Slashdot Mirror


How NASA Will Bomb the Moon To Find Water

mattnyc99 writes "A few weeks ago we got first word of NASA's plan to crash a spacecraft into the moon next February. The new issue of Popular Mechanics has an in-depth look at the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and its low-cost, lightning-fast mission prep — even if delays have pushed it to late February or early March. Quoting: 'Andrews had no budget for an expensive lander to seek water, and conditions in the eternally dark polar craters would kill rovers, with temperatures close to minus 300 F. Instead, Blue Ice and its partners at Northrop Grumman came up with a concept to bring the lunar floor out in the open.... Since engineering precision hardware would break the budget, the LCROSS team had to make existing components work together.'"

1 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Apparent issues by lymond01 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    In the recent remake of the Time Machine, in order to make room for condominiums, they blew out part of the moon. Too much of the moon -- gravitational anomalies on Earth, falling meteors...

    SPOILER

    In Red Mars by Ben Bova, they accidentally wrap a space elevator cable around the planet Mars...this does indeed release some water, but anything within a couple miles of the cable is flattened.

    --SPOILER

    In an episode of the Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, a supercollider is set up to encircle a small moon...the resulting collision of the particles tears the moon apart.

    My point? It doesn't take real scientists to determine that you don't mess with the moon. I'm not even going to go into the whole werewolf advocacy groups...