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Water & Atmosphere Found on Moon...

M

mpw

Guest
Original poster
Jun 18, 2004
6,363
1
...Not the earths but one of Saturns.

Heard this on the radio earlier and thought members might be interested.

It would appear that there's volcanic activity (or a heat source of another type) heating water under the surface of the moon causing it to break through the surface and form a thin atmosphere concentrated round the moon south pole.

Scientists are apparently baffled as according to current understanding the moon is not big enough to have the volcanic activity required???
 
Quaid probably pressed his hand on the alien made device that submerged ultra hot metal rods into huge deposits of water, that then created mass anounts of steam, and formed an atmosphere.

Then again, maybe not.
 
It's not volcanic activity in the sense that it exists on (or in) the Earth. Rather, all planetary bodies beyond a certain size have residual heat, some dating to the original formation of the planet, some due to gravitational contraction within the planet itself. If you were to dig a deep enough hole on the Moon or Mars, you'd find that the temperature at the bottom of the hole was warmer than on the surface. Dig really deep, and liquid compounds trapped within the Moon might come gushing to the surface, like an oil blowout here on Earth.

The possibility of water existing at the Moon's poles, in deep craters, has been theorized for a long time... they're the only places on the Moon that get no sunlight, so water ice is possible in the permanent shadows of certain craters.

And it's been known for quite a while that the Moon has an atmosphere... it's one-millionth as dense as Earth's, so it's practically a vacuum.

See Stephen Baxter's Moonseed and Manifold: Space for more on this.
 
Does this mean another trip to the moon? That would be the beach with the best view, "Look honey, Earth"
 
Laslo Panaflex said:
Quaid probably pressed his hand on the alien made device that submerged ultra hot metal rods into huge deposits of water, that then created mass anounts of steam, and formed an atmosphere.

Then again, maybe not.
Click to expand...

that was Hauser. i mean before he thought he was Quaid. On the other hand Hauser hadn't done it if he knew he was not Quaid. So in some sense it was Quaid and not Hauser. Oh, that's so complicated............


on topic: i thought tidal forces from staurns gravitation generate heat in its moons. that leads then to the formation of liquid water and gas for the atmosphere. in that case we can expect water on many moons and by that increase the chance for life on other planets/moons.
 
Does anyone know why they haven't built a space station on the moon? If it's only a millionth the atmosphere of earth, surely they could do the same / similar experiments.
someone smart tell me please :)
 
scubabeano said:
Does anyone know why they haven't built a space station on the moon? If it's only a millionth the atmosphere of earth, surely they could do the same / similar experiments.
someone smart tell me please :)
Click to expand...
Aside from the politics (many believe the US went to the Moon just so we could say we beat the USSR) and the cost, the fact is that the Moon just really doesn't offer much. The lack of atmosphere actually makes it a bit harder to go there, because you can't rely on atmospheric friction to slow down... you have to use fuel, which means you have to carry a LOT more fuel into orbit with you (it's a vicious cycle).

The smart thing to do would be to colonize an asteroid... they have virtually no gravity well ( = it's easier to send materials FROM them back to LEO) and are generally made of metals ( = good for building stuff in LEO) or organics and ice ( = good for making fuel, plastics, and O2 for breathing).
 
Laslo Panaflex said:
Quaid probably pressed his hand on the alien made device that submerged ultra hot metal rods into huge deposits of water, that then created mass anounts of steam, and formed an atmosphere.

Then again, maybe not.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a Scientology reference. :p

I think they should build a resort on that moon. Us humans think we can own and sell anything, even if it's not our naturally right to own or sell land, space property, etc.
 
Silly me.

So THATS where I left my water and atmosphere.

I swear I'd lose my head if it wasnt attached to my neck.
 
oh yes, i forgot about the extra fuel for the moon space station...
But a space station on an asteroid?!? sounds like a movie.. ;)
 
scubabeano said:
oh yes, i forgot about the extra fuel for the moon space station...
But a space station on an asteroid?!? sounds like a movie.. ;)
Click to expand...
There's a very compelling case toward establishing a station on an asteroid (not the kind that's headed for Earth, but one nearby), rather than the Moon or Mars. Think about it: An asteroid roughly 1 kilometer in diameter is going to contain something like 1 BILLION CUBIC METERS of raw material (read: 1 billion TONS of material, or more), stored in a virtually zero-G environment. It'll either be metals, which could be immensely valuable (especially for building stuff in Earth orbit... you wouldn't have to launch it from the ground, just scoop out what you need and process it), or organics and water, which could be even more valuable (think of how much money we spend shipping WATER into orbit... $10,000 per liter!).
 
clayj said:
There's a very compelling case toward establishing a station on an asteroid (not the kind that's headed for Earth, but one nearby), rather than the Moon or Mars. Think about it: An asteroid roughly 1 kilometer in diameter is going to contain something like 1 BILLION CUBIC METERS of raw material (read: 1 billion TONS of material, or more), stored in a virtually zero-G environment. It'll either be metals, which could be immensely valuable (especially for building stuff in Earth orbit... you wouldn't have to launch it from the ground, just scoop out what you need and process it), or organics and water, which could be even more valuable (think of how much money we spend shipping WATER into orbit... $10,000 per liter!).
Click to expand...

Didn't you see Armegeddon?!?! Those asteroids are death traps - even Bruce Willis couldn't make it back... :D
 
clayj said:
Armageddon = SUCH a bad movie that I don't have it in my DVD collection.
Click to expand...

Armegeddon - so bad it's good :D
Where else would you have Bruce Willis delivering the line: 'The American government just asked us to save the world. Who wants to say no?'.
They should send him to New Orleans...
 
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