Yes, There's Water on the Moon

[AnnaG]

....

drinky drinky...



Timetable for Moon colony announced - space - 05 December 2006 - New Scientist

Water is also handy for hydrating the dried food packets.
Scientifically, Sir JP is starting to look an awful lot like an atheistic Eanassir. :tard:

 

[#juan]

In terms of known technology, you'd be right. 40 years ago did you ever think you'd be comfortable with a computer resting on your lap?

The fact remains that you still have to process a huge amount of soil to get a small amount of water. Fusion power would likely make it easier.

40 years ago I never thought I would even have a computer....;-)

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Fact is, water is a key ingredient for fuel and space travel. So even if we can't drink the water on the Moon, it can be used for fuel. This is no minor deal.

How do people get this idea that water is not heavy? Carry a knapsack of it around all day long and get back to me.

I don’t see how splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen (and using hydrogen as a fuel) would be practical. It will take more energy to split the water into its component parts than you would get from burning the resultant hydrogen, that is the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

If you got more energy by burning the hydrogen than you put in in the first place (to dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen), why, we will have a limitless supply of energy, right here on earth. Put in say, 100 Joules to split water into components, get 200 Joules in return.

It doesn’t work that way. I don’t see what advantage would there be splitting water into hydrogen and nitrogen on the moon. Why not use the energy that you were going to spend to split the water for rocket propulsion instead?

So I don’t see how that is going to be practical.

Carry a knapsack of it around all day long and get back to me.

Well, yes. But carrying a knapsack of mercury or gold would be even more tiresome, more exhausting.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

It doesn't sound like the water on the moon would be readily available to astronauts on the moon, at least in the early going. The machinery to extract tiny amounts of water from huge amounts of soil would be far too bulky and costly to be effective.

Juan, whenever there a discovery like this, science writers like to throw around science fictionish ideas, like harvesting the water on the moon.

Don’t get me wrong, I find such speculation fascinating, it makes for good reading (incidentally, thanks dumpthemonarchy, for the article by David Shiga. It certainly makes for interesting reading, though I remain skeptical).

Indeed, over the ages many writers have put forth many such fascinating, interesting ideas, such as Ringworld (by Larry Niven), Dyson Sphere etc.

Such ideas do contribute to the advancement of science. At the same time, one must be practical. I don’t see any immediate application for water on the moon (or Mars for that matter).

 

[#juan]

Juan, whenever there a discovery like this, science writers like to throw around science fictionish ideas, like harvesting the water on the moon.

Don’t get me wrong, I find such speculation fascinating, it makes for good reading (incidentally, thanks dumpthemonarchy, for the article by David Shiga. It certainly makes for interesting reading, though I remain skeptical).

Indeed, over the ages many writers have put forth many such fascinating, interesting ideas, such as Ringworld (by Larry Niven), Dyson Sphere etc.

Such ideas do contribute to the advancement of science. At the same time, one must be practical. I don’t see any immediate application for water on the moon (or Mars for that matter).

I started reading Larry Niven at least thirty years ago. I always thought his best books were those where he collaborated with Pournelle and others. In some of Heinlein's books ice was mined on the moon and on Mars. I was disappointed when we got word that Mars had almost no atmosphere. Alas, Barsoom was not to be.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

I started reading Larry Niven at least thirty years ago. I always thought his best books were those where he collaborated with Pournelle and others. In some of Heinlein's books ice was mined on the moon and on Mars. I was disappointed when we got word that Mars had almost no atmosphere. Alas, Barsoom was not to be.

If you haven’t read the Ringworld, I highly recommend it, it is a classic, one of the best sci fi books I have ever read. I would say that is Niven’s best effort, and I have read a lot of his work.

I don’t know if you have heard of the Dyson Sphere. Dyson speculated that an intelligent civilization could build a sphere around their sun, in order to harvest the solar power. That way all the solar energy emanating from the Sun could be harvested. Google for ‘Dyson Sphere’ if you want to read more.

