Yes, There's Water on the Moon

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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:thefinger:
Yeah "space exploration" will be like the clipper ships, railroads, telecomm, power grid, mail, and internet.

Designed and built with taxpayer money then handed over to private industry when it begins to turn a profit.

:thefinger:that!
 

Tonington

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Oct 27, 2006
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Water is very heavy? That doesn’t make any kind of sense.

Yeah, it does. Take the volume of your computer, fill it with water, and then compare which one weighs more... Water is bulky and adds weight fast.

Liquid water has a density of 1. That is not very heavy, sand or glass has a density of more than 2, metals, typically around 7 or 8.

This makes no sense...distilled water has a density of 1000 kg m^3 at 4°C... Density makes no sense unless you give a volume and weight. Metals, well the density depends on which metal it is you're talking about.

If we look at water vapor, its molecular weight is 18. Compare that to the atomic weights oxygen 16, nitrogen, 14. So water vapor is comparable to nitrogen or oxygen when it comes to density. Carbon dioxide is much heavier that water.

So? Water is essential. Carbon dioxide is not. They don't require large volumes of carbon dioxide in space, in fact it's a issue that needs to be mitigated. Water needs to be shipped into space, on a vehicle with limited payload, or it needs to be generated/filtered/collected.

So I don’t understand this statement at all. OK, maybe water vapor is very heavy compared to hydrogen, but that means nothing. Compared to most other substances (liquid or gas), water is not heavy at all.

You're clueless.
 

L Gilbert

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Yeah, it does. Take the volume of your computer, fill it with water, and then compare which one weighs more... Water is bulky and adds weight fast.
Drop a cubic foot container of it on his foot.

This makes no sense...distilled water has a density of 1000 kg m^3 at 4°C... Density makes no sense unless you give a volume and weight. Metals, well the density depends on which metal it is you're talking about.

So? Water is essential. Carbon dioxide is not. They don't require large volumes of carbon dioxide in space, in fact it's a issue that needs to be mitigated. Water needs to be shipped into space, on a vehicle with limited payload, or it needs to be generated/filtered/collected.

You're clueless.

 
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SirJosephPorter

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This makes no sense...distilled water has a density of 1000 kg m^3 at 4°C... Density makes no sense unless you give a volume and weight. Metals, well the density depends on which metal it is you're talking about.

Sure it does, Tonington, depends upon which system of measurements you are using. In cgs system, density of water is 1, in MKS system, it is 1000 (in British system it is 62.5). Same as density of metals is typically around 7 or 8.

It may be that you are used to only MKS system. But I got my education when they were transitioning form British to Metric system, so I am used to all kinds of systems. For a while, cgs system was the standard, then they switched to the MKS system. To say that density of water is one makes perfect sense (unless one has never heard of the cgs system). And it does not matter which metal you are talking about, they are all much heavier than water.

So? Water is essential. Carbon dioxide is not.

What has that got to do with anything? Carbon dioxide is still much heavier than water. We are discussing here which is heavier, not which is essential, that is a separate issue.

You're clueless.

Well now, we can’t all be all knowing, omniscient like you, can we?
 

petros

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What is man's current reason reason to go to the moon? To explore deeper into space or make crazy huge money from mining He3?
 

dumpthemonarchy

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What is man's current reason reason to go to the moon? To explore deeper into space or make crazy huge money from mining He3?

Ya, go into deep space, go go go.

And asteroid mining will be a profitable endeavour.

The Big Question: What is so special about gold, and should we all be investing in it? - Business Analysis & Features, Business - The Independent

"The largest reservoirs of gold on earth are in the oceans, but the concentration is so weak there is no way to get it out. Space is an even bigger source. In 1999, a spacecraft analysing the Eros asteroid showed it contained more gold than has ever been mined on earth."

And that's just one 'roid boys and girls. There are billions more where that came from. Free! Just like oil, wind, tidal, and solar power. We just gotta send some crazy guys out there to go get it.
 

SirJosephPorter

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What is man's current reason reason to go to the moon? To explore deeper into space or make crazy huge money from mining He3?

I assume the same reason that Sir Edmond Hillary gave when somebody asked him why he climbed Mount Everest. ‘Because it is there’.
 

