonreward all earthhumans moongenerously.

    In order for me to transfer $50,000 to you, I need an initial earthmoney fund to earthbribe the earthbankers. Please send me $500 now, and I will moonreimburse you in the transfer.

    The Moon cries out for your earthhelp as the moonpretenders moonrape, moonravage, and moonraze their way to my moonpalace. Please take my $50,000.

    --
    Is this a sigs-optional kind of place? 'Cause I am totally down with that if you know what I mean.
  25. Re:Finance: Money for Moon Base Unknown by HMA2000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The US was never paying down the debt for any extended period of time (I believe our longest period of paying it down was 9 months.) Take a look for yourself, you'll see the number never goes down.

    http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

    Also, a large part of the "surplus" was unsustainable. To some degree the surplus was a result of cost cutting but mostly it was the result of increased revenue in the form of capital gains tax. Around the late 90's the government was collecting incredible amounts of capital gains tax due to stock market bubble. This was not a sustainable form of revenue.

    The "debt holders" are a sundry group with many different agendas and motives. To suggest that they were all worried about the debt being paid off (which wasn't happening anyway) is misleading at best.

    Considering how much misleading crap you were able to pack into your first sentence I think it is safe for people to disregard the rest of your hyper-biased post.

    As an aside, I understand it is fashionable to hate Bush on this board and to suggest that he is somehow some evil genius/dumb monkey pulling all the strings to make the rich richer but you do yourself and your politcal cause a huge disservice when you exaggerate (and lie about) your claims.

  26. Lets clear up some Gravity and Leaping issues here by DumbSwede · · Score: 4, Informative
    OK these figure seem to be getting misquoted a lot lately on Slashdot.
    The Moon has about 1/6 Earth Gravity
    Mars has about 1/3 Earth Gravity.

    Assuming a 6-foot man can jump 6 feet on Earth, he could jump about 1/(1/6)*3 + 3 feet for a total of 21 feet on The Moon, 1/(1/3)*3 +3 for a total of 12 feet on Mars. Keep in mind when a 6-foot man jumps 6 feet here on Earth he is only lifting his CENTER of gravity 3 feet with a starting height of 3 feet for it.