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- brown2hm, on 11/13/2009, -0/+310Dear NASA,
Thanks for being awesome.
Love,
Everyone who likes science. - Dtopler, on 11/13/2009, -3/+244How can politicians even consider cutting funding for NASA?
- angusm, on 11/13/2009, -2/+179In other news, the residents of Cabeus Crater have filed an interplanetary lawsuit against NASA for the destruction of their communal swimming pool. "It's just lucky that it happened when it did," said a shocked Gnorthank Dweepledonk, a four-armed purple alien from Kapteyn's Star. "A couple of hours later and the pool would have been packed with kids and families." Although some of the large extraterrestrial community living on the Moon see the LCROSS impact as an act of war, others are more philosophical. "Everyone knows that Earthlings are barely-evolved monkeys. Given their rudimentary intelligence, it's not surprising that they lose control of their primitive vehicles from time to time." said a spokesman for the residents. He added that if the rain of objects from Earth continued, the moon-dwellers might take "appropriate measures".
NASA could not be reached for comment at press time. - MacBandit, on 11/13/2009, -6/+92How can politicians lie and cheat and give themselves raises? Oh wait yeah I forgot they are ALL a bunch of DOUCHE BAGS!!!!
- maltaethiron, on 11/13/2009, -0/+73You need to write for The Onion...
- XvXLongshotXvX, on 11/13/2009, -0/+68The implications of this are potentially huge. If there is enough water there, it would make things like a permanent moon base a very real possibility.
- mmpre, on 11/13/2009, -2/+52No way... that's great... WE'VE LANDED ON THE MOON!!
- breached, on 11/13/2009, -0/+37I hope this quiets some of the criticism of this mission and the ridiculous misinformation campaign that NASA was "bombing" the moon.
- Garmoosh, on 11/13/2009, -0/+31Get your ass to mars.
- JanTik, on 11/13/2009, -1/+31FOKKEN PRAWNS!
- cosworth99, on 11/13/2009, -1/+29I think the chances for extraterrestrial life just tripled. Ice water on a cold, dead moon means that liquid water will be found in more places.
Why are we not going to Europa? Mars seems to be this magical manned mission when we could send a couple robotic probes to Europa. Screw what the monolith says. - Kungfumantis239, on 11/13/2009, -0/+25No, it doesn't prove that. They weren't looking for h2o when they were on the moon and it could have simply evaporated as soon as it went from the absolute frigid temperatures of space to room temperature.
- Awwzm, on 11/13/2009, -0/+19Lloyd: What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean...not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I'd say more like... one out of a million.
Lloyd: ....So you're telling me there's a chance. - UltraMegaFilms, on 11/13/2009, -1/+17Sounds like your are a guy who knows a guy who worked for a company that probably had severely restricted clearance that was hired for tasks by an expert.
I guess your a celebrity now. - RIB08, on 11/13/2009, -0/+16it's going to take a helluva brita filter
- sunburner, on 11/13/2009, -3/+19Hey we've got a war on drugs to fight.
/s - SemperFly, on 11/13/2009, -0/+16Hate to be cliche, but:
Best. Post. Ever. - Harabeck, on 11/13/2009, -0/+15The moon landings weren't at the poles, they were close to the equator. At those latitudes, sunlight would have made it to even the bottoms of craters, thus evaporating the water. Congrats for proving yourself a sheeple.
- FlaG8r, on 11/13/2009, -0/+13The whalers on the moon will be ecstatic about this news.
- T8erT0T, on 11/13/2009, -0/+13http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f_DPrSEOEo
- aeroxis, on 11/13/2009, -2/+15Lies! All this is lies! I'm telling you folks that this is a lie!
It was our government. President Moosh did this. It's a secret conspiracy from our lunar government, and now they're releasing reports that it's the earthlings who've attacked us by surprise. President Moosh did this to declare a war on the earthlings so we can get rich off their air, which we desperately need.
Remember folks. We can't believe everything that we read! - RogerStrong, on 11/13/2009, -0/+13George W Bush ***announced*** increased funding for NASA, as part of his "Vision for Space Exploration". That proved not to be the same as, well, increased funding.
- topher1078, on 11/13/2009, -0/+12Does the fact that there's a bunch of water on the moon make it more likely that there's more water in the entire universe than we thought?
- Hetman, on 11/13/2009, -0/+12We all want to go to mars. However the moon is a nice jumping off point and as stephen hawkings put it. It is a nice place to practice such longs expeditions because it is kind of close to earth.
- appleseed1234, on 11/13/2009, -6/+17I thought this was going to be a ***** story about lacrosse, but this is much better.
- Solis, on 11/13/2009, -1/+12@sClubDevin
Yes. - UbIwerks, on 11/13/2009, -0/+10I love the way we nerds think.
- wefarrell, on 11/13/2009, -13/+23because NASA is notorious for having a culture that punishes dissent and rewards cronyism. I have a friend that worked for the consulting company that discovered the flaw in the O-rings that caused the challenger to explode. NASA chose to launch the shuttle despite this information, killing the crew. That company never received another contract from NASA again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challen ... - TSK05, on 11/13/2009, -0/+10Hertz did not realize the practical importance of his experiments [in which he first observed electromagnetic waves]. He stated that,
"It's of no use whatsoever[...] this is just an experiment that proves Maestro Maxwell was right - we just have these mysterious electromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the naked eye. But they are there." [3]
Asked about the ramifications of his discoveries, Hertz replied,
"Nothing, I guess." [3] - Splive, on 11/13/2009, -0/+9The moon is right in our back yard so-to-speak. That an atmospheric-less chuck of rock has water on it, and in higher abundance than we previously expected, could be really positive news for any teams working on manned moon missions.
