Water on the moon… Just wow!
According to NASA, this discovery may ‘hold the key to the history and evolution of the solar system‘ if the water is billions of years old. Potential sources include molecular clouds, solar winds, comets, or even somehow activity within the moon itself. There’s already discussion about the potential for development of a lunar space station. Phil’s got the details.
November 13th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
“Significant” water on the moon has been known for a long time. For instance see Philip Ball’s wonderful book “Life’s Matrix: The Biography of Water”.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Didn’t the Indian satellite Chandrayaan already discover water on the moon a couple of months back? Why is this novel?
November 13th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
[...] Sheril Kirshenbaum at Discover: Water on the moon… Just wow! According to NASA, this discovery may ‘hold the key to the history and evolution of the solar system‘ if the water is billions of years old. Potential sources include molecular clouds, solar winds, comets, or even somehow activity within the moon itself. There’s already discussion about the potential for development of a lunar space station. Phil’s got the details. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Back to the Future(Not) The Seer [...]
November 13th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
@Davo
We’ve had evidence of water on the Moon for some time now. It’s the quantity that has been at issue.
We now know that it’s there in greater quantities than suspected and opens up possibilities we didn’t have before.
November 13th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
“could allow for the development of a lunar station” I just have to laugh at that one. Sure it can be imagined and there is no fundamental physical limitation preventing it, but look at the mess known as the International Space Station. If we struggle so much to build a habitable station which is at most about 500km from earth, when can we expect to get our act together to build a habitable station almost 800 times as far? How will we supply such a station when we struggle even to supply the ISS?
November 13th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I am glad you changed the original title! Enough said.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
@6 Sorbet,
I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t realized how the title came across–it was supposed to be a play on Heinlein’s novel The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. My apologies, I changed it as soon as I could.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:05 am
@Davo
The evidence that’s been found before has been indirect. It’s been Hydrogen atoms that pointed strongly towards water, but it was never the water that was directly seen on this impact.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:55 am
Why is NASA really seeking water on the Moon?
see:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/water-on-the-moon/
November 14th, 2009 at 2:12 am
STRANGE ANOMALY DISCOVERED ON MOON IN NASA PHOTO… Buzz Aldrin comments on the “Monolith” on Mars Moon Phobos… APOLLO 11 UFO… VIDEO: “I Saw Structures on the Moon”:
http://cristiannegureanu.blogspot.com/2009/09/strange-anomaly-discovered-on-moon-in.html
November 14th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Sheril, That’s funny. It proves you don’t have a dirty mind.
November 15th, 2009 at 2:04 am
I understood the title reference. Manny did, after all, loose a limb in an ice mining accident. Nice to know that the novel’s science speculation has been validated by the results of the experiment.