Posted on 10/19/2006 6:41:12 AM PDT by presidio9
Hopes that the Moon's South Pole has a vast hoard of ice that could be used to establish a lunar colony are sadly unfounded, a new study says.
In 1994, radar echoes sent back in an experiment involving a US orbiter called Clementine appeared to show that a treasure trove of frozen water lay below the dust in craters near the lunar South Pole that were permanently shaded from the Sun.
If so, such a find would be an invaluable boost to colonisation, as the ice could be used to provide water as well as hydrogen as fuel. NASA is looking closely at the South Pole as a potential site for the United States' return mission to the Moon, scheduled to take place by 2020.
But a paper published in the British science journal Nature on Thursday by a US team says the Clementine data most probably was misinterpreted.
Donald Campbell of Washington's Smithsonian Institution and colleagues collected radar images of the Moon's South Pole to a resolution of 20 metres (65 feet), looking especially at Shackleton crater, which had generated most interest.
The team found that a particular radar signature called the circular polarization ratio -- which in the Clementine experiment was taken to indicate thick deposits of ice -- could also be created by echoes from the rough terrain and walls of impact craters.
The signature was found in both sunny and permanently shady areas of crater, which suggests that the reflection comes from rocky debris, not thick ice deposits.
If there is any ice at the South Pole, it probably comes from tiny, scattered grains that probably account for only one or two percent of the local dust, the authors suggest.
"Any planning for future exploitation of hydrogen at the Moon's South Pole should be constrained by this low average abundance rather than by the expectation of localised deposits at higher concentrations," the paper says soberly.
The research involved sending a radar signal from the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. The signal hit the southern lunar region and the reflection was picked up by the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.
Not a huge problem, sending water to the moon is relatively cheap and simply, ya just lob a big chunk of it (ice) to the moon, and let it crash there.
True. It's just the "lobbing" part that's the hitch.
Hey, I can create conspiracy theories with the best of them.
It costs about $100K per kilo to "lob" something into orbit, let alone sending it to the Moon.
Simple....you just use my plan for terraforming Mars.....
Oh but I havent patented it yet...sorry.
So, the jury is still out.
The value of the poles for settlement is that there is constant sunlight available for backup solar power.
This article is pure BS. We need more engineers as reporters.
That will be cut significantly by the space elevator. If that fails then a really big slingshot will obviously be the solution.
Global warming, no doubt..........
Ping
It's better to use ice that's already in orbit. Which, coincidentally, there is plenty, along with methane and other useful compounds.
We just need to go and get it. The first group to successfully accomplish that will signal the true dawn of the space age.
Why is the federal government looking for more ways to waste money. There is no economic benefit in colonizing the moon. If this country had more money than it knew what to do with (i.e. nobody paid any taxes) I couldn't care less. Instead we are looking for more frivilous ways to spend more money.
It's not like there is any real reason to return to the Moon. It's just a government make work project, anyway.
It's been said that if there were solid concrete on the moon, lunar colonists would want to mine it for its water content.
Which reminds me - it's about time to track down a copy of "The Ice Pirates" to rent/buy...
After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system and hundreds of new Earths were terraformed and colonized. The central planets formed the Alliance and decided all the planets had to join under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the War, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the system, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggled to get by with the most basic technologies; a ship would bring you work, a gun would help you keep it. A captain's goal was simple: find a crew, find a job, keep flying.
Which reminds me - it's about time to track down a copy of "The Ice Pirates" to rent/buy...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.