- trosty45, on 11/13/2009, -0/+9Its a huge deal. Due to Earths massive gravity, with any technology in existence it would be about 16 times cheaper to get things into space from the moon. Traveling to other planets isn't really a possibility without having a cheaper place to launch from aka, the moon.
On the other side of this, several minerals and elements that cant be found or are rarely found on Earth that are found on the moon. A good example of this is Helium 3. It is a type of helium that can't be found on earth or is rarely found on earth because it is formed by the sun but captured by Earth magnetic field before reaching the surface. This is an important substance because it is theoretically, the best fuel for fusion reactor.
Finally, a space ship will never be built on earth, or anytime in the near future, you'd never get it into orbit. The moon makes the USS Enterprise possible! - lil_isie, on 11/13/2009, -0/+9Not to mention it will cost less in terms of fuel to jump off from the moon than Earth. There isn't that nasty thing called an atmosphere we have to punch through, oh and the gravity thing helps too.
- Harabeck, on 11/13/2009, -0/+8http://internetsarcasm.com/
Anyone remember that the law is called that says that sarcasm on the internet can never be truly taken as such unless it something equivalent to '/s' because there is someone crazy enough to believe anything? - shapedy, on 11/13/2009, -0/+8I think you literally didn't even bother to read the posts proving you wrong.
- zambuka, on 11/14/2009, -0/+8The importance of finding water on the moon is simple.
Building a base on the moon is a monumental task, but unquestionably the first real step for a continued presence in space (see post above about helium and space ship construction etc). This task is made even more difficult and expensive by the added need for continuous resupply runs for essential goodies like food and water and atmospheric scrubbing equipment.
Water on the moon means you can cut out a significant part of those resupply runs. You now only need to bring up new personnel and any equipment that can't be manufactured on the moon.
Water means you can grow quite extensive gardens without having to worry too much about complex reclamation systems. Extensive gardens provide food, some atmospheric conditioning plus a whole host of useful byproducts, like rubber, charcoal for water filtration and other goodies.
Water means easier atmospheric and climate control. Oxygen can be extracted from the water reducing the reliance on atmospheric reprocessing and scrubbers.
A sizeable water tank can make for an effective radiation shield. Build you sleeping and living quarters below the storage tanks and you reduce the need for extra shielding.
Water basically changes a manned moon base from a monumental logistical nightmare into simply and test of engineering.
Finally water means access to reaction mass that can be used to launch those new ships you are building. - pathouston22, on 11/13/2009, -1/+8Not necessarily. One hypothesis is that the moon was created from the Earth or with the Earth, so we would then share a common background.
- Shadic, on 11/13/2009, -0/+7It's kinda hard to send somebody into space without enough funding.
- rabidjester, on 11/13/2009, -0/+7RED ROCKS!
- UltraMegaFilms, on 11/13/2009, -0/+7Bush cut them a few years ago.
http://www.physorg.com/news63374578.html - gcnaddict, on 11/14/2009, -0/+7It's not the east or the west side.
- UltraMegaFilms, on 11/13/2009, -2/+8Republicans never think about money and objects that aren't directly in front of them. Moving science forward is probably the most productive thing we can do to further out species. Look how science and technology have shaped the last 20 years? Business schools are the WORST!
- Harabeck, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6I'm a patient man, so I'll try again, in simpler terms. The moon landings were near the moon's equator. There is only water at the moon's poles. At the equator, the sun evaporates all of the water. At the poles, craters can shelter the water from the sun.
Was that simple enough? - casey148, on 11/14/2009, -0/+6No it's not
- rmxz, on 11/14/2009, -0/+6How can politicians consider it?
How many campaign contributions come from astrophysicists compared to oil and tobacco and defense contractors.
Until the martian-profiteering industry grows to be as large as the war-profiteering industry, I imagine politicians will always want to cut NASA.
Sadly, perhaps the best hope for large budgets for space research would be if the Air Force got into a race with China to weaponize space. - UltraMegaFilms, on 11/13/2009, -1/+7Agreed. The funding was never given. Also, Bush is a ***** idiot who thinks that if you say something and clap twice, a person (usually darker than said clapper) will bring it to him.
- piieerrrree, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6Science rules!
- Peggles, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6Gernally speaking, NASA helps expand our knowledge of the universe. That entails a lot of things. However, small minded people like you can contemplate the positives that can come from NASA's research.
- topher1078, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6Was reading more about this on Bad Astronomy - they think most of this water came from comet impacts and other events over time, and accumulated in craters at poles where the sun does not shine. Think it means the moon could store better than previously thought rather than there being lots of water out there.
Still could mean other planets and moons out there could store water too though. Neat stuff regardless!
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/200 ... - Jektal, on 11/13/2009, -1/+7I think that's planned. Last I heard was a plan for an orbiter, plus two probes: one floating on the surface, and one balloon floating in the atmosphere and acting as a relay between the boat and orbiter. I think the boat is only supposed to last a few hours, though.
Anyway, Mars has more promise so far for future human settlements, is a lot closer than Europa, and is easier to land/work on. - IKORKYI, on 11/13/2009, -3/+9yeah why create jobs for highly educated people! i mean, NASA hasn't really ever done anything for us other than making us the aerospace juggernaut we are today. lets create a scenario where americans do jobs for 10x more than foreigners that have the same education and will work for pennies on the dollar. that makes sense.
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