Ringworld is a modification of the Dyson Sphere idea. An intelligent civilization builds a ring around the sun, rather than a sphere. It is lot cheaper to build than the sphere. The book is rich with scientific details, and makes for fascinating reading.

Also, Barsoom. Fascinating novels, I have read most of them,

 

[eanassir]

Oh, man ... that guy who chicken-scratches his way across these forums looking for Allah will be having kanniption fits

Now I know why you are lifting up your jaw to the moon and whistling: it is for the water there on Moon; so go, together with Chandra, and drink of that sweet water and sing there the song of wolves, but do not annoy Chandra with the vapor of your mouth :lol:​

 

[AnnaG]

Anyway, I think I'd be more excited if they found wabbits on Mars than water on the moon.

 

[lone wolf]

Now I know why you are lifting up your jaw to the moon and whistling: it is for the water there on Moon; so go, together with Chandra, and drink of that sweet water and sing there the song of wolves, but do not annoy Chandra with the vapor of your mouth :lol:​

Ar Ar Humour....

 

[AnnaG]

Ar Ar Humour....

huh? Where?

 

[eanassir]

Moon was part of the Earth; it detached from the Earth at its early development; when both the Earth and its detached Moon were not so hard; the Moon started to circle around the Earth and to spin around itself: Moon at the start spinned around itself relatively quickly; therefore, it acquired the spherical shape.
At the start, Moon had some atmosphere and some water, which it lost later on, when it became cold, and its core became cold and it stopped spinning around itself, and its gravity weakened and it lost both its atmosphere and its water.

Therefore, no water is there on the surface of Moon, and IMO if there had been any water imprisoned under the ground, it almost escaped and got lost by time. While concerning the compounds including hydrogen and the compounds including oxygen; it could be there, but it isn't any water.

 

[lone wolf]

huh? Where?

Everybody knows that wolves only whistle at the ladies.... ;-)

 

[lone wolf]

Headlines seldom have much to do with the story.

Data indicate that water
exists diffusely across the moon as hydroxyl or water molecules — or both —

NOT water as we know it....

 

[#juan]

Moon was part of the Earth; it detached from the Earth at its early development; when both the Earth and its detached Moon were not so hard; the Moon started to circle around the Earth and to spin around itself: Moon at the start spinned around itself relatively quickly; therefore, it acquired the spherical shape.
At the start, Moon had some atmosphere and some water, which it lost later on, when it became cold, and its core became cold and it stopped spinning around itself, and its gravity weakened and it lost both its atmosphere and its water.

Therefore, no water is there on the surface of Moon, and IMO if there had been any water imprisoned under the ground, it almost escaped and got lost by time. While concerning the compounds including hydrogen and the compounds including oxygen; it could be there, but it isn't any water.

You do realize enassir that the moons temperature and spin have nothing to do with its gravity, and nothing to do with the amount of water that may or may not be there,

Cheers

 

[eanassir]

The gravity has serious things to do with the water and the atmosphere,#Juan; if the gravity is weak which the case now on Moon, it can keep neither atmosphere nor water.

Cheer.

 

[lone wolf]

The gravity has to do with the water and the atmosphere; if the gravity is weak which the case now on Moon, it can keep neither atmosphere nor water.

There must have been enough gravity to keep those space guys from blasting off....

 

[AnnaG]

Moon was part of the Earth; it detached from the Earth at its early development; when both the Earth and its detached Moon were not so hard; the Moon started to circle around the Earth and to spin around itself: Moon at the start spinned around itself relatively quickly; therefore, it acquired the spherical shape.
At the start, Moon had some atmosphere and some water, which it lost later on, when it became cold, and its core became cold and it stopped spinning around itself, and its gravity weakened and it lost both its atmosphere and its water.

Therefore, no water is there on the surface of Moon, and IMO if there had been any water imprisoned under the ground, it almost escaped and got lost by time. While concerning the compounds including hydrogen and the compounds including oxygen; it could be there, but it isn't any water.

roflmao
You almost remind me of Charlie Farquharson speaking about "jogfree" except Charlie is a character developed by Don Harron and was intended to be funny. The difference is that I doubt you are trying to be funny.