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Hubble Zooms In On Moon Minerals

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the do-you-see-what-i-see dept.

DIY News writes "Lunar scientists have already returned to the moon, using the Hubble Space Telescope and old Apollo Program rock samples to begin prospecting for useful ores. Locating ores rich in oxygen and metals is seen as the first step in making the next decade's human return to the moon more self sufficient and cost effective. Some wavelengths of UV are filtered out by Earth's atmosphere, which is why Hubble can do the job better than a ground-based telescope."

1 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Zoom by WhiteBandit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Define close???
    The Hubble orbits 350 miles above the earth and the average distance to the moon is 238,857 miles.

    I'd hardly consider 238,500 (apprx) miles very close =-)

    Considering the Hubble routinely examines objects hundred of millions to billions of light years away from Earth (See the See the Hubble Deep Field survey), I'd consider ~239K miles to be right the fuck on top of. ;)