NASA bombs moon in serach of water

[Jana]

NASA bombs moon in serach of water


Associated Press
Washington, October 09, 2009




NASA has successfully steered an empty rocket hull into the moon's south pole in a search for hidden ice.

The intentional crash this morning is the first and bigger of two planned collisions that are expected to kick up miles of lunar dust. The space probe is called LCROSS (L-cross), short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

It has five cameras and four other scientific instruments aboard, and follows the empty hull by a few minutes. It is taking pictures during its death spiral and beaming them back to Earth.

NASA is broadcasting the crashes live on the Internet. Telescopes across the world are trained to the moon for the event. NASA expects to know whether there was ice below the lunar surface in about an hour.

[Selma Shirazi]

Is that legal?
What if there's water, who'll claim the first right to exploit it?

[Xeric]

It would become illegal when China does the same.

Just wait :)

[A1Kaid]

Actually the plan to bomb the Moon by NASA was prepared several months ago and NASA decided that the exact date would be October 9th, 2009. They are currently engaged in aqua-exploration beneath the Moon's surface.

Hence this "bunker-buster" type of bomb was deployed which would punch a deep hole into the surface of the moon minimizing extensive damage to surrounding areas in search of water...The objective NASA wants to explore can life manage to live on the Moon? Of course water being a prerequisite is absolutely essential to that.

NASA has successfully steered an empty rocket hull into the moon's south pole in a search for hidden ice.

Yes that would be a good place to explore for any remaining ice or water. As the polar caps carry the largest concentration of icy patches on the Moon's surface.

Check out the video below.

YouTube - nasa to bomb the moon

YouTube - nasa to bomb the moon

Below is an article from Telegraph.co.UK (Published: 8:36AM BST 18 Jun 2009)

Nasa prepares to bomb the moon


Nasa scientists are preparing to launch a space mission from Cape Canaveral carrying a missile that will fire a hole deep in the surface of the moon.

By Ben Leach



Uranium could one day be mined on the moon after a Japanese spacecraft discovered the element on its surface Photo: AFP

The aim is to see whether any traces of water will be revealed by the disruption caused to the planet's surface. Nasa will analyse the space cloud caused by the explosion for any sign of water or vapour.

Scientists expect the impact to blast out a huge cloud of dust, gas and vaporized water ice at least 6 miles high - making it visible from Earth.

If the search is successful it could provide vital supplies for a moonbase. The moon is mostly dry desert but ice may be trapped in craters which never see sunlight.

The unmanned Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission (LCROSS) will fire a Centaur rocket into the surface at twice the speed of a bullet.

An accompanying spacecraft will orbit the moon for a year looking for possible landing sites for astronauts. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will spend at least a year creating the most minutely detailed map of the moon's surface ever seen.

The vessel swill be the first American spacecrafts to make a lunar trip since 1999.

Astronomers have long thought that a rain of comets brought water to the arid, lifeless moon over billions of years.

In the past few years, at least two American spacecraft reported the presence of water by detecting hints of hydrogen and oxygen - the constituents of water - frozen deep in the darkest recesses of craters around both the north and south lunar poles.

Source: Nasa prepares to bomb the moon - Telegraph

[Solid Beast]

I hope China can station a Sino-Pakistani outpost on the moon and in orbit sometime soon, such things are vital for long term security.

[A1Kaid]

Originally Posted by Solid Beast

I hope China can station a Sino-Pakistani outpost on the moon and in orbit sometime soon, such things are vital for long term security.

It would be a spectacular feat of human technological and scientific endeavor. Also a very expensive one at that. Consider this, if an outpost even a small one is to be built on the Moon's surface, one must consider it is highly prone to damage from flying meteors small or big, and considering the Moon contains little to no atmosphere the meteors will not get dissolved in the Lunar atmosphere hence a direct impact of a meteor or space rock will hit the outpost. Remember the Moon's surface is littered with space rocks and the Moon get's hit on a daily basis...

Hence an outpost on the Moon must be manned and guarded. To build an outpost The Chinese space agency would have to send engineering equipment, top of the line engineers who must receive training in zero-gravity first before they can be sent to the Moon (obviously)...

such things are vital for long term security.

In terms of future centuries yes indeed, if the current trajectory of affairs continue.


For now it's probably best to simply set up a "space-station" in the Earth's orbit, which would allow to monitor the Moon and Earth from a relatively safe distance. Not to mention this is more feasible then making an outpost on the Moon for now.

From the Earth's orbit having a "space-station" can allow both China and Pakistan to 'weaponize' their assets in Space, giving tremendous overview and reach to both nation's striking ability- attacking enemies from space, destroying enemy satellites, disrupting enemy communication via satellite, etc.

One may argue why not simply use ICBM's as they provide you great reach to attack enemy nations, the problem with ICBM's is if the launch pads or ICBM bases are spotted they can be attacked and destroyed. It is much harder to destroy ICBM's or Space missiles if they are in the Earth's orbit as relatively a few or no countries possess this capability effectively enough.

If were going to weaponize our assets in space then we must build a weapons delivery system that we can command from the ground (Our commander center on Earth) so when the threat arises we can activate our space weapons to neutralize the enemies.

That too a great challenge...

[Solid Beast]

For now it's probably best to simply set up a "space-station" in the Earth's orbit, which would allow to monitor the Moon and Earth from a relatively safe distance. Not to mention this is more feasible then making an outpost on the Moon for now.

From the Earth's orbit having a "space-station" can allow both China and Pakistan to 'weaponize' their assets in Space, giving tremendous overview and reach to both nation's striking ability- attacking enemies from space, destroying enemy satellites, disrupting enemy communication via satellite, etc.

One may argue why not simply use ICBM's as they provide you great reach to attack enemy nations, the problem with ICBM's is if the launch pads or ICBM bases are spotted they can be attacked and destroyed. It is much harder to destroy ICBM's or Space missiles if they are in the Earth's orbit as relatively a few or no countries possess this capability effectively enough.

If were going to weaponize our assets in space then we must build a weapons delivery system that we can command from the ground (Our commander center on Earth) so when the threat arises we can activate our space weapons to neutralize the enemies.

That too a great challenge...

Completely agreed that China and Pakistan's future missile force must largely be orbit based and development must be started now on the Pakistani side and aligned with the Chinese side for full force effect as each action Pakistan undertakes for it's benefit greatly undermines India and the power monopoly of the U.S. and defense monopoly of Russia in the region.

We must make the naval and land forces as net centric as possible like the PAF are gearing towards, and on top of that they will have direct comlink with PLAAF with their Chinese AWACS. Pakistan's military from bottom to top must be interlinked with China in some way as a buffer for short medium and long term security. Such moves will benefit us both better than buying American fighter jets for the same money.

[vinod2070]

No one shares Space technology with anyone, not even the closest friends.

You have to earn your place at the table before people acknowledge you or co-operate with you in space technology.

China will likely not even share sounding rocket technology with Pakistan, leave alone the stuff being dreamed of here. Just think, what does Pakistan bring to the table?

Chinese are pragmatic people, not fools.

[Jana]

And after every effort to bomb moon They FAILED to find any water dahhhhh

[vinod2070]

You have to try first to succeed!

Those who never try, never fail.