We'll find water on the moon even if we have to bomb it!

[yukonjasper]

wouldn't it be easier to have the UN draft up a really nasty letter to the Moon. They could make the Moon cooperate or we'll keep kids from looking up and wonding about it or make the tides quit reacting to it (that would take its own letter I suppose). I'm just not sure that violence is always the answer. I my self must speak out to this decidedly Anti-Moonism.

It makes us all look bad.

[Ironbear]

First off, you guys need to stop reading the National Enquirer type sites for your science news....

From http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080227-techwed-lcross-moon-smasher.html

Once within range, the Centaur upper stage doubles as the main 4,400 pound (2,000 kg) impactor spacecraft for LCROSS.

LCROSS will take a much more head-on approach than either Lunar Prospector or Smart-1, slamming into the moon's craters at a steep angle while traveling with greater mass at 1.6 miles per second (2.5 km/s). The overall energy of the impact will equal 100 times that of Lunar Prospector and kick up 1,102 tons of debris and dust.

For those who are wondering, that's about: 30,900,000 grains at 8,450 ft/sec.

NASA sends Seismic Sam with his tail between his legs!

[bensdad]

First off, you guys need to stop reading the National Enquirer type sites for your science news....

From http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080227-techwed-lcross-moon-smasher.html

Once within range, the Centaur upper stage doubles as the main 4,400 pound (2,000 kg) impactor spacecraft for LCROSS.

LCROSS will take a much more head-on approach than either Lunar Prospector or Smart-1, slamming into the moon's craters at a steep angle while traveling with greater mass at 1.6 miles per second (2.5 km/s). The overall energy of the impact will equal 100 times that of Lunar Prospector and kick up 1,102 tons of debris and dust.

For those who are wondering, that's about: 30,900,000 grains at 8,450 ft/sec.

NASA sends Seismic Sam with his tail between his legs!

Seismic Sam is gonna be pissed. Clearly, they are loading to unsafe preasures. This makes NASA look bad.

[mnglocker]

Anyone else see this as a demonstration of flexing our military muscle with a non-volitle tartget? Kind of a message so to speak towards Iran and N. Korea?

Hey, check this out, we can hit within 12" of a target on the moon 242,000 miles away. NOW BEHAVE.

[Q_Continuum]

Anyone else see this as a demonstration of flexing our military muscle with a non-volitle tartget? Kind of a message so to speak towards Iran and N. Korea?

Hey, check this out, we can hit within 12" of a target on the moon 242,000 miles away. NOW BEHAVE.

Hey, who needs an explosive projectile when you can launch a heavy dumb thing really fast? Let physics deal your damage, instead of expensive explosives.

[tullibee]

they're just testing to see if the resulting crater would be deep enough to destroy a deeply buried and hardened nuclear site...

then they would just need to do a massive radar jamming so nobody would see it coming...

[EJSG19]

Sounds cool, but I'm not sure the problem is real urgent. What are we going to do save $100,000 per trip by not hauling water up to space? Or build a $1,000,000,000 mining platform on the moon to extract water from the ice, then we still have to transport that water to the space station.

Net result = cluster **** that gets us nowhere. Unless anyone is planning on moving to the moon within the next 100 years... anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

Military test is what I'm thinking also. Overgrown bunker buster. If we can hit the moon, we can probably orbit the bastard around the earth for a week, then drop it on whatever we want, whenever we want. Pretty thin excuse from NASA.

[westberg]

You all could be right, but dropping something back into the earth's atmosphere will take something more then a satellite looking thingy. It has to be protected from heat on the moon they have to worry about that.

If they don't have to haul water they get more room for Playboy mags, Patron and cigars. All of the things to keep a Marine happy.

[Widge]

I am eagerly preparing for the rain of delicious grilled cheese, possibly a nice Wensleydale?

[JFettig]

You'll be happy to hear that there was some twin cities metro machine work on that bomb

[lenny7]

I have been staring at one for a while now and it has not moved. I may be wrong but my hypothosis is that twice the speed of a bullet is not all that fast...

Where's the damn emoticon for spitting on my screen due to sudden laughter?

[lenny7]

Sounds cool, but I'm not sure the problem is real urgent. What are we going to do save $100,000 per trip by not hauling water up to space? Or build a $1,000,000,000 mining platform on the moon to extract water from the ice, then we still have to transport that water to the space station.

Net result = cluster **** that gets us nowhere. Unless anyone is planning on moving to the moon within the next 100 years... anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

Military test is what I'm thinking also. Overgrown bunker buster. If we can hit the moon, we can probably orbit the bastard around the earth for a week, then drop it on whatever we want, whenever we want. Pretty thin excuse from NASA.

I think they just want to wreck ****.