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Scientists Think They've Discovered Lava Tubes Leading To the Moon's Polar Ice (sciencealert.com)
schwit1 quotes ScienceAlert:
Small pits in a large crater on the Moon's North Pole could be "skylights" leading down to an underground network of lava tubes -- tubes holding hidden water on Earth's nearest neighbour, according to new research. There's no lava in them now of course, though that's originally how the tubes formed in the Moon's fiery past. But they could indicate easy access to a water source if we ever decide to develop a Moon base sometime in the future.
Despite the Moon's dry and dusty appearance, scientists think it contains a lot of water trapped as frozen ice. What these new observations carried out by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show is that it might be much more accessible than we thought... Scientists have long been thinking about how to extract the ice reserves we think are up there -- solar power was originally out of the question, as it's the freezing shadowed areas of the Moon that have preserved the ice in the first place. Not only would natural skylights like these provide easier access to the underground ice, it would also mean solar power would be back on the table as an idea.
Despite the Moon's dry and dusty appearance, scientists think it contains a lot of water trapped as frozen ice. What these new observations carried out by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show is that it might be much more accessible than we thought... Scientists have long been thinking about how to extract the ice reserves we think are up there -- solar power was originally out of the question, as it's the freezing shadowed areas of the Moon that have preserved the ice in the first place. Not only would natural skylights like these provide easier access to the underground ice, it would also mean solar power would be back on the table as an idea.
Journey to the Centre of the Moon
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Do we have the technology to send "flying" drones that could stay low to the surface/land/enter tunnels autonomously on the moon and report the findings back? With no atmosphere, obviously they would have to be propelled by thrusters and I don't know how realistic it is for a small craft to carry the fuel.
If that is not feasible, would it be more feasible to send surface rovers that have the ability to "jump" long distances? (and send a lot of them) It seems with the moon being only a couple days away from earth, we could very quickly get answers to a lot of questions.
So wow, now we can send men and equipment up there to live in a moon base, right? For what purpose I do not know, but we seem determined to spend all kinds of ridiculous money on going to the moon and mars for very little in return. It would seem that the money would be better spent on robotic missions. Look at the comparatively small amount of money that has been spent on robotic missions and see how much actual science has been done as compared to the ridiculously expensive manned missions. What a joke.
Because in a few years, that senile joke will be dead, but the lava tubes will be there for eons to come?
Ezekiel 23:20
Yes, we should ignore all future development, exploration, science, and technology... Because Trump said a bad word...
You are a fucking imbecile.
Well, it makes lunar habitation feasible in the relatively nearer future.
Consider this analogous question: did the discovery of the cancer gene BRCA1 affect anyone at all? To your way of thinking, no, because it didn't immediately cure anyone's cancer. It only affected the lives of a very small number of cancer scientists by pointing them down promising avenues of research.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
This is the libertarian paradise we have all waited for since Saint Rand blew Saint Heinlein and gave birth to our movement! I say all we libertarians should immediately board SpaceX ships and make our way to these lava tubes to spend eternity in a free market paradise of lunian proportions!
AGREED. Russian KGB OPERATIVE TRUMP must be removed and replaced with Hillary/Oprah.
Cancel all science. This guy doesn't like the president.
Small holes? That proves that the moon is made of Swiss cheese.
painting in my mind. Guys in silver space suits standing on the ice in a huge cavern. They've gone partway down the lava tube but the large opening to the surface is very much visible. Through it you can just see the tip of the very aerodynamic spacecraft and perhaps a half-earth in the sky.
His paintings at the planetarium in Chicago made me seriously consider a career in art theft.
Lunar ice-miner twenty-forty-niner!
In space and/or on an airless rock, water is far more valuable than gold.
This lunar ice deep in lava tubes on the moon was predicted back in 1966 in the science fiction novel "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein.
Of course in Heinlein's story, the Moon was a penal colony. Considering the authoritarian direction most nations seem to be drifting towards, maybe this is another Heinlein "prediction" that will come to pass.
"This Court sentences you to life in the Alcatraz-II lunar penal colony."
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
we can call it a 'free gift'.
"Frozen ice". What is frozen ice?
I don't like Trump either, but I've chosen to go on living my life. I feel sorry for the people with so much wrong in their life they've latched on to Trump as their ultimate scapegoat. "If only Trump is out of office, then my life will turn around!" To paraphrase Trump...how very sad.
I know I've discovered my lava tube.
To keep you thinking you live on a sphere moving through the heavens.
You think it is coincidence the Sun is 400 times bigger than the moon, and 400 times farther away so we can have solar eclipse?
You think it is coincidence the human female and the moon both have a 28 day cycle?
You think it obvious and inevitable that we have a moon with only one visible side?
Watch the Lunar eclipse Jan 30/31, 2018, and your eyes will be opened.
http://en.tintin.com/images/ti...
-- Alastair
You know what friend, I can tie it all together. In order to fix politics we need healthier ways for us all to communicate. That means replacing Facebook with a more nuanced variety of platforms to have discussions. All the tech in the next 20 years, Facebook or none, will require exponentially more satellites to circle the planet and move our data. The one thing that you cannot affordable carry to space to keep sattelites going but we do it anyway, is hydrogen and oxygen as propellant. The prospect of mining water ice to electrolyze into hydrogen and oxygen propellant, all outside the costly gravity well of earths surface, is a serious and not theoretical next step in industrial development.
And screaming "there may be life on the moon!"
Someone'll have to find a good supply of barley up there, too.
If the moon's a hard vacuum wouldn't any ice exposed to space sublimate away?
It's kinda sad. OW is (I hope) smart enough to know to not run. The DNC is so discombobulated after their shoe-in lost, and so desperate for anyone with a pulse that they'll float a 2020 rumor for a rich TV star with no military or political experience. Maybe the pulse will become optional and they'll nominate Barbara Jordan. Or go full-throttle down the rich entertainer track and try Barbara Streisand, with Wayne Newton as VP.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
And now for something completely different
Workin' in a lava tube
Goin' down, down, down
Lookin' for the water fall
Oops, about to slip down
Workin' lunar lava tubes
Goin' down down, down
Look out for the icy stuff
Oops, about to slip down
Five o'clock in the morning
That last tube sure was a dud
This one lookin' no better
How long before I get some bud?
Daddies workin' in a lava tube
Goin' down, down, down
Lookin' for the water fall
Oops, about to slip down
Workin' lunar lava tubes
Goin' down down, down
Look out for the icy stuff
Oops, about to slip down
'Course I paid in Bitcoin
Haulin' ice ain't no fun
But when Saturday come round
No beer, no xbox, no fun
I'm just workin' in a lava tube
Goin' down, down, down
Lookin' for the water fall
Oops, about to slip down
Workin'
thank you.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
I cant find any specific Constitutional reason why Jordan couldn’t get the nomination, so long as the VP could handle the State of the union address. It’s probable that even if elected people wouldn’t notice for at least a while because lobbyists do all the talking for today’s pols anyway.
A prime location for a lunar [or martian] base would be inside a cave thick enough overhead to block dangerous radiation and recoverable ice/water inside.
Discovering lunar caves/lava tubes is not really news though... From 2016: https://www.space.com/32795-mo...
These are just more caves found closer to the lunar pole and hypothesizes there MIGHT be water/ice inside.