Water found on the moon

[sleep envy]

So what does this mean to us?

Will we be able to sustain life on the moon?

[s2art]

sleep envy said:

So what does this mean to us?

Will we be able to sustain life on the moon?

After a Godzillion dollar investment, yes.

[FourWheelDrift]

I think we should be looking further afield than the rock orbiting us. There's more hydrocarbon based fuels on Titan (moon of Saturn) than all the Earth's oil & gas reserves, so getting to Titan and mining it would be a more useful mission with a real and important target than trying to live on the moon.

IMHO

[mybrainhurts]

sleep envy said:

Will we be able to sustain life on the moon?

Let's stick Gordon Brown up there and see...

[NismoGT]

FourWheelDrift said:

I think we should be looking further afield than the rock orbiting us. There's more hydrocarbon based fuels on Titan (moon of Saturn) than all the Earth's oil & gas reserves, so getting to Titan and mining it would be a more useful mission with a real and important target than trying to live on the moon.

IMHO

What method would you have of returning the ore to earth? The cost of that would surely sore further than colonising the moon.

[s2art]

NismoGT said:

FourWheelDrift said:

I think we should be looking further afield than the rock orbiting us. There's more hydrocarbon based fuels on Titan (moon of Saturn) than all the Earth's oil & gas reserves, so getting to Titan and mining it would be a more useful mission with a real and important target than trying to live on the moon.

IMHO

What method would you have of returning the ore to earth? The cost of that would surely sore further than colonising the moon.

Once you are orbit, you are half way to anywhere. Its just time taken after that. As for that I give you the Orion nuclear powered spacecraft! Fast, cheap (relatively) and effing huge.

[Don]

Getting in and out of gravity wells is the bummer. OK elsewhere as nuclear rockets work, apparently. Hard to do that without poisoning the atmosphere with nuclear fallout, though, so you can't really use the technology to leave Earth.

[s2art]

Don said:

Getting in and out of gravity wells is the bummer. OK elsewhere as nuclear rockets work, apparently. Hard to do that without poisoning the atmosphere with nuclear fallout, though, so you can't really use the technology to leave Earth.

Well, you probably could use one. Nukes are pretty clean these days. IIRC one launch of a big Orion is no worse than the annual output of a couple of coal fired power stations. Fat chance of getting international agreement though. It will have to be assembled in orbit.

[FourWheelDrift]

s2art said:

NismoGT said:

FourWheelDrift said:

I think we should be looking further afield than the rock orbiting us. There's more hydrocarbon based fuels on Titan (moon of Saturn) than all the Earth's oil & gas reserves, so getting to Titan and mining it would be a more useful mission with a real and important target than trying to live on the moon.

IMHO

What method would you have of returning the ore to earth? The cost of that would surely sore further than colonising the moon.

Once you are orbit, you are half way to anywhere. Its just time taken after that. As for that I give you the Orion nuclear powered spacecraft! Fast, cheap (relatively) and effing huge.

Build an orbiting space port, then use a series of carbon nano tube pipelines from the earth to the space port and fuel can be pumped down for refining if it isn't done at Titan or at the space port.

Or of course use a space elevator form of technology using the same materials. More here too - http://blogs.kentlaw.edu/islat/2009/01/space-eleva...

Or something along those lines and before anyone says it can't be done. Think and take a good look, not at what we have done in the last 100 years, but what we have created in the last 30 years. Then think what could be achieved in the next 30.

[bonsai]

I think it's great news. In light of the recent fears about Obama scrapping the proposed moon landings, this can only help prevent that.

[ErnestM]

NismoGT said:

FourWheelDrift said:

I think we should be looking further afield than the rock orbiting us. There's more hydrocarbon based fuels on Titan (moon of Saturn) than all the Earth's oil & gas reserves, so getting to Titan and mining it would be a more useful mission with a real and important target than trying to live on the moon.

IMHO

What method would you have of returning the ore to earth? The cost of that would surely sore further than colonising the moon.

IIRC it's not ore but actually liquid methane. Clouds rain methane and it collects in virtual oceans of the stuff. No oxygen on Titan so limited danger of combustion. I'm with FourWheelDrift, let's get it....!

[NismoGT]

ErnestM said:

NismoGT said:

FourWheelDrift said:

I think we should be looking further afield than the rock orbiting us. There's more hydrocarbon based fuels on Titan (moon of Saturn) than all the Earth's oil & gas reserves, so getting to Titan and mining it would be a more useful mission with a real and important target than trying to live on the moon.

IMHO

What method would you have of returning the ore to earth? The cost of that would surely sore further than colonising the moon.

IIRC it's not ore but actually liquid methane. Clouds rain methane and it collects in virtual oceans of the stuff. No oxygen on Titan so limited danger of combustion. I'm with FourWheelDrift, let's get it....!

Need to employ Captain Picard and Janeway to stop Alien do-badder's trying to half inch our resources

[FourWheelDrift]

Then cue the pro-Titan mentalists trying to protect the environment. I'd like to see them do a sit in protest

[NismoGT]

FourWheelDrift said:

Then cue the pro-Titan mentalists trying to protect the environment. I'd like to see them do a sit in protest

Plenty of Black Holes around. Be very easy to get rid of them

[thinfourth2]

sleep envy said:

So what does this mean to us?

More tax?

Well everything else does

[grumbledoak]

Hmmm. Not the most serious thread, but...

There is still no air, either to breath or to glide down without burning fuel. And, we still have to burn fuel to get off. So the gravity well problem remains. It is interesting, but I don't think it changes the basics- a base in space itself makes much more sense.

[EDLT]

NismoGT said:

ErnestM said:

NismoGT said:

FourWheelDrift said:

I think we should be looking further afield than the rock orbiting us. There's more hydrocarbon based fuels on Titan (moon of Saturn) than all the Earth's oil & gas reserves, so getting to Titan and mining it would be a more useful mission with a real and important target than trying to live on the moon.

IMHO

What method would you have of returning the ore to earth? The cost of that would surely sore further than colonising the moon.

IIRC it's not ore but actually liquid methane. Clouds rain methane and it collects in virtual oceans of the stuff. No oxygen on Titan so limited danger of combustion. I'm with FourWheelDrift, let's get it....!

Need to employ Captain Picard and Janeway to stop Alien do-badder's trying to half inch our resources

People claim to have spotted UFOs flying past the sun*, so maybe they were on their way to Titan. DUM DUM DUM.

*these people are also crazy.

[FourWheelDrift]

Shell have a station there with a 24hr mini-mart.

[odyssey2200]

[FunkyNige]

grumbledoak said:

Hmmm. Not the most serious thread, but...

There is still no air, either to breath or to glide down without burning fuel. And, we still have to burn fuel to get off. So the gravity well problem remains. It is interesting, but I don't think it changes the basics- a base in space itself makes much more sense.

The big thing I've heard is that it may be possible to produce rocket fuel from the water there. That's a good thing as we can build rockets to get to the moon, then from there launch into the big beyond, rather than having to lug the fuel to get to the big beyond out of Earth's gravity. I assume we can also use Hydrogen fuel cells for a bit more power than solar alone can provide?

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090925-moon-...
for a bit more info.