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Lunar Oxygen and Water Production Tech Tested
savuporo writes "NASA and its industry partners organized a two-week lunar in-situ resource utilization field test in Hawaii. The tested machines included a few different rovers and prototype plants for generating oxygen and water from lunar regolith.
Astrotoday has a picture gallery and a video report.
This follows on the heels of the recent ESA lunar robotics challenge event held on Tenerife, which tasked student teams to build a lunar robot that would be able to search for water ice in lunar polar craters."
Because if there's one place on Earth that resembles the surface of the moon, it's Hawaii.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
Evil villains, bookmark this article! Your dream of a secret moonbase is about to come true!
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
silly scientists
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Not only are you demanding that someone click a link to RTFA, but you're expecting them to click once they're there. The audacity.
>I thought the test area resembled the surface of the moon to a large degree.
Based on what....one measly visit to the Moon and zero to Hawaii and suddenly you're an expert...? Rightttttt.....
I think transforming the Moon would be a really positive step for our species. Call it a test, call it our first expansionary mission. Also, if we can get a jump on terraform technology, and since it's only 2008, then we have about 40000 years before the galactic senate approaches us for our assistance in matters concerning the Orions. That's plenty of time to configure a few necessities for species survival, which are notably as follows:
1. Getting everyone on the planet to work together towards a common goal.
2. Stopping the real infidels (you know the ones from other planets creating dissent so they can throw us off our game)
3. Developing and improving faster methods of space travel. The time it takes to get to an enemy home world is the only hope in a quick victory for Mother Earth!
4. Socks. We need better socks. It's very cold in space.
5. Our energy weapon program is going smoothly. Keep it up. In 40000 years, our technology should definitely surpass that Death Star planetary destruction capability.
6. Rapid data transmission is going smoothly. Keep it up. By 42008, we should be sending and receiving entire clusters of units anywhere in the known universe, and beyond.
7. Deployed rover technologies are doing better than expected. We managed to get so much out of the mars mission that future missions with our new stealth invisibility technology should make Mother Earth a candidate for the Galactic Senate. By 42008, we should be looking at microscopic alteration technology weapons that can change our enemies into friends... which is just where we want them before we destroy them.
8. We need to stop letting these wars erupt on our soil. Perhaps better diplomacy? Perhaps a global government would be better? Personally a hive mind might be the way to go... that way we can quell the dissent with the brute force of the Great Mother. By 42008, a hive mentality could be intelligent to surpass anything feasible regarding survival in the universe, so that we can all start working on self actualization.
9. We need to continue unlocking human awareness -- it holds the key to a new path of glory... which would surpass the hive mind and create an exit.
END TRANSMISSION
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Yup! Scientists - particularly those in space science - long ago realized that Hawaii was a good political analog for anywhere really far away of volcanic origin, like other bodies in space.
The Brits snicker to this day about how they persuaded their government to build the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) out here, more or less guaranteeing themselves twice-a-year trips to Hawaii.
Of course, the last several years it's been easier than ever, with a president in office who just might believe you if you say "yes, sir, Hawaii is very much like the moon."
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
I doubt that the moon is totally cold all the way to the core, so could one not just drill down till you get into a level that is warm enough to have liquid water/oil/gas?
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!