Tag Archives: Moon

Moon "Diviner" finds useful minerals

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Diviner. Illustration: NASA/UCLA

Good news for Moon setters: Scientists seeking mineral wealth on the Moon have struck upon minerals that can be used to make nuke fuel and fertilizer.

Among the mineral wealth detected by NASA’s Moon recon orbiter vessel, Diviner, is the element thorium, which might be used to power nuclear energy plants on the Moon.

More from a recent announcement:

Most impressively, in several locations around the Moon, Diviner has detected the presence of highly silicic minerals such as quartz, potassium-rich, and sodium-rich feldspar – minerals that are only ever found in association with highly evolved lithologies (rocks that have undergone extensive magmatic processing).

via New Types Of Rock Found On Moon By Researchers At Stony Brook University And NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

What's up with the Moon?

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The

There’s a definite synchromystical, Moon “thing” going on, at the moment…

President Obama might not let us go to the Moon, but in Düsseldorf, you can see the largest sculpture of Earth’s sole satellite, as part of a new solar system exhibit (from a pres release I received today):

Düsseldorf, Germany – The inside of a 380-foot tall obsolete gas holder, the Gasometer in Oberhausen, is the space for a new exhibit called “Out Of This World – Wonders of The Solar System.” It includes the largest moon sculpture in the world — an 82-foot wide replica of the moon hanging in a cathedral-like space under the holder’s 328-foot roof, as well as replicas of the sun and its planets in a space 223 feet wide. The exhibit explores scientific, cultural and artistic perspectives on the creation and death of our solar system in the vast dimensions of the cosmos.

I’d be the first to say, of the Moon, “been there, done that.” But that was before a team led by Brown University professor Carle Pieters confirmed the presence of H20 up there.

And then there is Richard C. Hoagland’s idea of combing the Moon for ancient ruins.

Source: Sternstunden: RUHR.2010.


Stupid animatronic trick of the day

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Photo: CC/Toni Lucatorto

Photo: CC/Toni Lucatorto

Japan is talking-up yet another bipedal robot (at least officials are not describing this one as a potential sexual partner, yet), to help humans settle-in on the moon, in about ten years.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group.

Specifics of the plan, including what new technologies will be required and the size of the project’s budget, are to be decided within the next two years, according to Japan’s Strategic Headquarters for Space Development, a Cabinet-level working group.

via The Associated Press: Japan aims for walking robot on the moon by 2020.

Moon rocks good for building

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CC/Brian Yap

Moon homes might look like this. Photo: CC/Brian Yap

brick

The VTech Moon brick.

Where can I sign-up for my “igloo on the Moon” getaway? — mb

Dwellings in colonies on the moon one day may be built with new, highly durable bricks developed by students from the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. via Lunar Rock-Like Material May Someday House Moon Colonies.

Moon landing? Don't believe your lying eyes

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Space blogger to moon landing skeptics: Trust “scientists, engineers (and) the government.”

(Looks to good to be true. Photo: NASA)

Universe Today hopes this NASA image from the Apollo 11 mission (above) is so undeniably realistic-looking, few people will again dare to insist the U.S.’s moon landings were hoaxed. (Link, excerpt, below.)

Many conspiracists would be happy to see the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter prove them wrong. They just doubt it will.

Still Mythbusting | Universe Today
After last night’s “Mythbusters” show about the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Myth, I’m cautiously hopeful that at least some people who believe(d) in this myth had their eyes opened and minds changed. Alas, there will always be folks out there who for some reason are set on not believing scientists, engineers or the government and won’t subscribe to any type of proof, be it scientific or television-ific. Perhaps the upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission will be able to take hi-resolution images of one of the Apollo sites.

Moon on Christmas Eve "brightest you've ever seen"

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Shiny: The Moon, photographed by P-M Heden of Vallentuna, Sweden. (via NASA)
The prose in this press release is purple, the planet is red. Mars and the Moon on December 24 will cross the sky together in a beautiful display, according to NASA (link, below).
The 98-percent-full Moon on Christmas Eve might also be the “brightest you’ve ever seen,” because it will be the highest-riding Moon we will experience until 2023.

NASA also uses this announcement to plug its back-to-the-Moon plans for 2020.

“Plans are to establish a lunar base for exploration,” the release reads, “and use the moon’s surface as a springboard to even further destinations.”

clipped from science.nasa.gov
It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re snuggled cozily in your den. A glowing fire gently crackles and pops in the fireplace, and your head starts to droop as you nod off. Just then, something cold and wet nudges your cheek.

You open your eyes to stare directly into a large black nose. It’s time to take the dog for his walk.

Grumbling in vain, you put on your coat, snap the leash onto the wiggling dog’s collar, open the door to a rush of cold air. You step outside and enter a magical landscape.