Closer to Deducing the Origin of the Moon

eldavojohn writes "A giant explosion on the sun in January of 2005 allowed SMART-1 (a European spacecraft orbiting the moon) to detect what elements the moon is made up of based on the X-rays from the sun's explosion. This allows scientists to speculate on the moon's origins while seeing data from all over the moon as opposed to the core samples we have collected and returned in the past. From the article: 'Scientists responsible for the D-CIXS instrument on SMART-1 are also announcing that they have detected aluminium, magnesium and silicon. "We have good maps of iron across the lunar surface. Now we can look forward to making maps of the other elements." said SMART-1's Principal Investigator.'"

Comments

Moo

[Chacham]

Oh man, you can bet that looking into the moon or bits of it will have you coined as a loony, figuring out its "source" is just plain cheesy, and given its size is anyway having to force a choice between the light and dark side.

Valuable metals?

[Ed Avis]

What are the odds that the moon turns out to be composed partly of gold, or platinum or palladium? Would moon mining be profitable?

Re:Valuable metals?

[LiquidCoooled]

If the moon is made of palladium would the DMCA prevent mining?

Re:Valuable metals?

[Tweekster]

Actually it is a break even proposition for gold. is at about 625 per ounce...16 ounces per pound, 10,000...the current cost per pound to send something into space ( i dont know what the cost to retrieve it per pound would be, to send it back though) I would assume it is less expensive to send back, time is not exactly a factor, or life support systems etc.

It is difficult to calculate because I couldnt find much info on sending stuff back from the moon, I am willing to bet it is quite a bit cheaper. But the infrastructure on the moon etc ruins any math. It would be break even for gold to be sent into space...and retrieving it would probably be long term profitable. (providing you can find enough gold)

Platinum is 1200 dollars per ounce making it much more possible, if sufficient quantities could be found.

The cargo ship would probably be reasonably priced...no equipment on board, doesnt need to be very fast, just a computer control system and the rockets etc necessary to bring it back in. Could be an interesting proposition.

Re:Valuable metals?

['nother poster]

12 oz. per lb. Precious metals are mesured in troy oz, not avoirdupois.

Re:Valuable metals?

[Denial93]

No. The only unique property of moon ore is that it isn't inside such a big gravity well, so it is less expensive to move up into space. And unless something fantastically rare and useful can be found there, even the most prized minerals would only be attractive in massive amounts because you would first have to more the necessary equipment up there, not to mention transport capacity to get the stuff to any buyer.

Only tourism and science are likely to be viable there in the foreseeable future. Big exception: if we unexpectedly manage to get automated construction from raw minerals to work, this could make industry on the moon so cheap it could become viable to start mining and export there. However, this isn't going to happen anytime soon, and when it does it will end capitalism as we know it anyway, so it is nothing you could base a business model on.

Re:Valuable metals?

[kthejoker]

Would they actually have to ship it back?

I mean, nobody has seen the gold in Fort Knox in years, but it's been traded around left and right. Plenty of people are willing to pay for pieces of paper saying they own some gold - why not just prove it's there, stake a claim on it, and then sell it here on Earth?

We can have an entire imaginary Moon economy! Awesomeness++!

Origin of moon?

[crazyjeremy]

I thought God made it. Oh well, learn something every day.

Only try to realize the truth:

[amliebsch]

There is no moon.

Vast Deposits

[drewsup]

Where are the vast deposits of cheese Grommit, the Cheeeeeeese!

Re:Almighty God created the moon

[mooingyak]

13And the evening and the morning were the third day.
        14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
        15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
        16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
        17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
        18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19And God said, Let the lesser light of the night be composed of green cheese.

More Details

[writerjosh]

Here's a few more details about this Impact Theory:

"The basic idea is this: about 4.45 billion years ago, a young planet Earth -- a mere 50 million years old at the time and not the solid object we know today-- experienced the largest impact event of its history. Another planetary body with roughly the mass of Mars had formed nearby with an orbit that placed it on a collision course with Earth. When young Earth and this rogue body collided, the energy involved was 100 million times larger than the much later event believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. The early giant collision destroyed the rogue body, likely vaporized the upper layers of Earth's mantle, and ejected large amounts of debris into Earth orbit. Our Moon formed from this debris."

Plus, this page has a really cool rendering of the Impact:
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/ques tions/question38.html