Tonington

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Sure it does, Tonington, depends upon which system of measurements you are using. In cgs system, density of water is 1, in MKS system, it is 1000 (in British system it is 62.5). Same as density of metals is typically around 7 or 8.

Did they teach you to use units when you were educated? Why would we care what a bar of some undetermined metal weighs? Do you think this is a common item to ship to space? The metal they do ship can't really be replaced, can it?

What has that got to do with anything? Carbon dioxide is still much heavier than water. We are discussing here which is heavier, not which is essential, that is a separate issue.
We are also discussing space travel, and to travel in space you need to send essential items for the astronauts to live, and to do their work. The ISS requires about 2200 liters of water a year, and it costs about $11000US per liter.

Recycled pee.

Well now, we can’t all be all knowing, omniscient like you, can we?
Nobody needs to be omniscient to realize that water is a bulky item to ship, and quite costly when you're boosting it into orbit on rockets. If you can move less water, then that leaves more room for mission equipment.
 

SirJosephPorter

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Did they teach you to use units when you were educated? Why would we care what a bar of some undetermined metal weighs? Do you think this is a common item to ship to space? The metal they do ship can't really be replaced, can it?


Units are implied, Tonington, all the scientists and engineers know the units of density. I am sure most scientists and engineers would figure out that when somebody says that density of water is one, what is meant is 1 g/cc (those who have heard of the cgs system, that is). I wouldn’t have thought that it is necessary to specify the units of density. Density of water 1 means 1 g/cc, 1000 means K/M3.

At least I haven’t come across a scientist or an engineer who didn’t know the units of density (of course, with falling education standards these days, one never knows).

We are also discussing space travel, and to travel in space you need to send essential items for the astronauts to live, and to do their work. The ISS requires about 2200 liters of water a year, and it costs about $11000US per liter.



And how many manned flights are of one year duration? The only manned missions have been to moon, lasting perhaps one week, and the cost of carrying water is minimal (compared to overall costs). For manned mission to Mars etc., the water on moon won’t be of any help.

Nobody needs to be omniscient to realize that water is a bulky item to ship, and quite costly when you're boosting it into orbit on rockets. If you can move less water, then that leaves more room for mission equipment.


Water costs money, but is by no means bulky. Cost of carrying water is insignificant when compared with the overall costs. On a manned mission to the moon (which is the only trip where water on moon’s surface would be relevant), cost of carrying water is small compared to the overall costs.
 

SirJosephPorter

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Anyway, if we are discussing space flight (I think we have established that water is not really all that heavy compared to other materials), who in their right mind would drink water obtained on the surface of the moon? Who knows what unknowns pathogens, bacteria it contains?

It would have all the potential of unleashing something like Ebola virus, or the Black Plague into the world. The purification methods are not foolproof, there is no ironclad guarantee that some kind of pathogen will not slip through.

Water on the moon won’t be fit for drinking for years or even decades, until there has been thorough research on it to make sure that it is not going to introduce any unknown and malignant pathogens or germs on earth.

No, I don’t see the water on the moon making much difference to the space travel, at least not in the short term.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
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Ya, go into deep space, go go go.

And asteroid mining will be a profitable endeavour
So it's okay that govt will pave the way on your nickle for private industry to make this vast amount of money mining He3 and other minerals on asteroids?

There is a major ruse happening. You are told of boogiemen with nukes so we need missile defense systems to stop missiles.

In reality it is missle systems to stop other nations from getting to space first.

Whoever gets to that He3 first will rule the world for the next 500 years. Do you think you'll not pay through the ass for this new energy and it will be a free for all? HA!
 

Niflmir

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Units are implied, Tonington, all the scientists and engineers know the units of density. I am sure most scientists and engineers would figure out that when somebody says that density of water is one, what is meant is 1 g/cc (those who have heard of the cgs system, that is). I wouldn’t have thought that it is necessary to specify the units of density. Density of water 1 means 1 g/cc, 1000 means K/M3.

Use Planck units. All quantities are dimensionless in Planck units. It is always necessary to specify the units. Density changes with temperature and pressure after all.